An ode to endurance running

Regular readers of this blog (thank you) and all my Delhi-based friends will not need an introduction to Kathakoli Dasgupta, today’s guest blogger and a regular contributor to these pages.

But if you’re new here (welcome, welcome), Katha is the young woman who got me into running, and then proceeded to meet her husband, Dave, who was posted in Delhi – largely thanks to the machinations of our running group, I am proud to say :) :)

They now live in England, and as you will see from this fabulously written story, Katha has graduated from road running to her first trail ultra, in Britain’s Lake District.

First of all, dear Katha – SHABASH!!! (That’s Hindi for well done). This is SUCH a phenomenal achievement and I am in TOTAL awe.

Secondly – on a day when I have been lamenting my own poor form of late, this is EXACTLY the inspiration I need, and I guarantee there will be loads of other readers who concur.

So, without further ado, I give you Katha’s deeply personal, deeply reflective post on what ultra running has taught her.

It’s a lovely read.

Endurance Running… what it taught me

My husband, Dave and I completed our first ultra marathon about 7 weeks back. Though ask our legs and they will say it’s not been that long. 

We ran 57 km in the testing and treacherous Lake District trails comprising 3 mountain passes and 7,000 feet ascent.

It was the toughest challenge I have attempted in my life. So the high from having completed it, that too without feeling shattered, is naturally unparalleled. 

We are road runners and half marathons have been my longest races, though Dave has done a few marathons. So it was not just about training our body and mind for the distance, but also preparing ourselves for the unfamiliar terrain—rock, boulders, gravel, bog—tricky surfaces that get trickier in British weather. 

The more we trained the more I realised it’s a whole different ball game. And I am a changed person because of it. Some of it is the aging, evolving me, but endurance running has helped to bring it to focus. 

It is not just about physical fitness

I have been saying to everyone that even though I was far, far fitter and weighed 10 kg lighter a few years back, I don’t think I was in the headspace to do or appreciate endurance running or complete the Ultra. Distance running is as much about mental make-up as physical fitness. The word that keeps coming to my mind is ‘thehrav’ (a hindi word that loosely translates to patience but is far more loaded). I am naturally impulsive, impatient and hyper. I have always had the grit, but not the patience to carry on and on—instead I would move quickly from one thing to another. That’s probably the reason that fast paced 5 and 10k road races worked for me. But age seems to have changed all that. I don’t get bored trudging along. It took me just over 13.5 hours to complete the Ultra. And no point did I feel exasperated with the distance or the time it was taking me.

Motivation needs to come from within

I am a people person. And I love all the attention. In the past, whenever I have participated in races, I have thrived on the buzz around me. More the support, the better I seem to perform and the happier I feel. But distance running has taught me to search deep inside myself for motivation. 

Whereas in road races I used to be somewhere midway in the leaderboard, I am one of the last finishers in off road distance running. Which also means that I am doing three quarters of the race on my own with no one to cheer me on, no one to use as motivation to keep up with or overtake.

I cannot explain just how hard it can be to carry on without a soul around you—except the occasional hiker or marshals at feeding stations. (No phone signal either!) Or how much mental training it took for a social person like me to find the motivation to carry on, within me. 

While training for the ultra I learnt to be self reliant mentally, if that makes sense? For example, instead of adjusting my pace (and excitement) to the drum beats, blaring music and claps at well supported road races, I started to find distraction, then rhythm in the sounds of nature—chirping birds, babbling brooks, whistling winds, pattering rain…. Finding that running rhythm is so much harder when one’s pace, gait, heart rate is constantly changing owing to the terrain.

Over weeks and months of training, I learnt to reframe these long, solitary runs as meditative alone time. It is not dissimilar to ‘getting into the zone’ that every runner can relate to. Except that with endurance running one’s got to be in that zone for a long, long time.

The more and longer I ran, the easier it got to carry on and on…on my own… I remember smiling throughout my first marathon (which actually turned out to be a training run for the Ultra the following month). 

I took my time (I was one of the last finishers so after the first 15 km or so I was on my own), but I enjoyed it from start to finish. That marathon route around Lake Coniston was so picturesque that it filled my heart and I burst into tears (of joy) at one point. 

The Ultra was relentless from start to finish. Unlike Coniston Marathon, the opportunity to take in the views was limited because I had to watch my feet most of the route. (At times I was on all fours tackling hair raising descents.) And I was basically on my own after the second checkpoint. Morning turned to afternoon, afternoon to dusk, then night. I remember after the sun set, I had this sudden fright that I was in the middle of nowhere (and no phone signal). No one would be able to hear my scream if I were in danger. That sent a chill down my spine. Funnily enough that became my motivation to pick up my pace and get to the next checkpoint! 

I don’t need external validation

I think I am at that age and stage of my life when I do not need others or things to boost my sense of worth. I am self assured.

Don’t get me wrong I still seek support and encouragement from family and friends. But not validation in the form of a PB or a special mention. Therefore, time and leaderboard was irrelevant in all these races, including the Ultra. Completing the challenge I set for myself in itself was so fulfilling and satisfying. Proving that I am stronger than all the mental barriers put together and pushing the limits of my physical capacity (I suffer from an auto immune condition that affects my spine). It is so liberating.

Now, wasn’t that the loveliest of reads?

Thank you dearest Katha for sharing this, and I can’t tell you how much you have inspired me.