City man will dare to run 135-mile US ultramarathon in melting 50°C heat

MUMBAI: In two weeks, Adil Mirza will participate in one of the toughest races of his life. The 29-year-old Chembur resident, originally from Bareilly, will be the only Indian entry for the Badwater Ultramarathon- a 135-mile grind from the basin of California at 282 feet below the sea level to Mount Whitney, at an elevation of 8,000 feet, over tar roads that heat up to 50 degree Celsius.
Only a handful of Indians have attempted and successfully completed this "difficult and expensive race". The dry heat of the California desert is so tough on runners that the common refrain is that "by the time you realise you are dehydrated, you would be dead".
Twelve years ago, Mirza was a teenager trying hard to get into the Indian Army. He failed due to his height, though -he was a centimetre short. He always trained to achieve a time that would allow him to qualify for the one mile race.
After his Class 10, his life took a 180-degree turn when he lost his mother and he left for Mumbai. Initially, he worked in an embroidery factory and then moved to operating cranes. After becoming a supervisor in a crane-operating company, he found the time to train and enrolled for a 21km race, finishing in 1.37 hours. That spurred him to try all that was on offer: Marathons, ultra and trail runs.
A self-trained man, Mirza got a few training assignments for which he did not accept any payment initially. But he soon realised his knowledge could be monetised and turned training people into a livelihood.
Meanwhile, as a runner, he entered the world of the ultras and started covering longer distances, completing the mandatory three 100 milers in the past 12 months. His application for Badwater was accepted because he had run in the Ladakh-Pune trail event and in Rajasthan. And he was fast.
From March, though, he struggled to raise funds to run in Badwater as every athlete needs a crew of four people, plus all necessary supplies for the 135-mile journey. The Tata Group and Skechers stepped in and offered him funds.
Mirza is confident he can weather the heat. "I have been sleeping without a fan to get used to the heat. When I went to Bareilly to train, I would go for runs in the afternoon," he said. He even switched on the heater at night in his Bareilly home, forcing his father and two siblings to question his sanity. In Mumbai, he would train in the afternoon wearing a winter jacket. Mirza has set himself a target of 35 hours to finish the race and if he achieves it, he will become the fastest and youngest Indian.