My experience running Moab 240 Endurance Run
#moab240 Endurance Race!!! (About 400 kilometers) Wow. What a race. On October 11th, 2022, I completed this impossible race. What I considered once almost impossible for me, I was able to respect mother nature and conquer the course. It was full of anxiety, pain, agony, despair, and euphoria. The journey to this race took me through some of the most unique experiences, met and became friends with numerous ultra-runners who all had one common goal; to challenge and push themselves to the limits. I understand that I would be running day and night in the vast wilderness of Moab, UT with about 29,000 feet of ascent and a total elevation change of about 58,000 feet. I was not worried about the distance or elevation. I have done this type of climbing and training many times back home in Nepal. But what I feared most was running without sleep. I didn’t train running without sleep. Well, I wanted this to be an adventure and wanted to challenge what my body and mind can endure and how far I can push myself. One of the things I am exceptionally good at is blocking negative thoughts and this has helped me tremendously in my ultraruns.
The race started on Friday 6 am on October 7th and ended on Tuesday 6:30 pm October 11. October 7th happened to be my son Aatish 14th birthday. Even though I was sad that I won’t be celebrating his birthday with him, I was happy and determined to give him a long-lasting gift, ‘Moab 240 Endurance Race finisher’. 260 brave souls from different parts of the world attempted to traverse through rocky, hilly, scenic trails with back drops of amazing canyons. Only 167 survived and completed the race. A lot of DNF’s have already dreamed and devised plans on how to complete the race in 2023. The course is filled with very complex technical rocky trails full of sharp rocks and vertical climbs. What started as a fun hill run turned into a nightmare due to intense heat sometime reaching to 100 degrees and low water level reserve. Mile 20 through 30 (10 miles) was the hardest run I ever made in my life. I was so close to giving up as I was feeling the effect of dehydration. Every time I have doubt in myself, I always hear two voices. The evil voice of quitting kept growing louder and louder. But I remembered my cousin telling me ‘Run your own race’ and remembered the main purpose of running this race. I was able to suppress the evil voice and keep moving forward. I do not want to be known as a quitter. Normally in most cases, people say ‘Listen to your mind’, but in these types of races, it’s exactly the opposite. “Listen to your body, not your mind.” My knowledge of dealing with dehydration helped me carry on. And beside my good childhood buddy Govinda was there with me. We were both pacers and runners for each other. We were both pushing and pulling each other through difficult times.
We slept total of 8-9 hours in about 4 ½ days running through 240 miles and pushed ourselves to the absolute limit. We slept wherever we could, whenever our body asked for it. Mother earth was our dear bed and dark sky with shiny stars was our ceiling. It never felt so good to lie down on the bed of rocks. We were totally comfortable with what nature had to offer. One of the things that we were reminded of was the quick change in weather that can occur. And did we experience that. After battling through 90 – 100 degrees heat during daytime, we had to cope with below freezing weather, and wind gust of probably 20-25 mile per hour up in the mountains. We were constantly carrying our emergency gear with us. One of the things that helped me sleep during this cold windy time was emergency bivy. It was so thin, yet so warm as it traps the heat. It became my best gear. As we were about to ascend the first mountain, Shay Mountain about 8700 feet, we had to navigate through stream with lush green bushes. For some reason in the back of my head, I was thinking that we would encounter some wild animals. And it became true. A scary encounter. We were moving in a pack of 5 runners, and we saw two mountain lions staring at us. Because of lots of commotion and noise and bright lights, they ran away. What a lucky night. But then every time I had to traverse through bushy trails, I was scared.
Never felt so good to sleep on the bed of rocks
While sleeping for few mins here and there, I was able to cope most of the time, but it creeped on me when I climbed La Sal mountains (about 11,000 feet) without sleeping for 36 plus hours. The first half was a steep rocky climb in the intense heat, while the second half was in the evening and night that was dark and cold. During this time, I started calling Govinda as Rajesh many times. I even called another runner Rajesh LOL. I told Govinda that he should go check his hearing as he was not responding. I must be hallucinating. A disaster almost occurred while climbing this big mountain. It was a narrow dirt trail with land on the right side while a deep gorge on the left side. As we were climbing up this narrow trail with minimal energy, Govinda’s left leg slipped and almost fell in this deep dark gorge. I was right behind him and my instantaneous reaction to wrap him around his waist stopped him from falling. What a scary moment. By this time, we were scared and so tired. Govinda started taking a 10-minute power nap every 30-40 minutes. After a few of these power naps, he suddenly got energized and kept moving. Even walking 2 miles was so long and tiring. One of the things that kept pushing me was the chance to see my happy, encouraging smiley faces of our crews: my wife Anju; sisters, Rammaya and Saraswati; nephew Ranish (chief crew); Govinda’s daughter Meriya and her friend Maddy. Not sure how we can continue without the delicious Daal Bhaat Aalu, our staple food (Rice / Lentils / Potato curry) that they had prepared for us. BEST FOOD IN THE WORLD. Even though it may not pack the most carbs / protein, chance to eat our staple food boosted our confidence and psychology. This is so critical when you are doing ultra-marathons.
Happy moment after running and climbing about 170 miles
So good to embrace your loved ones: Anju and Tata
Govinda even got a chance to do some runway work.
Stage: Trail
After sleeping for 2 hours at 11,000 feet, we got up for our final 40 miles journey. As I was readying, I staggered and almost lost my balance. I saw concern in my sister and my wife’s face, and I had to assure them that I was fine. Nothing was stopping me. I gathered myself and started walking uphill towards the trail. The last 18 miles was an absolute heartbreaker. It was darn too hot and rocky and sharing the trail with mountain bikers was not fun. I felt like we were left to boil in the oven. I am not sure how we got the energy; we ran about 32 miles of the last 40 miles. We passed so many runners and they were so surprised and in awe as we were actually running about 4 – 5 miles per hour after such a long grueling 200 miles. As we were descending the canyon, I was dehydrated and scared. It was one of the dangerous sections (4 miles to the finish line) and a single slip will lead to 600-700 feet fall and definitely to death. But the smell of the finish line and the faint voice of my wife calling me, my nephew calling me kept me moving forward. After 8-10 minutes, we saw them in the distance, which brought tears to my eyes. Govinda (my running brother) and I hugged, and we both cried in exuberance. We felt we were so close to our dream, our destiny. Once we saw them, the warmth in the hug of my wife and sister gave me extra jolt. We all walked together for the last 2 1/2 miles. After running for 4 ½ days; about 108 hours with a total of about 8 hours sleep and burning about 39,000 calories, we crossed the finish line with our pride, Nepali flag raised high. It was such a satisfaction. I realized my dream. We realized our dream.
Natural hairstyle after running 3 ½ days without shower
God sent John who helped us. Thank you!
So close to the Finish Line. With family
The race won’t be possible without my crew and family.
Ranish: what can I say. I LOVE YOU MAN. You the BEST. You are the best chief crew I could ever ask for.
Rammaya Tata, Saraswati tata, not sure how to thank you all. Thank u Meriya and Maddy. Seeing you all there is so much to me.
Thank you Sanu bhena and niece Roli / Sali / Sanir and Benny for taking care of Aatish and Rayna.
I also want to thank my family back home in Nepal, Dad / Mom / Dinesh, Sahadev, sisters, and everyone, I LOVE you all.
There is no superlative to describe you Anju for your support, love and guidance. Nothing but LOVE and THANK U!!!
Thank you ‘CrossFit Germantown Performance’ and coach Shad, Beth, Leah and Gerald for pushing me harder during the class. I felt way stronger towards the last 60 miles. The intense core workouts, the squats definitely paid off. I can feel the difference when I was climbing those big mountains.
I would also like to thank Dr. Christina Lee from Integrative Chiropractic & Rehabilitation and Daisy Tran from Heritage Acupuncture for helping me prepare, heal and relax my body and muscles from intense workouts.
There is so much support and blessing from everyone both direct and indirect. However, there is one group which is invisible, yet vital to the success of my running. The MUSIC BANDS. They are so near and dear to me and have become MY FAMILY. Sometimes when I am down and out, their soothing music uplifts my soul, makes me forget all the agony, pain and despair and helps me march to my GOAL. There are so many bands to thank for their beautiful creation, but I would specifically like to give A BIG SHOUT OUT to Tumbleweed Inc., Shree3, Pinkfloyd, Rage Against The Machine. I probably listened to ‘Existence in Uncertainty’, ‘River’, ‘Kathmandu’, ‘Badlindo Samaaj’, ‘Echoes’, ‘Comfortably Numb’, ‘Invincible’, ‘Fear Inocolum’, ‘No Shelter’, ‘Bulls on Parade’, ‘Killing in the name’ and many more hundreds of times. They are always on top of my list. As an #ultrarunner I tend to relate myself to the story of their songs. Your music, your creation is always there, when no one is there. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and keep creating master pieces.
Tears of Joy!!
There were two main reasons for me to run this 240-mile race. One of the main reasons I wanted to run this race was to have spiritual healing and connection with my late uncle. He left us some 26 years ago. I am who I am because of him. I felt like a part of me died when he passed away. It always makes me feel guilty when I remember him. He was there for me all the time when I was vulnerable, when I needed him the most. But I couldn’t be there for him when he needed me the most. Sometimes, life is so cruel. There hasn’t been a single day I haven’t remembered him. I believed that if I push myself to the absolute limit, I can talk to him, I can whisper to him, I can hug him. I know he was looking after me from above when I was struggling and staggering, he was giving me extra strength.
Another reason was to fundraise for Nepal Educational and Culture Committee’s (NECC) wellness initiatives; “The Trail Project”. The objective was to build an approximately 1-mile trail (5-6 feet wide) that will run through the perimeter of NECC’s property. It will serve as a common platform that will promote wellness and bring the community together. With the growing Nepalese community in the DC metropolitan area and in the US in general, the Trail project is perfect work that aligns with my vision of bringing the community together for better health. It’s not only the Nepali community, but communities of other faiths and beliefs can come together for a healthier cause. As my children started growing up, I wanted them to understand and be involved in community work. It is very important for me to set a good example not only to my children, but also to other young people that community is the bedrock of our upbringing. I want to thank Prajwal, Khitiz, Puru, Prabesh, Pradeep, Mohan, Pramod ‘The Trail Project’ coordinators for helping me fundraise in this project and be part of NECC community. And finally, I want to thank all the people from bottom of my heart who donated on this exceptional cause.
Proposed trail around the NECC
BE GOOD DO GOOD
#NepaPower✊✊✊
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