Murlikrishnan Pillai, Satnam Singh and Sushil Sharma said they wanted to test their limits post the pandemic, started out from Pune on October 23
(From left) Murlikrishnan Pillai, Satnam Singh and Sushil Sharma during the ultra marathon
The pandemic may have put the brakes on our way of living temporarily, but we are getting into gear once again. A trio opened throttle recently, running an ultra marathon from Pune to Mumbai, a punishing distance of 161 kms. An ultra marathon is any distance over the traditional marathon distance of 42 km. Murlikrishnan Pillai, Satnam Singh and Sushil Sharma from Pune ran almost four times the marathon distance, in their Pune-to-Mumbai feat.
ADVERTISEMENT
Flag off
Pillai said, “We wanted to do an inter-city run for quite a while. As restrictions eased slightly, we started our training in earnest.” The Pune-to-Mumbai Ultra Marathon run, an event created by the runners themselves, started on October 23 at 12 am from Shaniwarwada in Pune, and the three ultra marathoners reached Mumbai’s Gateway of India 36.5 hours later.
Strong minds
“It was not about timing as much as it was about endurance. There has been so much stress on mental health during the pandemic. Any endurance activity is so largely about the mind. When the body shuts down, or you hit a wall, how do you keep going? Long distance is about that. I also wanted to send a message to people, to set personal fitness goals. The outbreak is an apt time to start an exercise regime. Running is good as you need little equipment and the outdoors is always free! Fitness has considerable benefits for the mind,” said Pillai, the communications professional from NIBM Road who started running eight years ago, moving up the long-distance ladder. He went from long distances to half and full marathons and then ultra marathons.
The runners credit their support crew, a five-person team in two cars, “who looked after our fuelling (meals), and of course, hydration as we ran the distance on the old Pune-Mumbai route, and gave us physio support." Pillai, Singh and Sharma claimed, "When you run a marathon in a formal race setting, there are fixed hydration points. Here, we had mobile hydration stations, which were the crew cars, and our team gave us sandwiches, bananas, energy bars, drinks and water enroute.”
Highway run
Singh said, “I have feet full of blisters to show for this!” The IT professional added, “It was challenging because there was traffic in stretches too, you need to be very cautious when running on the highway. Then, nearly two nights of no sleep started telling on us, but they were 36 hours very well spent. This is a shout out to our support team, who kept us going both in body and spirit.” The runners were mask less, “it is impossible to run that distance wearing masks,” but, “we were careful when people approached us on the roads. Many people were very curious asking us why we were running, what this was all about,” they recalled.
Moving reception
Pune entrepreneur Sharma, said, “once we ran into Panvel, the humidity was difficult. In Pune, the mercury has dropped a bit, but Mumbai is still hot. We also had the Ghats to contend with. Yet, small struggles notwithstanding, we were met and applauded by a small group of people in Chembur which was really uplifting. Then, as we approached Mumbai’s iconic Gateway of India, silhouetted against the sky, the sight gave our feet wings and we crossed that ‘finish line’ so to speak, to a moving reception, from some locals.” The three believe their challenges are not over, and have plans to ‘up’ that ultra distance in the near future. There is a 200 km plus event within Pune soon and that could be the next for the three ‘sole’mates.
24 Oct
Day the trio reached the Gateway of India
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
