Ultra Trail Australia - 100 Kms journey thru Boarding School memoir

Ultra Trail Australia - 100 Kms journey thru Boarding School

This weekend I ran my first UTA100 km run in the beautiful Scenic World Blue Mountains, Australia. Well, this blog is not about the speed, time, or pace of the race but why people go thru so much pain and what they get out of it. Well, no one may have a straightforward answer but here is my perspective from meeting other runners in this race.

At the start of the race, I met a lovely friend Jasmina Svoboda who flew all the way from Japan to just run and support her daughter in her race. Murray Bruce met this runner who carried a gift for 100 km in her backpack to surprise her mum with a Mother’s Day present at the finish line.

I met this runner from Melbourne whose family was waiting for him at the next checkpoint. When we were getting close his little kids saw their Dad coming and were jumping and screaming in excitement. I think moments like these cannot be explained in words. At checkpoints, I was supported by Jack’s family who I had never met before. They treated me like their own filling my hydration pack, massaging my hurting knees, and getting me soup when it got cold. As we ran, we thanked hundreds of volunteers who were embracing freezing cold weather and devoting their time to support this event.

I feel it’s always not about running, it’s about resilience, endurance, and embracing pain and fatigue which leads to creating a bond of togetherness.

When I was a kid studying at a boarding (Bishop Cotton School, Shimla up in the Himalayas, we used to catch a toy train that went 96 Km from Kalka at 655 m altitude climbing up to Shimla at 2,076 m altitude thru a staggering 102 tunnels, bridges and stunning curves passing many waterfalls, streams and deep woods.

At the time, in my wildest dreams, I had no clue that one day I would run a UTA100 Km with an elevation gain of over 5,000 meters in the beautiful Scenic World Blue Mountains of Australia.

At the 6 km mark when we ran downhill, it reminded me of the times in school when the soccer ball went over the fence and we would run hundreds of meters down the Khuds (valley) looking for it and then someone would scream ‘found it’ and we would start climbing up looking at fishes in the streams or plucking blackberries along the way.

I’m not sure about others but to me, running teaches discipline, sacrifice, and appreciation for our own temple (aka our mind and body). Running gives us that connection with nature which is further enhanced by rain, sun, snow, stars, and moon.

Running gives us that shared sense of handling challenges, and creates community and camaraderie. Few hours, before the race I was sent a motivational message, from the Canberra running community compiled by one of the top Running Podcaster in Australia Brent Ford and Murray Bruce. During the race, when it was getting cold, and dark, and times were getting tough I repeatedly listened to their message. Even though the podcast mentions my name but I believe it applies to the running community. I would have said the same If one of us was going for a challenging run of our life. It reiterated “If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together. I was here to go far.

I’m not sure about other runners but in a long race like this, there are many physical and emotional rollercoaster rides going on in my head. At 25 Km, I started to feel hungry and remembered the meals we used to get in boarding school. Tuesday morning was beans for breakfast in BCS boarding Bishop Cotton School, Shimla which was the best rajma I have ever tasted ever anywhere.

At 50 Km, the hills were getting tougher and I could feel the pain in my glutes. I remembered the days when we got school punishment in Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, I’m still not sure why? and if that made any difference but it surely made us tough to accept the challenges in the real world (methinks). If I could handle that pain in those days then this hill would pass as well.

at 99 Km, 951 Furber Steps, Blue Mountains had started suddenly all that pain and suffering was changing to excitement. I could hear the cheering sounds similar to when we won a soccer, basketball, or cricket trophy against one of the local schools. Now, I could hear my school friends cheering for me at the finish line

Wherever we go, people want to know, Who we are So we tell them, Mighty Mighty BCS, so we are

Light Blue, Dark Blue colors of hours, C’mon Cottonians show them stars

It’s 3 am, freezing cold and we were emerging through the fog and there I hear Murray Bruce. Go Singhy 50 m to go finish the run. Suddenly, I felt fresh and started running. There was so much sense of achievement and satisfaction once all the hard work you have put in for months had paid off.

I could not have crossed this finish line without the support of Running for Resilience, Elevate Trail And Road Running, Canberra Runners, Sunday Sesh CBR, The Dock - Kingston Foreshore, The speedygeese, UTA100, Ultra-Trail Australia By UTMB, BBQ Stakes - Lunchtime run, Customs Joggers, The GUMBY - Great Ultra Mediocre Back Yarder, Capital to Coast, Hillseekers Thursday Interval Running Club, Tuggeranong Lake Stakes, Harjodh Singh, Bravery Trust, Brooks Running, PubRunners, Canberra Griffins Dragonboating Club

https://live.utmb.world/uta/2023/runners/529

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If you or anyone you know is doing it tough the best thing you can do is to stay active with them Run-Walk-Jog-Talk.

MON 6:15 AM - WED 6:00 PM - FRI 6:15 AM at The Dock - Kingston Foreshore

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