On 22 March 2026, I was ready for the long course at PANIKOT By CapitalTrails, with my wife who stood by me at the start line.

After Indrahar summit run, the next race I wanted to do was CapitalTrails Race Series - Sohna 50k, an ultramarathon with the self-navigation ethos.

I had already completed Solang Sky Ultra 30K with +1800m elevation gain in 2023, when my fitness and consistency was not this good. Signing up for 20K at Indrahar didn’t feel like much so I decided to push myself for 30K with 2700m elevation. It looked tough but what’s the adventure if it’s easy.

The morning light started falling over the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary as I stood at the starting point on September 7th, 2025, surrounded by fellow trail runners who had gathered for the third edition of the CapitalTrails Race Series - Asola Edition.

A personal story of transformation, community, and the beauty of exploring nature's backyard safely.

“Gad aala pan Sinha gela” which roughly translates to “fort is captured but the lion is gone” - those ever so famous words which as the legend goes later led to the renaming of the mighty Kondhana fort to Sinhagad after Tanaji Malusare of the Maratha kingdom under Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s leadership led the charge to recapture the strategic fort from the Mughals and laid down his life in the process for the purpose of Swaraj.