‘A journey, not a race’ : The Tribune India

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‘A journey, not a race’

Coupled with perseverance and endurance, 50-year-old retired Lt Col Sundaresan Ranganathan’s passion for running has brought out the ‘fighter’ in him.

‘A journey, not a race’


Amarjot Kaur

Coupled with perseverance and endurance, 50-year-old retired Lt Col Sundaresan Ranganathan’s passion for running has brought out the ‘fighter’ in him. On his 50th birthday, he had successfully run 50 marathons, each of 42.2 km, in 50 weeks across 23 Indian states and union territories. 

At Chandigarh’s Military Literature Festival, for a session on Saragarihi Samvadh, he looks back at the marathons as a journey, not a race. Having served in the Indian Army for 23 years, Sundaresan sought retirement in 2012 and pursued his passion for which he had started preparing in 2008. “I have always loved running and have been preparing myself for marathons since eight years. It was only in May, a year ago, when I ran Comrades Ultra-Marathon in South Africa, covering a distance of 89 km over five mountains. I’d completed it in 11 hours 52 minutes,” he gushes with pride. 

And he ran...

A journey that began on December 11, 2016, at Vasai Virar’s marathon came a full circle on November 19, 2017, at the Indian Navy marathon in Mumbai, just a day before his birthday. These 50 weeks, though, have not been a cakewalk for Sundaresan who lost his father soon after he finished his 19th marathon and had to run 42 km twice for two consecutive weeks because he fell ill soon after his 44th marathon. 

“It was a setback. My father died in April and I was to leave for Guwahati the next day. Knowing that I wanted to complete ‘50 marathons in 50 weeks’ mission before I turned 50, my mother suggested that instead of going to Mumbai, I continue with my journey,” he says, teary-eyed, but resumes a casual tone soon after. “Also, in the 43rd week, the doctor diagnosed me with viral and I had to skip two marathons for which I later made up by running twice in two weeks,” he says.

For a cause

It was perhaps the cause for which Sundaresan was running that gave him the strength to carry on relentlessly. His mission called ‘run with a soldier, run for a soldier’ was targeted at generating money for the families of martyrs. “I tied up with Mumbai-based Global Foundation and generated more than Rs 27 Lakh, out of which one lakh each was given to 27 families. I have been posted in places like Poonch, Siachen Glacier, Doda, Srinagar, Nathu La etc. I have seen causalities and it’s a cause that, as an ex-Army person, I feel very strongly for,” he adds.

Places and people

A qualified marathon trainer from the American College of Sports Medicine, Sundaresan has run in places like Kargil, Shimla, Sikkim, Guwahati, Manipur, Delhi, Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Ludhiana. “Out of all these places, I loved Sikkim because as such there was no marathon there, but I’d requested the Indian Army to arrange one for me. The weather, the people, the landscape of Sikkim is mesmerising,” he says while listing out the best places to run in India. 

Chandigarh and Chennai make it to his good-city list too, but Ludhiana, he shall remember for its callousness towards punctuality. “I’d requested the organisers to arrange an early morning run for me at the Ludhiana marathon, but no one showed up. So, I ran alone, sharing drinking water from watchmen, guards, or whoever I found on the streets. Nevertheless, it did remind me of the inherent good in people, in strangers... I’ll always remember it like that,” he smiles.

Presently, Sundaresan gives motivational lectures at corporate offices and he does plan to run again.

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