“It’s never too late to start something new, all you need is the courage to take the first step. I have been teaching at IBS Hyderabad for 15 years now but in the four decades of my life, I had never imagined that I would love something more than teaching. At the age of 40 when people start believing that they are growing old or its time to retire from their sports activities (mostly us Indians!), My friends encouraged me to have some kind of activity in my life just like good old days of college when I used to trek. As being in academics, we usually have a very sedentary life. So I decided to run! I have an interesting set of people around me who were into running and helped me figure it all out. I did it mainly for health and fitness purposes but later grew to love it beyond that.
One more thing that keeps me going is that my family is also into long-distance running.
I remember one particular day when I was to drop a friend to the airport and I was unhappy about having to skip my practice, an idea struck me and after saying goodbye to my friend, I ran back home from the airport.
I started in November 2014 when I was practising in full swing for my first 10Km, which I ran in December. Not only did my first long run boost my confidence but it left me wanting for more. I felt so free and happy from the inside that I decided to officially mark Marathon running as something I would do more religiously. In Feb 2015, I ran 21 km, a half marathon. So in three months, I moved from 10km to 21kms. Later that year, on 30 August I geared up to complete my first full Marathon of 42 km. And to date, I have completed 13 full marathons. There are two events that I go for every year, Airtel Hyderabad Marathon and Tata Mumbai Marathon.
Later, I also ran as a bus carrying a pacer flag along with other people who were trying to complete their marathon goals. I have also been honoured to be the Brand Ambassador of Pinkathon Marathon which is organised specially for women to empower and liberate them.
One of my favourite runs that I completed and I am happy about is the Khardung La Challenge. It is the highest ultra marathon in the world that is to be run on the highest motorable road of India. We started to ascend from Khardung Village to the Khardung La pass and then descend to Leh Market (72 km from an altitude of 17582 ft to 11562 ft ) at 3 am and I completed it in 13.5 hours (of the allotted 14hrs). I love this one because it has multiple challenges; 1. the terrain is a challenge (just mud and slush at the top from where we start), 2. It takes place in September so it is quite chilly there and 3. It starts from a higher altitude from where we have to descend to Leh. About 105 people started and about 75-80 people completed because many quit in the middle due to High Altitude Sickness.
So it makes me proud of having completed it in one go.
I believe running is pretty close to life, as you get what you put in. So one thing that I now tell everyone around me is that it’s never too late to begin.”
-Shailendra Singh Bisht
Caught In Stories 