Bunch of Lies

The other day I met someone rather interesting. As a child, he grew up under difficult circumstances. Was very weak and would suffer bouts of malaria every now and then. Was diagnosed with a tumour and was operated four times before he turned 17. Spent 11 months in the hospital recovering from the last surgery. And oh, by the way, he weighed 35 kg when he was in class IX.

What business does this guy have running? I mean, should he not be just happy that he survived this long, has a good job, got married and has kids? Why even bother running?

But then, our friend does not think that way. He wanted to be an inspiration to his children. He wanted to do something extraordinary. He wanted to go that extra mile.

Extra mile? Ha! This guy does not know when to stop.

For instance, he got into running by starting to run from Haridwar and did not stop till he reached Baghpat. Over 160 kms in less than 24 hours.

Delhi to Jaipur in 33 hours.

First Indian to cross 300 miles in a 6 day race in Australia.

Ran from Delhi to Chandigarh. And then came back to Delhi. 550 km in 122 hours.

A day before people were preparing for running the Delhi Half Marathon in 2007, he ran 24 hours on a treadmill for 164 km.

224 kms in 31 hours in the Thar Desert

First Indian to surpass 100 miles in a 24 hour race

First Indian to win an international Ultra at the George Archer 6 day circuit race

And then the icing on the cake – the first resident Indian to participate in and complete the toughest race on the planet – The 135 mile Badwater Ultra that starts at a point below the sea level and ends at a point 8000 feet above sea level. He took 41 hours to finish the run.

I think these achievements are sufficient to establish the credentials of this running machine. He is Arun Bhardwaj, the most elite of India’s tribe of ultra runners.

Contrast Arun’s upbringing and his achievements and you can’t help but be amazed by the sheer willpower of the human mind. Nobody in the world would have expected that Arun would grow up to be an elite runner. In fact there was every reason for Arun to say no to a life of running. He was after all, a weak child who did not come from a sporting background.

Suddenly, the phrase Impossible is Nothing comes alive with Arun’s achievements.

So what is the moral of the story? If there is something that you think you cannot do because of circumstances in the past or you not being in the right place at the right time, or because of your physical, mental or genetic make-up, all that you are doing is telling the world – and yourself – a bunch of lies.