Sri Chimnoy,, external who moved to the US in the 1960s and became a spiritual teacher in New York, took up long-distance running and then weightlifting.
By using prayer and meditation to increase his “outer strength”, he lifted elephants, planes and cars, as well as people – 8,000 of them between 1988 and 2007, including Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.
“It is just your mind torturing you. With meditation, it becomes possible,” says Beckjord. Aalto agrees. “You go into a special place,” he says.
Holder, one of the few runners who is not a Sri Chinmoy disciple, says she “transcended” 48 days into her first 3,100-miler.
“I saw myself right in front of me,” she recalls. “It was very, very scary. The next night, I saw myself again and I said: ‘You go, girl.’ I really tapped into my inner self and spirituality.”
Sichel adds: “I look like a zombie. I’m in my own world. My helper said to me once: ‘You’ve not spoken for three hours.'”
Everyone copes in their own way. “Never think of the whole distance,” warns Beckjord, who imagines she is a child, running through the garden. “There’s this beautiful big tree. It’s on the busiest corner of the course, but it maintains a peaceful place. You get joy from the simple things.”
Janakova repeats mantras or thinks about what she will eat next. Holder may chat to her family on the phone or stream parts of the race on social media, where she is known as the ‘Walking Diva’. Austrian Surasa Mairer, a three-time finisher and former female record holder, sings, chants or listens to music.
Runners must eat constantly, whether that be the vegetarian meals provided by the race volunteers who convert a double garage into a makeshift kitchen for the duration of the race, or easily digestible snacks provided by their support crew.
Eggs, bread, pancakes, French toast and smoothies are common staples, while Sichel estimates he gets through three litres of ice cream every day. “It just slips down really well, especially vanilla.”
Janakova sums up the challenge of running and eating: “You don’t want to eat, then you can’t wait to eat. You have to eat something on every lap, so there is no rest for your stomach.”
Holder discovered she had a craving for McDonald’s, and Aalto remembers running along while eating a packet of crisps and a passer-by shouting: ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ “He thought I was just out for a jog,” he says.
Despite the constant grazing, managing to consume 10,000 calories daily is not easy. The already slender Holder lost more than a stone in weight in the 2017 race, after which she says she “couldn’t look at myself in the mirror”.
Sleeping is another challenge altogether. Holder struggled to sleep at all for the first two weeks but, when she finally mastered the 15-minute power nap, she said it felt like five hours. “Your body adapts – it becomes like a machine.”
“I would dream that I was going around and around in circles,” says Beckjord.
Sichel, who says part of his success in ultra-marathons is his ability to survive on little sleep, says matter-of-factly: “You just get used to feeling tired.”