Category: Trail running
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How Serious Are You About a Race If You Reach the Race Location and Realise You’ve Forgotten Your Gear?
If I were asking this on race morning, I could forgive someone for forgetting one small item. Race-day nerves are real, and sometimes things slip through the cracks. But if you are travelling to a destination or mountain race, where the organisers have been repeatedly messaging you about mandatory gear, and you still arrive without…
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Mountain Training Week
Finally, back in the mountains for some much-needed mountain-leg training. I missed this last year and went to Chiang Mai UTMB without much climbing-specific training. I had planned to head to Rishikesh or somewhere similar after VDHM, but an unexpected bout of dengue meant that even my training was limited for a while. This isn’t…
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Monsoon Training: Late Starts and Treadmill Run
August is the rainy season in Delhi. Unlike places like Kerala where I am from, the rain here is not so pretty… Delhi simply doesn’t have the infrastructure to handle this much rain. Drainage is inadequate, roads flood, and once the water rises, already-broken roads can become quite dangerous. And with climate change, the weather…
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Two Years of Trail Femmes: Trails, Miles, Smiles & Lot of Magic
And, just like that we turned two! When Trail Femmes began, it was not about building a huge community; it started as a safe space for women to come together on trails. Just like how many running stores go, what started as a short run turned into a space for women to show up as…
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Race Report | Chiang Mai by UTMB – HMOG 50 (56 km)
Race Day: December 6, Saturday Distance: 56KM Weather Conditions: Not so cold as I thought it should be Let’s start with the truth: I’ve had better race days… There is nothing pretty about this one. No gentle introductions, no rolling warm-ups. This race gets straight to the point – steep climbs and equally steep downhills,…
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INTHANON20 | Chiang Mai Thailand by UTMB: A Warm-Up That Warmed My Heart
Race day: November 30 Location: DOI Inthanon National Park Weather Conditions: Pretty cold and freezing INTHANON20 was meant to be a “shakeout race” before the big one next weekend, but it turned out to be so much more… a reminder of why I love toeing a start line, feeling the buzz of runners around me,…
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Life’s Best Detours are Found Off-road!
I recently stumbled upon the quote, “Life’s best detours are found off-road.”And I haven’t been able to shake it off since. It made me reflect deeply on why I’m a trail runner. It wasn’t just because the best ultras happen on trails or because I went through a phase of being obsessed with ultrarunning. It’s…
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Bhatti Mines Ultra 2025 | Race Recap
As winter faded and Delhi-NCR stepped into the warmth of summer, a group of passionate trail runners took on one of the toughest challenges of the season—the Bhatti Mines Ultra 2025. On March 9, these fearless athletes toed the start line, ready to push their limits on a course that promised both beauty and brutality.…
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Mixing It Up – The Secret Ingredient to Become a Well-Rounded Runner
It’s race season in India, and Strava has been buzzing since October. Training, racing, and more racing – everyone seems to be on a medal-collection spree. For me, it’s not about how one races; it’s about how one trains for it. I’ve noticed certain areas of Delhi-NCR becoming especially crowded during race season, as these…
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Trail Femmes in 2024: Redefining the Trails, One Run at a Time
Earlier this year when a small yet determined group of four women embarked on a journey to redefine their relationship with the trails, it began the story of Trail Femmes, a women-only trail running collective with a mission to empower, inspire, and explore. The Spark Trail running is often seen as intimidating, especially for women,…
