My 53rd Birthday which I will remember for a long time to come ..
Me with few runner friends decided to take on the mighty hills of Darjeeling as one of our comrades training runs.
It was on 23rd of March that we left for Darjeeling via Delhi to Badgogra by flight, not by running 😄 and there after travelled by car to Darjeeling.
On 24th March, on a chilly morning we had a easy 10km warm up run . We met up with Kiran's friend Suman and few local runners and also had the pleasure to meet Prolad Roka the Rotary President of Darjeeling .
What a contrast the weather was as compared to Mumbai . We were breathing pure oxygen . After a good rest and little sight seeing, we left by car to Mirik which is around 50 + kms from Darjeeling . Mirik is famous for its orange orchards and tea gardens, largest suppliers of oranges in West Bengal, it's a small beautiful city surrounded by Tea estates which produces world's finest tea. It's also the native of our comrade Kiran Giri .
We reached Mirik on 25th March .
We visited Buddhist Monastery and later on went to Kiran's home and met his family members. There was so much of positivity around and one could only hear the birds chirping, the place was like heaven on earth . We had a detailed route support plan with Kiran's friends and left to hotel.
We started our run on 26th at 5am . In this part of India, the sun rises very early so at 5 am even without the street lights the roads were visible. We started off by running down the hills towards a place called Ghayabari. Weather was awesome . Kiran's dad too ran with us for a few kilometres! Me and Kiran decided to run along with the slow runners and help them to reach the 25 kms mark .
We had a great start , Babu could not keep up with our slow pace so he left us and raced ahead but as we promised we were enjoying our run with the slow runners and exchanging our running experiences, chit chatting and enjoying the beautiful hills and the view of the tea gardens.
Now we were going down Mirik hills from 1495 meters to 870 mtrs. And as we reached 13kms we turned back to Mirik . Now we were climbing the hill all the way to Mirik . Once we reached Miriam, rest of the runners who didn't want to run the whole route, joined us . After few kms from Miriam, me and Kiran parted ways with the slow runners.
The route which we were running from Mirik to Darjeeling is really awesome. We were running in between the Tea Estates . It was very hilly, we were climbing from 870 Meters to 2100 Meters. Kiran's friends were supporting us with three cars and a bike, throughout our run. They were simply awesome. We never had an issue of shortage of water or anything during our entire run. There were around 3 to 4 photographer friends of Kiran, who also joined us. The support guys were more in number than the runners.
It was such a pleasant surprise to see local people supporting us . They were getting lime water and welcoming us with Namaste and wrapped scarfs around our neck with great respect and offered us many dishes to eat . We felt so humble in front of them and they made us feel so proud of our achievements . They have such a rich culture and one has to learn from them on hospitality and respect they give to their guest . It was such a pleasant surprise to see a big gatherings in few places on the road welcoming us runners , even though this was a small training run. Whenever we crossed such small towns, we felt more energetic by their warm reception .
Now we reached the Simana India-Nepal border and was running the route where on one side it was Nepal and other side India. It was an historic run. But the climb was very steep . We had to walk many times. When we reached Darjeeling, we had a heroic welcome by Kiran's friends.
This was by far the most difficult and at the same time the most satisfying and beautiful race I have ever run. Tough is what made it better.
Thanks to Kiran's friends Binod Gupta, Manoj Gupta, Suman, Kundan, Keshav, Andy, Bhim, Anjup, his brothers Dipendra and Uday, and all the local people who made us feel like a hero.
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My birthday was celebrated in Darjeeling after the run with Kiran's friends and we really had a blast till late night . They brought in my birthday with great fun and enjoyment.
Next day morning when we woke up, we came to know the flight was cancelled from Bgadogra to Delhi so I Tele checked in and changed my flight to 3.30 pm but when I reached airport, I came to know that my booking was wait listed , I was supposed to reach Mumbai on my birthday but thanks to #JetAirways they made me stay at a hotel in Siliguri on 27th March and next day 28th March at 3.30 pm I boarded the flight to Delhi. The flight from Delhi was further delayed so finally I reached Mumbai on 29th at around 2 am so it was an Endurance training for comrades till my home 😂😂😂 .
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