After running in Ladakh and enjoying a wonderful self-driving trip around Rajasthan, I felt the need to register for a race to stay motivated and maintain my regular weekly mileage. signed up for the Raipur Full Marathon, but somehow, I couldn’t commit to the training required for long runs. I did run regularly but I needed more long runs for a full marathon and somehow I did not book flight tickets. With half-hearted commitment, I requested the organizers to postpone my registration to 2024. Now looking back, I should have completed that.
With Aaarush’s CBSE 10th board exams coming up, I promised myself that I wouldn’t sign up for anything between January and March. As a parent, I was eagerly waiting for CBSE to publish the final dates of the exams but they were late compared to previous years. Anyway, sometime in January, they published and we knew Aarush’s exam would be over by 13th March 2024. While I was thinking about Ooty Ultra which happens end of March, I came to know from my running friend that this year Kalimpong Ultra is happening on March 23rd. I immediately registered and booked flight tickets (end of Jan).
Since December I have been doing regular strength training & running and by January I did 30./35 KM on weekends and my monthly mileage was around 350+KM. February started well but around the 20th I was completely exhausted. I could hardly run and I stopped going to strength training also. It was very demotivating at work, it is not that other times my work is great, but it pays the bills.
The exhaustion in February could have been due to a big Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) as my running friends were running across India and my birding friends were chasing winter migratory birds, or it could have just been physical exhaustion, or both. Anyway, I was ready to accept the challenge of Kalipong Ultra.
Initially, I booked flight tickets 12 days apart thinking I would do some birding trip after the run while I stayed in Siliguri with my mom for those days. But with the above low motivation I did not book anything and later decided to just travel to Siliguri, run KUM, and rest at home. The week we were scheduled to fly, we were informed about a sudden, unprecedented weather development - heavy rain and a drop in temperature. Bangalore was basking in heat at this point. I could not understand how cold it would be and was thinking 2 layers of T-shirt would do. We flew out on Thursday, and that night we stayed in Siliguri with Mom, and on Friday traveled to Pedang after Kalimpong and ran on Saturday and Sunday we went back again to Siliguri. Most outstation runners reached on Thursday itself to Pedang. The moment we reached home Siliguri we felt the breeze and colder weather. Now if Siliguri is colder, we were how cold it will be in Pedang. The journey to Pedang from Siliguri was uneventful only that there were lots of landslides on NH10 (the national highway that connects Gangtok ) but we managed through it. Only that we should have stopped for lunch along the way as by the time we reached Pedang it was almost 3:30 and we were super hungry. Keeping our bags in the homestay (Hidden Heaven Homestay) we went to the school playground to collect my BIB and a quick medical. There was someone selling chapati/sabzi we ordered that and had that but it was quite disappointing and we asked where we could get some food now. We were advised for Unique for Momos. It is a small place but the place must be good as we saw a couple of local groups eating there. It was very shocking to see just 26 people have registered for this 65KM ultra and similar numbers for the Full Marathon and only 10 for 90 KM. When I talked to my running friends back in Bangalore over the phone they said… this means this time Podium for you 😂. I was telling them I just wanted to finish this run and get back as it was freezing out here. Saw some runners were buying rain-protecting jackets in the local store but I decided just to run with whatever I had and deal with it. Which does not kill you, makes you stronger is a common tagline for long enduring sports. In the evening while having dinner met fellow runners who were staying in the same homestay Mr & Mrs Mateti, both husband and wife are running 65 and came to know they are veterans in Ultra running and completed the Border 100 miler in December winning podium there. And then there was Sharmistha from Calcutta, running the full marathon. I requested them to wake me in the morning as I did not want to repeat the (un)famous Auroville incident where my mobile got switched off during the night I missed running FM and have to go there next year to complete the same .
Around 4 AM it started to rain and we prayed that it would get over quickly, around 4:45 it slowed down and we walked to the school ground. There it was drizzling a bit so I kept myself dry under a shade. I was so happy to see Mr & Mrs Manmohan from Bangalore. Amazing souls they are, it was also confirmed that one podium would be for Shamla madam.
I was underprepared in many ways; I didn’t even buy some bananas for the morning. Started running my way - keeping each step at a time, the first 4 KM was uphill followed by a gradual up to 21 KM, and from there, it was a steeper downhill for 13 KM and U-turn at the mid-point. Around the 12 KM mark, I started running with Anil and we ran most of the race together. He is posted in Farakka (West Bengal) with National Thermal Power Corporation Limited. We chit-chatted along the whole course and ensured we did not run too fast or too slow for each other. The weather made everything else too small to complain about. It rained for the most part on the way back and we were soaked wet from head to toe.
The run was really well organized, aid station 3 KM apart. Hats off to the brave school children who managed most of the Aid Stations where they stood throughout the rainy and cold weather. I think the temperature was in the high single digits. According to a Google search, it was 6℃ as low and 11℃ as high on that day. With 4 KM to go I asked Anil to go for it as he was ready for a stronger finish than me. I finished the race in 08:32 which to me was super delightful given my last 4 weeks were a complete white wash.
Then came a ‘3 Idiots’ moment for me. I’ll try to put it into words, but I’m not sure how much of the feelings I can express…
INFO
To my utter surprise I found Dinesh having his lunch in the food tent and he was shivering with cold. Dinesh mentioned he crossed me & Anil at one landmark point but I was certain both Anil and I did not see him as we were discussing he must have been just behind us like he was during the U-turn at the halfway mark. Now Diniesh being Dinesh. He did not mention many details, he was talking about something more interesting. I was wondering did he just did a DNF but in that case why he was having lunch now? it would be way earlier as he would normally be back on some support vehicle. Now while I was walking out of the school ground they were announcing the winners. In third place was Anil not surprised as we were on the lead pack in the U-turn. In the second place, it was Dinesh. He really ran a strong run over taking us around the 21 KM mark where we spent a good time drinking hot water. Dinesh is a strong long-distance runner who has run almost every Ultra event in India running. It was long overdue for him. Only that he never ran fast in a race but b’cos of the weather he was forced to.
On Sunday, we traveled back to Siliguri via the Lava road, the same road we had run on the day before, as the main highway was closed for repairs due to the heavy rain.
Special thanks to Richard from Palm Paradise Travels for ensuring a super smooth journey from Siliguri to Pedang and a comfortable stay. He is not just another tour operator, he came to meet us multiple times, not just me but everyone to ensure all is going right.
Pictures 2024 Kalimpung Ultra
The official race website to know more about the event.
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