Getting into habit of running at a late age of 50 has its own disadvantages, though it yielded lot of positives for me. On that January Sunday morning in 2015 when I crossed the finish line of Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, I was never aware that the bug bite was so deep.

The 50+ age didn't come in the way and as on date I finished around 83 Half Marathons, 30 FMs , Four 50K ultra marathons, Two 75 K Ultra Marathons, Three 100K ultra marathons, Two Comrades Marathons (90K and 88K), one 12hrs stadium run and numerous 10Ks and 15Ks, 25K and 32K distances.

In the year 2018 I was fascinated by the Comrades Marathon in South Africa which is popularly known as "The Ultimate Human Race". But the self doubt didn't allow me to go for it then.

Thereafter, I joined a training group coached by Amit Kumar in Navi Mumbai. After training for 6/7 month , I came to know that Amit Kumar himself went for his 2nd Comrades in 2019 and hit the Bill Rowen Medal (Sub-9 hour finish) and that motivated me to go for the 2020 Comrades. Registration was done and the training went on till the disappointment struck in March 2020 when the pandemic brought the entire global activity to halt.

To console the Comrades Registered Runners of 2020, CMA (Comrades Marathon Association, Durban) arranged a virtual comrades "Race the Legends" in June 2020 as the on ground Comrades was abandoned that year. I participated in 45Km category as I was in isolation in my flat at Navi Mumbai . I had to run that distance inside my flat (I wouldn't advise anybody to do this as it tells upon your knees). And CMA gave a medal (Of course with a fee). After that the wait for on ground event continued till the year 2022 when CMA announced the 95th Comrades Marathon to be held on 28th August 2022.

The preparations started by my running group Happy Feet Champions at Navi Mumbai and I being located at Pune had to depend upon the training plans from Coach Amit Kumar and do the training remotely from Pune in a solo mode. My running group buddies nicknamed me as "Ekalabya". The soul of the mythological Ekalabya must have become sad with such poor comparison for sure.

The long runs at Lonavala (twice arranged by my coach and once the Lonavala Fog run of 50K arranged by Run-Buddies) , Pune to Baramati and locally in and around Hinjewadi were done. Other practice runs and strength trainings were done by me solo.This left a huge gap between my training and training of the group buddies at Navi Mumbai. Coach was monitoring regularly and doing whatever he could do to make me train at the remote location. A four months’ rigorous training was, really, tough and if you don’t do that you are sure to struggle there when the killer inclines will stare at you on the way in between Pietermaritzburg and Durban on the race day.

The tickets were booked , visa done and the travel to Durban, changing 3 flights (Mumbai->AddisAbaba->Johanesburg->Durban), was tedious but the travel with the running buddies was an enjoyable trip.

The race was on 28th August 2022 and we reached Durban on 25th August 2022. We checked into Hotel Blue Waters located on the beach front at Durban. The hotel was almost full with guests from India. Met many of the known running buddies from all across India.

On 26th morning coach wanted us to go for a 5K easy run on the beach front avenue to check that the legs and its muscles are in order post the long travel. That was a really relaxing run of 5K after the travel. Thereafter the breakfast in the hotel and we headed for the expo to register and collect the bibs. The expo was grand and the treatment to International runners was exclusive, Enjoyed the hospitality of the CMA and came back to the hotel.

In the evening, we were advised by Coach regarding the race plan in a one-to-one meeting with him at Durban Hotel and I was looking at the sub 10 hours plan given by Coach positively. However, Coach also advised to review the plan at 50th Kilometre and if necessary, a plan B of sub 11 hours may be followed thereafter.

The start of 2022 Comrades was at Pietermaritzburg which is 90Kmts away from Durban and up the hills. Next day on 27th August in the morning after the breakfast we started for Pietermaritzburg . This part of the trip holds special memory for us. We 9 runners were picked from the hotel by a transport van provided by a Philanthropic Host of ours, Mr Ajith Deena, having a huge bungalow at Pietermaritzburg. He and his family provided us dinner and arranged our stay in his house and few of his friend’s house with a promise that he will arrange to drop us at the start line early in the morning . I was accommodated in Mr. Juggie Govender’s house which is palatial building, and I was very comfortable. As the start time was 5.30 am in the morning, Juggie asked me to get ready by 4am and it would take 30 minutes to reach the start line. I was ready by 4am , the temperature was around 2 degree Celsius and Juggie’s Merc started towards the start line of the race. As advised by Coach, considering the cold, I had three layers of cloth. The upper layer was on old jacket which was meant to be thrown once the body gets warmed up around 5K into the race. The next layer was the singlet having the India Tricolour design and the inner most layer was the tight one which I use regularly to avoid the chaffing during a long run.

My line up was “G” based on my qualifying run timing and it was quite far away fro the start line. Just to caution me while dropping me near the “G” pen, Juggie told me that I will have to make up the lost time in between the gun time and my actual start time as the Comrades Cut-offs are based on Gun Time. Seeing the crowd at “G” pen I thought I will lose at least 10 minutes in between the Gun shot and my actual step on the starting mat.

The traditional rituals started with SA national anthem, Shosoloza, Chariots of Fire, The Cock crow and finally the GunShot…. The emotions of the realisation of the dream of a place on the startline of Comrades Marathon was overflowing in the form of tears rolling down. But the apprehensions of the 90Kmts and their challenges were haunting.

With the crowd moving slowly after the gun shot I crossed the starting mat after 6 minutes of the GunShot.

Running was almost impossible during the first 2 kmts as around 20000 runners were really crowding the narrow lane of Pietermaritzburg. It was a real struggle to wade through the crowd and I was cautioned by my host Juggie to be careful else I might trip. Actually, escaped few such incidents while I was about to hit somebody’s feet and trip.

After the first 8/9K there was a down hill and the hill called Pollyshrotts . Enjoyed the down hill and the pace increased. But at that time, I was oblivious of the fact that the downhill pace is hitting the quad and calf muscles hard.

As per plan the first 20 kilometreswere smooth, and the excitement of the crowd was pushing me hard. At the 38th Kmt mark while I was taking a hydration break, I found that the 10 hours Bus crossed me. In a hurry I terminated my break and joined the bus thinking that I will sail with it till the finish.


Continued with it for next 10 Kmts and after the midpoint the steep downhill started. I was happy that now around 16 to 17K downhill will be easy and can cover some lost time due the uphill climbs till that point, But to my surprise, 2 Kmts into the downhill stretch I started getting the pain in my quad and calf muscles. Also a cramp set into my ankle and feet. I was unable to land on my feet straight. Tried to pull on few meters and now it was impossible to move. I had to stop and looked for help desperately. The volunteers were so prompt, that they came to my rescue immediately and one of them was holding a mug of gel. He applied the gel all over my calf, quad, waist, feet and ankle. They asked me to sit for 10/15 minutes and restart when the pain is gone. Being a staunch believer of Lord Jagannath, I offered a prayer to Him and pleaded for His help to finish the race at least before 11 hours, the Plan B as advised by Coach.

After few minutes the pain was gone, and I started to move. The caution came from the volunteers, “don’t run fast in the downhill, just jog down the hill if you want to finish the race”. I found a lot of sense in their words and jogged down the hill. By God’s grace I did not face any more issue on the way and glided through rest of the 40Kmts without looking at any pace. While I was making my turn towards the iconic Moses Mobhida Stadium (the venue for the finish at Durban)from the main road after the Durban Flyover, I heard a fellow runner saying to his friend, “no need to stretch now as a finish at 10.59 and 10.30 will earn you the same medal – bronze medal, and we have missed the sub-10 already and let’s enjoy the last 2kmts”.

I realised the fact that I am to enjoy the last 2 Kmts as well and took it easy.

I must say the experience of Coach running the route before and his tips helped when I had to change to plan B at 50th kilometre and tweaked the original plan for 10:45 finish and finally I finished 10:45:24 as per gun time and 10:38:51 as per chip time.

When you run Comrades, certain things you must take on your stride such as cramps, hallucination and ecstasy. The rules I followed through the route are :

- Be aware of the signals of cramps and manage it.
- Be in senses all the time and a deliberate attempt can avoid hallucination due to excessive exhaustion.
- Soak into the ecstatic feeling and enjoy ...

The support throughout the route has to be experienced to believe. It was awesome. The cheering crowd both sides of the entire 90K distance were looking like God sent angels.

The final entry into the stadium has some rituals which the international runners practice as an unwritten code - take out the respective national flag, ensure you hold it as per flag code and run into the stadium. I had carried a tricolour in my back pack. I brought it out when it was around 400 meters to the finish line. Before, I held it , I had to reverse the tricolour wristband so that when I raise my hand with the tricolour, the wristband also shows the correct alignment i.e. Saffron at top and the green at bottom.




The feeling of running with the tricolour overhead to the cheers of the packed galleries was a lifetime experience of ecstasy and fulfilment. Thanked Lord Jagannath thousand times while I was stepping on to the finishing mat, The rituals of taking the medal, Comrades badge and post run pictures with the group and Coach for social media bragging was also there.

Sitting in the international participants enclosure when I looked back, few people who were clearly visible to me thousands of miles away in Moses Mabhida Stadium at Durban are:
Minati , my better half who shared my dream of running Comrades as much as I did.
Ankit , my son who ensured that I have the right shoe, right gadgets to train and get ready.
Last but not the least, my Coach Amit Kumar who monitored my progress away from his location as I was away at Pune.
No amount of gratitude will be enough for their love and affection.....

We came across some really God sent angels for us in Petermarizburg who ensured our stay at Petermarizburg extremely comfortable at their houses with all possible amenities including the drop at start line in time. Mr Ajith and his wife Arthi , Mr Juggie, Mrs Rani and Mr Roy , all of them really overwhelmed us with their love and affection for us. Thanks to Rakesh Kumar and Amit Kumar who nurtured this relationship since their last Comrades in 2019.

Finally at my 59th year of existence I ran past the finish line of Comrades Marathon a dream come true for me.

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