The only Indian to run the 555-km at 17,582 feet -Ashish Kasodekar

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[00:00:53] Hello listeners, welcome to the Punekar Podcast, Punya's our podcast. I am Amit Dharmu. Have you ever been married or had a fight? This is something that people like us do all at once. But that is something that we have to do every day.

[00:01:12] And if you get married every day for 60 days, how do you think? You don't have faith in it, right? So, this is what we have to do and we are going to talk about it today. Welcome to the show, Ashish Kasadekar. Thank you, thank you.

[00:01:26] Ashish, how did your superhuman effort start? Superhuman is nothing like that. I always do things that I want to do, I keep my dreams alive and keep them up. That is what I always do. And it's fun. Basically, I enjoy my life. And I enjoy doing everything.

[00:01:46] And that's what I get. I have a lot of energy for Himalaya. I went to Himalaya before, when I went to Ladaq. I went to Tourism. And I got to know Himalaya. And then it all started and I started to get used to it.

[00:02:01] I started getting used to it. My activity is like that. I do whatever I want to do. I do everything on my own. I never get stuck. I always say that I never get stuck when I get stuck. That's interesting.

[00:02:16] I was playing basketball, but I didn't get stuck. I came to a little individual sport. I did running, cycling, riding. And now, if you look at it, I have a lot of things to do in my team game.

[00:02:27] The event of Indira was our event, the Prasad Puranda organized. There was one more event, there was nothing else. But I had a lot of things to do in Indira. It was such a course event. Absolutely. I mean, what is pushing yourself?

[00:02:41] And you have to go out at night, go on the road. And it was our team. We had to play together. I played in Indira. And then I met a guy. I started running in 2013. Marathon was there. We were a PRB organization. I ran 15 km of that in 2013.

[00:03:00] And the place where it was important, Zumba warm-up session, and Chanchand Mulya, our team. It was really fun. And I think it was fun. Marathon is such an event that you get only one award. You get two finished lines in a medal.

[00:03:16] You don't get in any other sport. You get 3 out of 1,000,000. Then you get something. When you get finished, you get a feel of accomplishment. You get it in your marathon. And then you get to know the team better.

[00:03:28] And then at the beginning, and then you get to know them better. So you got 13 in the first year. Yes, I got 13 in 15. And then how did you graduate from full marathon? Yes, I got a little bit of a run in the first year.

[00:03:43] And I was really good at running in the first year. I didn't feel like running at all. I was like, what should I do now? Nothing like that. It was comfortable. I went to Mumbai for 21 km. Mumbai was full of energy. Mumbai was full of energy.

[00:03:57] When people were on the road, or if there was a big crowd, they would offer me some energy. That energy was really good. And I was there, and I was finishing up. I was doing the big batches of people finishing up. There were all kinds of people.

[00:04:12] Absolutely big people. Big, big people. Big, big people. Everyone was finishing up. It was really good. We had to do it. And then my battle trip was over. I was like, I don't want to do anything else. I mean, if you do everything,

[00:04:28] then we will do it differently. Off-beat is different. And I like to do it. People say that we are on the right track. Otherwise, we are in a typical life. But I did my first battle. It was in 2015. How many km? 2 km. I did it.

[00:04:48] That was my first battle. And after that, I went to Himalayas. I went to Pallun. I was walking one by one. But the normal perception of a battle is that you have to acclimatize once or twice. You need one day. Or you need less oxygen.

[00:05:03] So, you have to do your marathon or you will have to do an ultra-calice. Tell us about that. There are all these parameters. We have less oxygen in the battle. We have a lot of temperature variations. There are all these things.

[00:05:19] But that is the beauty of the battle. I never see any problem. I really like that part. And it gives me energy. All this means that we are in the battle. We go to Himalayas. Then we have to take a reality checkup.

[00:05:33] When we get down to the airport, there is a reality check. That means that you are a champion in Mumbai. But you are in the mountains. You are ground zero. I am the king of the world. That is a reality check. We are composed twice.

[00:05:49] And we have to make the mountains feel that I am passing by here. We have to do something. Mountains give us energy. They give us energy. We are the target. We feel happy. We help each other. When I went to the airport, I saw people there.

[00:06:07] They were challenging the expenses. That means they are 72 km away. They are trying to pass the expenses. So that gives me a lot of power. I thought that this is an attractive option. We have to see the parameters. But it was fun. We had to do it.

[00:06:24] And I challenged the expenses of 42 km. I challenged the expenses. I was waiting. But after I got the energy, I felt like accomplishment. It was fun. Because I had a lot of group. But it was emotional finish. And I thought that I should do something more.

[00:06:45] I have a friend. She told me that she is doing a laltra. She said that laltra is not good for me. She said that it is good for you. There are no other girls. Who is this? I was not a girl. It was my reaction.

[00:07:02] And in that, I had an event called Comrade. In South Africa. It is popular. Glamorous. The beauty of it is unique. There are many people who are from the same country. So that happened very well. I had that Comrade. And after I got the Comrade,

[00:07:23] I went to the Rally Circus. I got the Comrade in May and I got the Comrade in August. I went to Akshakra. I was very busy in the fight. I was doing nothing. I finished one thing. But there was a program. It was called Price Distribution.

[00:07:41] The organizer of the Price Distribution said, there were 122,000 participants in the event. But the program was finished after that. In that event, I said that Akshakra is not available. And there are 323 participants. I said, I went to Akshakra and did a baby run.

[00:08:02] I said, that is not possible. We have to do something else. Because I am doing baby run. I am not able to do it. But when I came to this story, the story of the 323 participants, they gave me energy. I said, we should do it.

[00:08:16] And I decided that we should do 323. You said you were bar high. Yes. I said, I will skip 223 and jump 33. Because it was very expensive. It was expensive. But we will practice more and do 323. We will do it. I had decided to do that. But the organizer said,

[00:08:37] you will jump 33. You can practice now. He said, I will do it. I will do it. So, after qualification, you will do it. After that, we will see. I did rigorous practice for 6 months. I did a lot of things. I did all the requirements. And I did 323.

[00:08:54] I did 30 farm. So, if people are here, it will be a very emotional finish. Because in that way, I learned a lot. What is the importance of crew? What does the crew team do? They have a lot of experience. And I did 71 hours and 59 minutes and 31 seconds.

[00:09:14] Oh, just in time. Just in time, it was perfect. So, it was absolutely emotional. But I learned a lot. What exactly should I do? What should I eat? What is the quality sleep? What should be the paste? I have learned a lot from all the other teams.

[00:09:30] I am a team of our own. And in that way, the team of LALTRA announced that it will be 10 years old. So, I introduced them to them in one edition. So, I announced them for 551. How old are they? They are both in the same age.

[00:09:44] I was 18 years old. I announced them for 18 years. And they said that those who are from the same age will be eligible to participate in 555 kms. There were 7-8 people in the world who were eligible to participate. And we were able to do it for the next 15 years.

[00:10:02] We were able to organize it for you. You can play the game of the people. What is that? We did it again. So, we had party time, celebrations, we had a meeting. We had a grand welcome. So, all that was done well.

[00:10:18] But I was not able to do it for 555. Because the event was going on. And it was going to happen. I didn't know that it would happen. So, you were angry? Yes, I was angry. But we were able to do it for the next 3 years.

[00:10:28] We said that we didn't have that much. So, we had to do it again. So, I was not able to do it. I told the new people. New friends. And all of a sudden, the team was formed. It was my dream. 7 people were formed.

[00:10:45] And then, it was formed. I was playing for the next 4 months. But I had a lot of experience with that. So, I set up the team. What exactly to do? Where to play? Everything was absolutely planned. And the first time, we were playing for the next 5 years. 13,000 feet,

[00:11:06] 17,500 feet, 15,000 feet and then we played again. We had to play for 100 km. We had introduced the new players. So, that was a challenge for the organizers. They were saying that it was humanly possible. There was a 24-hour, 100 km athlete who would come to the team. It was possible.

[00:11:26] And we were different. We were the ones who decided whether this is possible. And all the activities were done in the team. What were the types of people in the team? What were the types of people in the team? Basically, my beauty is that

[00:11:38] I have a favourite dialogue. I am surrounded by all the good people in the world. My favourite dialogue. I am the one who gives the best group. Because I am the one who does everything. I am the one who decides what to do.

[00:11:51] What to do, what to do. How to do it properly. So, there was a certain role in that. I was the captain. And then, someone would watch my diet. Someone would watch my diet. Someone would ask me for basic requirements. How to relax muscles.

[00:12:07] So, all these roles were defined. Someone would run me. I would leave the patch. I would leave the patch. Everything was absolutely defined. And it was so much fun. We had a event. The 255th Corollus marathon in the world. Which had all possible options. It was snowfall,

[00:12:27] it was snowing, it was snowing. It was minus 17 degrees. It was snowing all day. So, you name it. It was all about the Corollus marathon. But, it was all about the snow. I was absolutely fresh. The event was awesome. I was in the same category for the event.

[00:12:45] I was in the same category for the event. So, it was absolutely fantastic. But, how did you stay in this training? How did you continue? No, we had planned. We had planned for the first two days. It was very important for me. For the first 27 km,

[00:13:01] we had no crew. So, we are on your way. And, there were all crucial things. We had a flak-off. We had to bounce in Nubra valley. And, we had to do the same. We had to run. And, how was it? Nubra valley was 10,000 feet high.

[00:13:19] So, it started gaining altitude. From 11,000, 12,000, 17,000. And, we were up to 18,000. The beauty of LALTRA is that it has a cut-off every day. And, it has a cut-off every day. How did you get into Mumbai? It is a particular distance that you can complete in the morning.

[00:13:35] You can push in Mumbai. But, it is not the same in the morning. If you push yourself beyond a point, then your breathlessness will be there. If you go into a long distance, then it can be very vital. It can be fatal also.

[00:13:49] If you are down on oxygen, then you can die. You have to be very careful with timing. If you are looking at the cut-off, then you can do it. So, we had greened the oil. We had planted the grass, and we had 14,000 feet high.

[00:14:05] We had to cut it in 4 parts. The complete snow was filled. It was not snowfall in August. But, it was very stale. The temperature was minus 17. The temperature was above 800. We didn't have anything. We had jackets. We had to help the people.

[00:14:23] We had to buy a new dress for the organization team. We had to buy clothes for the people. We had to buy clothes for the people. But, that patch, it was called a dead zone. Because, it was 16,000 to 18,000 to 16,000 feet high. That is how we came here.

[00:14:39] If I buy clothes for the people, and buy a new dress, then I have to buy a new house. I bought clothes for the people. I had to buy clothes for the people. I had to buy clothes for the people. I had to buy clothes for the people.

[00:14:53] I had to buy clothes for the people. We had to walk for the team for 87 km. We had to wait for the time, when we met each other. We had a great time. We had a great time together. The situation was critical. People thought that this wouldn't happen.

[00:15:09] That's why we had maximum DNA. Weather wise, it was very difficult. We had planned to start at 6 o'clock. We had to take lunch break and reach Leh. We had to go to Kharadumala in Ubra and reach Leh. We had to take lunch break and continue the journey.

[00:15:29] We had to continue a station which was a starting point from Satharantha 184 to 181. We reached there at 2-3 times and it was a target. We had to take 3 hours rest. So, we had to cycle and if we didn't take any break, we would have to go back.

[00:15:49] We continued the journey. We had to take 3 hours rest. We had to take 3 hours break. We took 3 hours break and we took 3 hours rest. We took 9 hours rest. That was proper. I had worked a lot for power. I had worked 10 minutes for power.

[00:16:07] Beauty was that I had worked 3 hours and I never woke up. I had worked 2 hours rest. I had worked 2 hours rest. It was a perfect start. We had to define the time. We didn't have to take any break. It was a new day.

[00:16:23] I didn't have to walk for 500-500 km. You broke down the target. You broke down the target. That's how we did it. When you have lunch, or when you have diet, it is important. How do you sustain your body for such long time?

[00:16:41] No, I don't have any other diet. I used to go to multi-day events. We used to go to Marathwan and we used to go to Gujarat. People used to pass by. They needed to work. They needed energy. We used to go on diet.

[00:16:57] We needed carbs, protein and fiber in multi-day events. We needed 4-7. I don't normally go on diet. I don't diet in complicated ways. I don't go on diet in complicated ways. I go to America and ask for an economic. I don't do that.

[00:17:13] Normal marketing is the best option always. I used to see that easy and available in a fight. I used to go to Marathwan and pass by. I used to eat local rice or parathas. I don't eat fancy food. I used to drink Sattu. We used to get energy

[00:17:35] in liquid format. We used to drink 2-3 cups of water and 2-3 cups of water. We used to do that. I don't eat fancy food. I just eat food and drink water. We followed the requirement of heart-treatment. We didn't do anything fancy. No, we never did anything fancy.

[00:17:55] Absolutely. You have done a Guinness attempt in the past. You have been very interesting in the past. How did you come up with this idea that if you are going to Marathwan for 60 days, it will be very difficult. But how did you come up with this idea

[00:18:15] every 60 days? Actually, we have to punch in the leg. We are not born just to play light build and telephone build. Life is something more to do. There should be a story of it. Everybody has a story. We should have made our own story and made it.

[00:18:35] There was a strong point. We should have explored it. I celebrate special days on the 20th and 20th of April. I celebrate on the 20th and 20th of April. What is the special day? What is the special day? What is the special day? There was a message

[00:18:53] that there will be no 200 years of special days. There will be no 400 years of special days. But now, nobody knows. I said, this is a special day. It is not coming. I did it. It is special for me. We are all special. We don't want to be special.

[00:19:11] I did cycling in Akra-Akra. The idea was to start once. And then go there. And then celebrate. My friend doesn't know. So I celebrated. So I did 12-12-12-15 on the 15th of April. I did 12-13-15 on the way to Madurai. I was 26 km away.

[00:19:31] I was on a bike ride. On 20th of February 2020 I had the COVID-19. The COVID-19. I called it as everything. Everything means basically, when you don't have money, you have to do everything. Everything means you have to gain the height. There are some rules.

[00:19:55] You have to go once or you have to go twice. I did 16-16 on the way. So I started on the 2nd and 8th. And I took 30 hours. I enjoyed it. Celebrate to 0-0-0-0. And that was beauty. So Madhav said that everyone should

[00:20:15] do something in life. Whatever the situation is, what will happen. But the answer should be happiness. Because everyone should do something to get something. We get money for doing something. We get rewards for doing something. We get something for doing something. But when we are getting something,

[00:20:33] we get the money. We get expectations. We get depressed. We get frustrated. But when the answer is happiness, then you do that activity in a very good manner. It's intangible. It's different from happiness. Correct. And that hobby is something that follows it.

[00:20:55] And it's something that gets different from satisfaction. Because we push it. That's what makes it so much better. I celebrate such things. And after that I get to know the podcast. It's about Panna. We have been competing for so many years with Panna.

[00:21:13] It has to be celebrated in style. So I had the idea that Panna will also be celebrated. We will do it. You celebrate my 50th birthday. And now if you are celebrating, then you can plan what you want to do. And then you can do the same thing.

[00:21:31] Panna will also be celebrating that day. How does the record work? For recording, we have enjoyed community building. I record it. I started running in university. The amount of happiness people got involved was absolutely phenomenal. I celebrated first marth on birthday, anniversary, kids, senior citizen.

[00:22:03] I celebrated all the time. I have been given new energy for my daily life. I have never thought what I am doing now. I am not feeling well. I have never thought I am not going to spend my time on beauty. I will do my own

[00:22:23] and I will be able to do my own 6.5 days of flag. I have been doing it for 6 days. I have been doing it for 6 days. I have been looking forward to a new story. I have done everything here. I have done the swelling,

[00:22:43] the swelling, the swelling, the swelling. But there is so much that the rest of the happiness was small. But when I focus on something, I will do something small. But that was the beauty of that 61 days. Wow! Amazing! But in this, there are two things.

[00:23:07] Everyone can do it. But in this, nobody told you that it is not medically advisable. What did you take? A task? Absolutely. Now everyone is at their level. Nobody said anything. It is a question of whether it is okay to do it. But in extreme sports,

[00:23:31] there is always a thin line between what you do and you should not. Because when everything was smooth, everybody was happy. If something was going on, then there is a blame game. You shouldn't do that. But that's how life is. Living on the edge is I always

[00:23:49] love to do that. But in my opinion, I had a lot of trouble for that. I had practiced for that. And I have been running for a while now. I am not saying that any of the decisions were not to be taken. Those decisions were thoughtful,

[00:24:07] there was a process, there was a discussion, there was an expert discussion. I had done everything. I had decided to take a decision. And at the same time, I was doing the precautions. I was playing with the players and I was playing with the rest of the players.

[00:24:25] That was what happened. It has to be done in a systematic manner, with a discipline. And my discipline was the key factor for 61 days. Because my first year was I was disciplined. I normally had a disciplined life. But in my first year, I had a quality sleep.

[00:24:45] I had a good sleep. I had a good sleep. I had a good lunch. I had nothing else to do. So, all of this was defined that discipline is important and it benefits me a lot. I have a great example. It is very important.

[00:25:03] That is a key message. Discipline is very important. I have been doing medical reports for 10 days. I have been in some parameters. I have been at the level of addition or salt level. I have been following all of this. I have taken care of my own Anand Gangwal,

[00:25:21] Physio, I had a diet. I had a diet plan for my own health. I had to walk a lot. I had run for 10 minutes and I was not taking the intake. I had taken a plan for everything. So, happiness with discipline. And that was the success of 61 days.

[00:25:37] I think after that, there were people from the same team. I organized our simple steps. Our team, my brother, it was so fun and so dedicated. There were commitment for 61 days. And everyone had access to that day. So, I had to do things for them.

[00:25:55] And if there were any other team then I could have done some exercise in the diet problem. So, I did not do that. I had to get some team. What is your next target? I have a lot of other targets. I am currently taking the Everest.

[00:26:11] I am going to Gorakhshep and I am going to a market in Delhi. There is an Everest marathon. It is called the highest marathon in the world. So, I am trying to attempt it. I have been given a group. I like to do marketing.

[00:26:25] I am a travel consultant so I have been given a group. And I am also giving a group. I will go on trekking and then I will go on trekking. And that is the big target which is a two-year-old training. It is going on. It is going on.

[00:26:43] Bad water is in the US. It is in Death Valley. It is called the toughest foot race in the world. The patchy beauty is that it has a 50 degrees temperature. It is in the peak summer. It is in the peak summer. Last year,

[00:26:59] we recorded the highest temperature of 54 degrees. And it is 135 miles. So, 217 kilometers which we need to finish in 48 hours. We are working for that event now. So, in July, we will have a flag of 5. All the best for both these events. Thank you very much.

[00:27:19] So, in the last part of our podcast we will ask you some rapid fire questions. Okay. You said you have been playing basketball. So, Michael Jordan's doubt is not there. Michael Jordan. Any other sport that you like? I like all the sports. I can't say anything specific. But,

[00:27:39] I like to look at the glamour-wise which gives me a lot of energy is 100 meters sprinting. So, your favorite sprinter? Nobody to beat him actually. Any other hobbies other than you said you like sport? I always like to be with people. Socializing what I like.

[00:27:55] I love to be with people all the time. Spending time at Rupali, Amaya, all those things. So, your favorite place in Pune? Favorite place in Pune is my house. Favorite social place? Difficult to pinpoint in any one particular place. Yeah, any one. That's the beauty.

[00:28:11] Need to mention one. Or maybe a couple of more. I am there canteen. That's a nice place. So, it gives you a feel of when you see all the young boys and girls they come with their bags. So, you feel nice.

[00:28:25] You are part of the college and you are there in the canteen. So, it always gives you a feel of college going person. Favorite movie star? Favorite movie star, Paranakthar. No, it's not a total movie. Both movies are from Nilka and Bhalika Singh.

[00:28:37] The amount of efforts they've done. And the other one is the movie of Rathik Roshan. That's the short. So, it's called Lax. Lax. So, this is my Lax. The expression is far exclusive. It's like fighting and going to mountains. The expressions are far. I don't watch many movies.

[00:28:59] But, I watch them. Favorite singer? Favorite singer is Kishore Kumar. So, thank you Ashish for your time and giving us wonderful insights about your journey and fitness and everything. My pleasure. Thank you.