On March 29, NV Suresh got into his Swift VH5, drove to Bengaluru and then drove back on March 31. In between, he spent 45 hours running non-stop for 250 km at the Hennur Bamboo Marathon. “I finished at 3.00 am and returned home. I was back at work the following morning,”says Suresh, who works as a senior engineer at Pricol, Perinaickapalayam.
Suresh started long distance running only in 2014. “It was when I took part in my first running event at the Coimbatore Marathon. I ran 21 km.” The running continued as he took part in Marathons in Mumbai, Cochin, Hyderabad, Puducherry and more. The 48-year-old says he had been a sprinter back in his school days. “But I kept fit. I routinely climb the Vellingiri hills and it takes me just two hours. I do it it in the afternoons to build up my endurance and stamina. That held me in good stead at Hennur,” says Suresh shyly. He finished as Runner Up in the 250 K.
Suresh NV | Photo Credit: S Siva Saravanan
He has always been in the top 25 runners in events that range from running 50 km at the Javadhu Hills Ultra (he came in second) and 110 km at the Malnad Ultra (23rd place) to the 130 km of the Kodaikanal Ultra (he was fourth). The Hennur Ultra has been his longest run so far. “Eighteen of us participated, of which eight were from the Armed Forces. Though it was in Bengaluru, the temperatures hovered around 35° Celsius. My afternoon excursions up the Vellingri Hills came to my rescue.” Still 250 km non-stop seems daunting, and he finished the race in 45 hours (the cut off was 59 hours). “I had the Ladakh Ultra on my mind. That kept me going,” he explains. The rarefied and exclusive 333 km Marathon is one of the toughest in the world and Suresh hopes he will be fit and financially flush enough to make it there.
- Suresh is 48 years old weighs 55kg (he has been the same weight for the last 25 years!) and is 152 cm tall.
- He runs 20 km three or four times a week. He gets out of home at 3.00 am and returns by 5.30 am.
- If he is training for an event then he runs a longer distance of 20 km each day. He has to report to work at 7. 30 am.
He ran the Hennur through bamboo forests all night long, with just watermelon and water for sustenance. When he felt tired, he just stopped, stood where he was, shut his eyes and recouped (“like a crow” he laughs). So it mattered nothing at all to him that there were scorpions and centipedes on the forest floor. “There were no snakes,” he assures me.
Suresh wears a Casio watch. “It only tells the time. Nothing else!” He dislikes wearing fitness tracking devices. “They slow me down and constantly checking my heart rate, or the distance run, etc. is just added pressure. I just like to run.” And his diet? “Whatever my wife cooks, I eat. I am particular about eating ghee. I enjoy bread, jam and cheese. As a vegetarian, I eat plenty of vegetables and sometimes almonds.”