#A_story_from_below_sea_level_to_World’s #Highest_Motorable_Road #World’s Highest
Landed at Manali(7000feet) (World’s Highest) on 14th morning from Willingdon Island Cochin-Kerala(-6 feet) After settle down, we rome around the city and went to Hidimba Temple, you can feel power here.
On 15th we went to Solang valley knows as the pearly gate, in this heaven Vishwas planning for Hell🤗 mean our race briefing scheduled. We met with many ultra runners and India’s record holder athletes like abhishek Rathore. After a long briefing we start planning our race and scarring what will happen in next 5 days. We went out for reducing stress near the river, where we can hear music of river, sounds of bird and surye dev going down to the deep valley a pure combination of nature indicating us to relax for tomorrow .Our soul is deeply connected to our origin and nature is our original home. Getting close to it and meditating🧘🏻♂️ on its peace and harmony with those sounds that come from it, allows us to be quieter and more aware of our soul’s will and to act according to it every day. We went back to cabin and when we were busy in this gyan our mate/ustad Kapil bhai bring hot milk with KASAR and Turmeric for all #Deshi athlete💪. We all went to deep sleep after a good lecture and Acclimatisation session.
16th June: I can see a bright morning through my window. Sun signing like anything. Same inspiring music coming from nature. I wake up with full Josh for acclimatisation walk or vertical kilometre(we get hight gain 1000mtr within 5k). We went to Patalsu Peak Trek (4472 Meters), I was climbing like a kid because tomorrow evening my 5 days race going to start from manali, but some Navy bravehearts just finish the summit in 4hrs🏃🏻♂️.
I have touched mauntain ice 1st time in my life and climbed up too. We all went back safely with our Team. Yogesh Tiwari sir thank you so much for this wonderful experience without you it was not possible. Our dry fruits and water was already finished and time was 2PM, our Selu bhai was hungry like anything. We made 2 teams, slow and fast 🤗. However we reached to our camps and tut pde lunch pe…4PM🤔😋 followed by long sleep till morning (ultra nap).
17th June: Race Day:
Race day isn’t the challenging part, it’s the reward for the months of hard work while you were training. — Unknown
Yes! It was very hard to explain😢, I’m living on 9th floor of my building. I’m getting late or let it be I hv some stuffs in my hand or I’m holding Parth in my lap, I was using only ladder not Lift. He is witness of my 50% training and sweat.Literally this training start triggering me from 4AM in the morning. Swimming, sand run, hill repeat, strength training, ladder up down and LSD also lots of sacrifices included in this training. My five days Long journey will be started soon from Manali main market mall road. But just before the race, race director assigned a job for shop some stuffs, this was very uncomfortable for me. Somehow I managed everything and went for a power nap.
17th 10PM Race Point Manali Mall Road and counting 10 9 8……3,2 & 1 GO. 5 din ke liye aa gye road pe. Yes! Now we are on the manali-Leh Highway. Yeah people asking why you people are running in the night , where are you going? Ohh I think you are going Solang valley by run Right…? My Answer: Nop. We’re going Leh.
!nsane. Are you mad. No I’m not mad, I’m bajarang bali ka bhakt🤗. Anyway we were on the way to Rohtang pass 51Km(13050ft) , I reached at Rohtang Pass(I’m not telling here how I reached at Rohtang) 15 minutes late not stick with my plan, I hv seen views I wasn’t seen this much ice before, I was just walking between the ice walls, if I’m going to stay here then I’ll miss my 1st cutoff 114km kelong in 22 hrs or if I’ll not click the photographs then I’m going to lost a lot here. Somehow I make a quick decision and continued my journey.
I planned my race in 2 parts. 51 km in 10 hrs and rest 63k downslope in 11 hrs I was going as per my plan but in the last 20k I started overthinking bcz my speed not coming what I planned. I’m not forget to special mention here, whatever support I got from IN team, organiser and my buddy Gaurav bhai that’s in my heart forever. What I think here I’ll lost my race on 1st cutff only. But with full of struggles I met with my cutoff before 30 minutes at Kelong(10100ft). We all runners met here except Sarsawat bhai. Next target 222k Sarchu (14070ft) in between we went through Baralach-La(16084ft). I have lots of stories of this 108km.
I can write 1000 pages of note about Baralach-La only. I start entering in a road which is covered with 10-15 feet snow walls from Zing Zing Bar. This endless road may be covered 18 to 20 km so long. This is not much but when you are stucked with sheep,(Ship vala bnda sheep ke sath above 16000ft…miracle🤣). When I met with a Herdsman he is telling one day we stucked for 10hrs, OMG OMG OMG…..hahahhaha I was just laughing.
When truck crossing me I’ll just raised my hand and stand still with the wall then they will Kissed me and will go away😢. When I go lil far I can see a pond with full snow just bow to this beautiful seen and trying to run but oxygen telling me just hold down champ otherwise…….*..😢😢.
Now I forget my 480k race and wanted to go out from this snow world. My both crew were totally down. Car driver is telling bahiya thoda jaldi kro mera dum gut rha hai. I can’t explain the actual situation where I was and where they were suffering and what level we were suffering. Hey! Baralach-La God from today on words I’ll not repeat again please leave us.
Please let me go please(literally I was thinking those words nd crying like a kid). OhhhhK just leave it somehow I reached at a camp 10km down from Baralach-La. We had something lite and again came on the road for next target. Now here temperature was in -0°c, what I faced here cold, nhi chill WATER. Yes! You have to go through this water your shoes will be in deep water nd my second cutoff(222k) waiting for me.
28km left in 5 hrs 30 minutes I hv to rush. I forget my wet shoes and rushed like anything. I lost my crew here because Gaurav bhai got AMS problem he was doing vomit and hang up with headache. Now Shidarh was sign up with me up to sarchu. After some time Gaurav bhai got some good signals from AMS. He just took a lift from Truck and joined me just before Sarchu and pushed me a lot for second cutoff. Yes! I met with my 2nd cutoff just before 15 minutes. Sarchu also have lots of memories which deep close to my heart. We just took 2hrs power nap and again start left right on the Manali Leh Highway.
Sarchu to whisky bridge I ran like anything, I had good experience here, I ran 19km in 3 hrs 14 minutes after completion of 222km. But…….. now you are at Gataa loops (That mauntain saying to you isme tera gataa mera kuch nhi jata……). Truly this gataa loops will give you 21 hair pin band and instant hight gain, that was very challenging for me. However I crossed all with proud song Isme tera gataa….🤗. Just after 2 loops you will cross NakeeLa (16175ft) followed by LachungLa (16578ft). We had dinner and some lite streching here and moved on to Pang.
This 15 to 20 km given me all the tears, literally I was crying like Hell, here I got fully dark jangal in the full moon, dmm chilled water, round gravels may be some natural disaster happened recently. However I reached at Pang at the night 12AM and start knocking the doors, No one there to save us in Hell.
A old lady open a door for bike riders, Hanji beta full night stay hai kya…? Nhi maa ji only 1and half hrs sona hai. She pay up some mercy instead of some money and we got a bed. But big problem was still on there, that bed took 30 minutes to be warmer 😢. I don’t know when I slept and when Gaurav bhai’s alarm start hitting me like Hell.
We moved on after a hard tea Sarp 0150 AM. Because now I hv 49km morey plains and 9 hrs at above 13500 ft means I hv to give 5.4 km / hrs mileage till 11AM without any breaks. I ran this endless route with Gaurav bhai, we use all the tricks like 1,2,1, ek do ek, 10 minutes run 2 minutes walk, tum muje khun do mai tumhe aajadi dunga and we were taking energy from truck drivers, car riders, bikers and whoever crossing us just taking power from them.
Now we got Vishwas bhai, baba and all the camera mans who’s clicking us and giving feels like celebrity. Yes! I knocked the door of 3rd cutoff. Debring 343km 84hrs 40 minutes at the elevation of 14816ft. I was fully exhausted here. I just fall down on the ground and shivering like anything. Gaurav bhai given me a life line hot rajayi and hot tea, my God or my everything Gaurav bhai. I think my race was collapsed here why because if I’m taking rest here then definitely Tanglag-La will kill me or If I’m continued right now then I’m already dead. So whats better as per Gaurav bhai is rest.
We took a power long 3hrs nap then we moved again around 0230PM. Ohhhh my God now you can feel Rajasthan here not grmi its chilled sandstorms with snowfall, just after 2 minutes you will get tricky sunlight means if you will open your eyes without sunglasses you will be blind. After 10 minutes you will get snowfall again. Ithink this is the Hell Race.
Actual Hell start from here. You are climbing Tanglag-La yesh Tanglag-La that’s dmm Hell. This 25km climbing I took 6 hrs 23 minutes with my dead body. Here I win the race Yes! I win the race here only because here I thought I hv to give up otherwise this Tanglag-La God will kill me. But as human beings I started again, Gaurav bhai Ajay and my driver all wanted to ki ab to to bnda Give Up kr de.
But………..
I decided to move again, I just took my walking sticks and tried my best to walk, after 2 km when I was going down I can see slippery water road, chilled Air and snowfall hitting me hard like anything, I was battling with all these things but now my sleep too wanted to stop me on every step. God Please save me I hv a small kid, I don’t wanna die in this young age and I fall down in a Gadda….half water and half Ice just given me a noice thts hit in my head and told me please beta leave it……. Ajay came from Car and asked me are you Okay bhai……YES AJAY I’M OKAY, you just go and sit in the car bahut andera hai.
Somehow I managed my self and started again with double josh, this time my energy was on the top but my sleep was also on the TOP. Ajay given me tomato soup and told me relax bhai. Just 3km down from Tanglag-La, Gaurav and Ajay stucked with AMS and driver too and I was struggling like anything. If somebody came here and ask me about Life I can explain very well. If here someone can ask me about Success then I can explain very well.
If someone wants to talk about family I can explain where they stand for us. Guys, still I wanted to move on but sleep you can’t control after 4 days of your high altitude journey. I just wanted to take a 15 minutes power nap but When I went to deep sleep at the 15500ft I don’t know. My crew and my driver all we are sleeping in a car with close window.
If vishwas not coming on time we may got serious injuries. Competed 373km 98 hrs, 9000mtr elevation gain, Now I hv 107km to go and 22hrs with full of sleep and restless 5km per hrs. Guys I #Failed here and just told him to #Quit. I fall down here. I missed my all the training and sweat. Just in a word I lost my Race. I learnt a lot. This experience may be give me a lot for my future endurance but now I #Quit. Thank you so much Hell Race Team for all kind of Support and Love. Thank you Vishwas bhai, Nupur, Bharat bhai and baba ji.
Thank you so much Handa sir, Yogesh Tiwari sir, My guru pana Sanjay lovely family and friends.
#IndiannavyUltraRunners
#solesofcochinrunner
HOW TO MAINTAIN WEIGHT ON AN OFFICIAL TRIP – MUST READ
Leave a Reply