What It Takes To Run 555 Km

Ultrarunner Ashish Kasodekar talks about what it takes to run 555 km, at 17,582 feet above sea level, and doing so at your own pace

- Shail Desai

Time is a relative concept while running ultra-distances. At certain points, the challenge is so intense—and unreal— that it’s mostly about reaching the finish line, and within the cut-off period. Ashish Kasodekar would know. Last year, he was one among three Indians (the other two were Munish Dev and Mandeep Doon) to finish the 333-km race, the longest category at the time, at the La Ultra in Leh. This August, he raised the bar many notches higher, as he became the first and only Indian to complete the 555-km edition.

As 48-year-old Kasodekar drove into Leh this August, a flood of memories rushed past him. A year ago, fatigue and hallucinations had kept him company along the route. Some 4 km from the finish, in his stretched mind, he believed that the race had been completed and that the organisers were getting him to run extra distances.

It had taken a massive effort from a gang of race devotees—comprising Kasodekar’s crew, marshal, organisers, volunteers and runners—to get him to push himself over the final distance, making the cutoff with a nail-biting 31 seconds to spare. Else, he would have missed the deadline after running for a maddening 71 hours and 59 minutes.

Now, he was back for the 10th edition of the race, his mind having made peace with the distance to be run. This time around, it was 222 km further from where he had managed to reach last year.