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| Courtesy Jo Ghosh |
We completed running 21 km at an altitude of 10,000 feet and to add meat to the run, went up by 1000 feet during the run - it was an incredible run and i was glad that i completed at a good timing of 2.42 hours.. that we completed was due to fantastic support from the organisers (Dynamic Sports http://www.zendurance.co.in), volunteers and mother nature apart from the preparation and acclimatisation by the runners.
All this started about 2 months ago when i seriously decided to run at Ladakh and it was Ram who suggested 21 km and i am glad i went by his idea.
We had reached Leh on the 15th July to get acclimatised, had done bit of running and walking during that period, had visited Shanti Stupa, the famed beautiful Pangong lake which is above 14000 feet, Khardung la (18000 +), Chang la (17500 +) , thiksey monastery before reaching Diskit at Nubra valley which was the actual venue for running. Another important part of the preparation involved doing pranayama, yoga and meditation; we visited Mahabodhi Changspa centre as part of the preparation. We were to run from Sand dunes till the T point where the right side goes to Khardung while the left to Siachen
We were very excited and apprehensive of the day before the run - my oxygen level was at 91% and pulse at 100 plus - we got our quota of carb loading that night and slept quite early. We got up that day (21st) at about 4.30 AM to a nice cloudy cold morning and left for the starting point (close to Sand dunes).
We started the run at about 6 AM; Mahesh, Ariez, Ram quickly went into lead and continued the lead till the end. The first 5 kms were largely downhill which was great to begin with but as is usual, inevitably we had to work harder during elevation. Dynamic Sports duo of Ashish and Deepak had done lot of work including keeping traffic away, ensuring that we did not go into a wrong fork, adequate water, salt/minerals/fruits...and importantly enjoyed the run. Most of us completed the run with a smile on our face and a medal round our neck on finishing
Scenery was superb with sand dunes to our left and towering mountains on our right; after completing 5 kms, the route starting going upward and now valley/river was to our left and the mountains on our right, I could see other runners ahead and it was amazing to see how tiny humans were in comparison to mountains and inspiring to see humans run in inhospitable conditions.
The run continued, it was quite cool but the elevation continued and one was forced to slow down, take deep breath and continue- scenery was breath taking and it was only the mountain, the valley, the river and my running. What else would one need? I lost sense of time and continued the run going quite strong and reached the 15 km from which it was downward/flat till the Tpoint - i ran fast downhill and soon reached the 18 km point -
The flat road was another view that one could rarely see - there was nothing except sand on either side of the road as far as eyes could reach - at the end of it were towering mountains - can one view such open space? We were lucky that it was not windy :) this was a difficult part for me since i developed cramp - the toughest thing for a runner- i somehow walked (mostly) / run and reached the magic point of 21 kms at a timing of 2.42 hours - Ariez as energetic as ever, ran with me till the finish point - he was a tower of strength and inspiration and Ashish and volunteers welcomed me with photo shoot/medal!!! And hey, it was entirely run barefoot :)
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