Khardung La Challenge - An Ultra-Marathon at the top of the World

The journey started, a few months back. Training for Comrades Marathon - 2016 gave me an addictive taste of a few months of focus. Since then, I have been trying to do an Ultra-Marathon a year. Ladakh Marathon, a challenging Marathon at 3500 meters (11500 ft), though not an Ultra, stood out in my radar. But, KPJ suggested to try Khardung La Challenge, a 72 KM run that goes from 4000 to 5370 meters (17600 ft), which is organised along with Ladakh Marathon. It's one of the world's Highest Ultra-Marathons. He had done its 2018 edition. After contemplating for a couple of weeks, I signed up.

I had 4 months to train, a good enough time, given where I was. As usual, I opened a spreadsheet and filled all the weekends for the next 4 months, with runs to be done. Also threw a few events (Half-Marathons and Marathons) here and there. I shared the plan in my running group, for committing it and to get feedback. KK suggested a couple of changes. I gladly accepted. As one of my ex-bosses says, I am good at coming up with a schedule, and executing it with surgical precision. That's not too much of an exaggeration! :-) It was not a completely smooth ride, though!

The weekend long runs build endurance. But, without the support of Strengthening & Conditioning, it's impossible to sustain long runs, for months and years. That's where NAMMAxFIT gym helped me. I made it a point to show up at gym at 6:30 am, 3-4 days a week, for an hour of trainer-led, intense Cross-Fit session. While building strength, it also made me go through a couple of injuries. A knot in the left outer calf, and a pull in groin (left adductor). Neither of them effected my runs. They only restricted certain movements in gym. So, I just continued, while nursing them. Thanks to my trainers, I always had an alternative workout to do, if the scheduled one effects the areas of injury. Besides this, my regular deep tissue massage sessions at Shrunga Therapy (by Guru) immensely helped. They made sure that all the tightness in muscles is released, and am always ready for the next run or Cross-Fit session. With this, I was ready and injury-free by the big day.

Evening with Local Kids

Event organizers advised us to arrive in Leh 2 weeks before the event, and visit high altitude areas to get acclimatized to low Oxygen. This is one area, where I should have done better planning. With a bit of over-confidence, I reached Leh, just 5 days before the run. I was expecting a couple of friends from Bengaluru to ship their Bullets to Chandigarh, and ride from there to Leh and beyond. My plan was to join them for rides through high altitude areas, for 3 days. They did ride to Leh. But, a bit late. So, I couldn't join them. I rented an Avenger in Leh and rode it for a couple of days to near by, not so high-altitude, areas. I also did a couple of short runs - 6 KM and 10 KM, in those 5 days in Leh. That added some confidence by the big day.

Khardung is a hamlet on a plateau with some 100 houses, which is around 72 KM from Leh, on the other side of Khardung La. Run starts from there at 3 am and ends at 5 pm in Leh, via Khardung La. We were transported the day before the run to Khardung, and were given accommodation in the homes of villagers. On the way, we got a chance to stop at Khardung La, one of the highest passes and highest motor-able roads in the world at 5370 meters, for a few minutes. I could feel the difference in air in just a few minutes. While doing some heavy breathing, I grabbed a mandatory hot maggi from a small outlet at the top. I didn't pay much attention to the thin air, and the challenge it's going to throw, when we cross it, the following day. At the village, a get-together and entertainment had been arranged for runners. Local people performed folk dance. Local kids stole the show, with their pink cheeks and high energy. After the get-together, doctors did a quick check-up of runners to ensure that their Oxygen saturation and BP are good enough for the run. I recorded 90% Oxygen saturation. That seems to be a Go.

Exotic Toilet

After a good buffet dinner, early in the evening, we dispersed to our rooms. I had 3 more room-mates. Local guide showed us the room & toilet. The toilet was quite intimidating. It's a small room with a 4 feet high door on a raised platform. There was a hole on the floor, of around 1 square feet size. In one corner of the room, there was a heap of soil and a shovel. That's it. No light, no water. We are supposed to shoot into the hole and use shovel to throw some soil on the stuff shot. He also showed us a can of water, 100 meters away from the house, in case we need. We looked at each other and moved to our room. We were asked to get up at 1 am, and be there at breakfast by 2 am. We hardly had 4 hours to sleep. I managed to sleep for around 3 hours. I successfully used the exotic toilet at 1 am, wearing a head-light.

We lined up at 3 am, after a light breakfast. 142  runners showed up, out of 170 registrations. Temperature was around 3°C. From Khardung to Khardung La, it's a steady climb with a moderate inclination. The run has 4 cut-off points at 32 KM, 46 KM, 58 KM and 72 KM. The first and crucial cut-off is at Khardung La/32 KM/8 hours. Though 8 hours sounds like a pretty comfortable time for 32 KM, quick altitude gain, close to Khardung La, killed my average pace. I, along with Utsav - my room-mate in Khardung, started my usual Run/Walk at a leisurely pace. We held the course at a consistent pace, till North Pullu, 18 KM from the start. Utsav moved ahead at North Pullu, while I was struggling to tie my shoe laces. I removed my shoes to wear a compression pants given by a fellow runner, as I started the run in shorts, despite 3 °C. I struggled to tie them back, as my hands/fingers were almost frozen. After that brief struggle, I tagged along a couple of other runners from there. One of them had run this before. He advised me to take it very easy for the next 14 KM, even if I felt that I could do better, due to low Oxygen. We walked from there all the way up to the top. AMS - Mountain Sickness kicked in for me, around 5 KM before Khardung La. I felt dizzy and took around 15 to 20 minutes each to cover those 5 KM, and reached the top in 6 hour 50 minutes. That's still a comfortable time, given the 8 hour cut-off.

At 3 AM

As I was fighting AMS, I only spent a couple of minutes at Khardung La, though there was a support station with hot soup, sandwiches etc., From the top, it's 42 KM down-hill. With around 7 hours in hand and barely used legs, it's totally doable. But, AMS stayed on, though I was moving to lower and lower altitude. The descent towards Leh was more gradual than ascent. That's not good for AMS. It was a very interesting and also scary state. I could listen to my own thoughts, as if someone was talking me. When someone say something from the right-side of me, I hear it from the left-side, after a few minutes. Every few minutes, I get a feeling that I was about to faint. That sums up my AMS experience. I continued with it for around 7 hours. There were army ambulances and doctors stationed at a few places. If I inform them, they may ask me to sniff some Oxygen from a cylinder , and I would be disqualified from the race. I didn't consider that option. Instead, I shook my head hard, every time I felt dizzy and continued. That helped. I also figured out that, I could sustain short bursts of speed run, but not long and slow run. I just followed that for another 15 to 20 KM. I met Utsav again at 58 KM, with 14 KM to go. He was also a bit down with AMS and knee pain. It's his first Ultra and he had only done 2 Marathons before. I assured him that this was my 100th event, and I was not going to give up and no question of DNF. Told him to just follow me, and I would take him to the finish, with 30 minutes buffer. We continued short bursts of running followed by walk, for another 7-8 KM. At 7 KM to go, we both figured out that we may faint at any moment, if we continue even short bursts. I grabbed a lot of salt at a support station and gulped it with a glass of water. That brought back my senses. We decided to walk the last 7, as we had a lot of buffer time. With that, we finished at 13:36,  24 minutes before the 14 hour cut-off.

120 runners (out of 142) finished before the 14 hour cut-off. My rider friends were waiting at the finish line, with a bottle of coconut water. I gave them an ETA between 12 hour 30 minutes and 13 hours. Thanks to AMS, I added an hour to that. They were overjoyed to see me finish! AMS effect vanished, the moment I entered Leh. I didn't even eat/drink anything other than that bottle of coconut water, for the next 3 hours. Friday seems to be a dry-day in Leh (Not just a NO alcohol day. It's a NO Non-Veg day, as well). So, we had to celebrate with some Veg Pizzas, heavily loaded with cheese.

The event, training, mountains and AMS experience will stay fresh in my mind for sometime. The big learning from the event is, "Don't underestimate the altitude". My quick recovery tells that my training had been good. If I do this event again, the only thing that I would change is, acclimatization.

Elevation Map