Embracing mountains - a runner's perspective

As I am leaving for Shimla tomorrow for a 25k road race on sunday, I had some thoughts about mountains and my love for them...what are the things that pass your mind when you think about them.

- beautiful green scenery
- fresh air
- Virginity
- Gigantism
- Quietness

What else? Actually these adjectives are very small to describe them. They are truly magnificent, they are so tranquil and they give unconfined gazes of heavenly views. It is typical human outlook of mountains. People have found solace and spirituality there since time immemorial and accepted them as their home in isolation from civilization. Most of the modern sapians too crave for taking a break from their lame rat race and visit mountains to experience the serenity, lack of stress and the sheer vastness of the universe on display. There seem like no better place than mountains to see so much enormous terrain in one stare. The huge mass has such grandeur and supremacy that it is respected by one and all and it make us humans realize how unimportant and small our existence is, compared to these colossal structures.

But aside from above spectacle of watching things, there is also a second breed of creatures who are not much impressed by the breathtaking panorama of peaks, nor do the lack of chaotic surroundings score high on their pleasure buds. They rather find the monstrous enormity of the terrain challenging and intimidating. All the grandiose of mountains makes them feel the need to conquer them and establish human superiority. It is this very virtue of restlessness and pride that see them take over the mission of winning the mountains by climbing, running over, hiking, jumping from or whatever other way found most unachievable to reach the top. This way, they apparently prove the hills ordinary.

For such ego trippers, one of the ways to satisfy their conscience, is through endurance sports. Running events are one example. There are many in mountains proclaiming tag lines like 'world's most grueling' and with all the braggadocio about the difficulties on course. Participation is seen from all kind of loonies (including me, for upto half marathon yet😜) seeking to quench adrenaline thirst. Ultramarathon events see people running hundreds of miles crossing most extreme conditions only to finish a seemingly pointless pursuit on feet. But, Howsoever meaningless, a sort of contentment is felt from surviving the challenges posed by mountains in the form of isolation, connectivity (lack of it), extreme weather, rough terrain, vertigo and the continuous physical demands required to defy gravity. The uphill tests your endurance and leave you with only two choices: reach the top or turn around. Reaching the top only requires the perseverance to keep putting one foot in front of the other. It is a life lesson which tells us to keep taking one step at a time so as not to break in difficult situations.

My personal reasons to embrace mountains are a mix of above reasons.

First, I don't proclaim to be a very profound nature lover. Infact, I am yet to take a first hand experience of hiking or backpacking trip. But I do respect and admire what little I could see till date and I advocate to preserve the aroma and silence of these pristine lands.

Second, I do not qualify on the scale of lunatic challenges taken by climbers, ultrarunners and other champion combatants who take the nature head on and accomplish impossible looking tasks. My only achievements in the context are running (or jog walking) a few half marathons in hill towns and surviving some semi-long runs whenever I go vacationing these places on a weekend. I have attempted a meekly half marathon at leh Ladakh in 2014 and could barely finish it in cut-off time walking all the way 10 km onwards. But, I find pleasure in trying to learn from these humbling experiences, to improve myself and try new and more challenging hilly chores. I think, running the hills pose quite a challenge and it's satisfying at the finish.

Running exotic races make a good excuse to come to the mountains. It's meditation. Letting your muscles work while resting your brain from the steady stream of demands modern society brings, a calm that is hard to find in civilization. I am lucky enough to be living at the Himalayan bottom with some really breathtaking and gruelling terrain to cover.

It's also healthy. I live in Delhi's less than optimum air quality, and 'pollucationing' gives some temporary respite to refreshen your system. So, I frequently take the opportunity to tour places and run them over to soak as much of the mountainous aura inside me as possible. 

Strava feed for some of my mountain runs: