Only 30% oxygen, 17580 feet and a run from the world's second highest motorable pass, Tang Lang La. With the sky filled with an ocean of clouds, and the sun beating down, it was a pleasant cold day at the top. Snow caps to your left, and the Tanglang peak to the right, and view covering more than a hundred miles towards Morey Plains behind you, words aren't enough to describe the experience at Tang Lang La.
Most of the runners and crew have arrived a week earlier, which meant they were better acclimatized to the altitude.
As for me, having arrived only two days earlier, the acclimatization was just sufficient. Mark Woolley wanted to go Tang Lang La, for a recce of the route, as well as, to get some running exposure at that altitude. SeowKong Kim, the ultra-runner from Malaysia, also joined in. We were a total of six people, including two crew members for each runner.
Before we started at eight am in the morning, I got a decent walk up to Shanti Stupa, where we had the marathon the previous day. Tang Lang La, was about a 100 kilometres from Leh, and the roads were mostly good.
We started as planned, and had a small tea stop at Upshi. We passed through a few villages, Taru, Gya, Sasoma, Rumptse, before hitting the uphill to Tang Lang La.
We walked the last one kilometre of uphill leading to Tang Lang La. Mark was gracious enough to wait for me, while I changed over to some warm gear. We spent a few minutes on top of the pass, evaluating the course, and also taking pictures of the marvellous scenery around.
I skipped the morning run in anticipation of this run, and was hoping that I would be able to run along with Mark and Seowkong. Being downhill, I had a 10kph pace in mind, which is reasonable at lower altitudes.
When we started, Mark and Seowkong were a few paces ahead, and I was following them. After a few minutes, I had some breathlessness, and the altitude began to take its toll. I continued slowly putting each step forward. The road was of dirt, because of which, I wasn't getting enough bounce from the shoes, which made each step harder.
I stopped a couple of times, to get water, and after a while, I could hear my heart pounding like a metronome. I haven't felt such pounding even at peak interval training for 100 or 200m intervals. I started walking downhill. Meanwhile, Mark and Seowkong had extended their lead quite a bit. The only regret that I had was that I couldn't run along with them.
At around six km, Mark, the crew car caught up with me, and asked me to join back in. With the tarmac, only a few metres ahead, and knowing that I would be able to get a better pace on the tarmac, I insisted that I run for another km or so. I asked the crew car to wait for ten minutes and then start.
The run on the tarmac was quite good. I was still facing breathlessness, but yet, was enjoying the run. When the crew car caught up with me, I joined back in, and we found Seowkong running another 2km ahead, and Mark, one more km ahead of Seowkong. Both of them readily jumped into the car, feeling very satisfied with the high altitude experience.
Incidentally, I had come to know that Mark had run up Khardung La, (which is higher than T. La, and is the world's highest motorable pass).
Most of the runners and crew have arrived a week earlier, which meant they were better acclimatized to the altitude.
As for me, having arrived only two days earlier, the acclimatization was just sufficient. Mark Woolley wanted to go Tang Lang La, for a recce of the route, as well as, to get some running exposure at that altitude. SeowKong Kim, the ultra-runner from Malaysia, also joined in. We were a total of six people, including two crew members for each runner.
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| Mark, myself and Romila |
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| Picture says it all |
We started as planned, and had a small tea stop at Upshi. We passed through a few villages, Taru, Gya, Sasoma, Rumptse, before hitting the uphill to Tang Lang La.
We walked the last one kilometre of uphill leading to Tang Lang La. Mark was gracious enough to wait for me, while I changed over to some warm gear. We spent a few minutes on top of the pass, evaluating the course, and also taking pictures of the marvellous scenery around.
I skipped the morning run in anticipation of this run, and was hoping that I would be able to run along with Mark and Seowkong. Being downhill, I had a 10kph pace in mind, which is reasonable at lower altitudes.
When we started, Mark and Seowkong were a few paces ahead, and I was following them. After a few minutes, I had some breathlessness, and the altitude began to take its toll. I continued slowly putting each step forward. The road was of dirt, because of which, I wasn't getting enough bounce from the shoes, which made each step harder.
I stopped a couple of times, to get water, and after a while, I could hear my heart pounding like a metronome. I haven't felt such pounding even at peak interval training for 100 or 200m intervals. I started walking downhill. Meanwhile, Mark and Seowkong had extended their lead quite a bit. The only regret that I had was that I couldn't run along with them.
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| Running on the roof of the world |
At around six km, Mark, the crew car caught up with me, and asked me to join back in. With the tarmac, only a few metres ahead, and knowing that I would be able to get a better pace on the tarmac, I insisted that I run for another km or so. I asked the crew car to wait for ten minutes and then start.
The run on the tarmac was quite good. I was still facing breathlessness, but yet, was enjoying the run. When the crew car caught up with me, I joined back in, and we found Seowkong running another 2km ahead, and Mark, one more km ahead of Seowkong. Both of them readily jumped into the car, feeling very satisfied with the high altitude experience.
Incidentally, I had come to know that Mark had run up Khardung La, (which is higher than T. La, and is the world's highest motorable pass).
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