(Featured picture courtesy Instances Now)
At kilometre 130, Ashwini Ganapathi’s legs had been shaking. She had been operating for almost 36 hours. No sleep, barely any actual meals, and nonetheless 43 km of steep, rocky mountain path left.
She considered quitting. Anybody would.
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However then she remembered the nap room on the final checkpoint, the place she tried to lie down for 5 minutes, hoping to relaxation. “I didn’t sleep for 2 nights. I attempted resting for 5 minutes in a nap room however simply couldn’t drift off,” she mentioned.
So she stood up, adjusted her eight-kg backpack, and stored going. That second, someplace within the forests of Japan, would go on to outline her life.
In June 2025, Ashwini — a 39-year-old endurance coach and former IT skilled from Bengaluru — turned the one non-Japanese runner to finish the Deep Japan Extremely 100, one in all Asia’s hardest ultramarathon.
It wasn’t only a race. It was 173 kilometres of unforgiving mountain terrain, 9,000 metres of climbing, sharp climate swings, and isolation. She ran by way of the day. She ran by way of the evening. Then ran by way of one other.
And she or he completed in 45 hours and 42 minutes, simply minutes earlier than the 46-hour cutoff. Out of 135 runners who began, solely 63 completed. Ashwini was amongst them.
(Picture courtesy: Instances Now)
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She wasn’t born into this life; she selected it
Ashwini didn’t develop up dreaming of mountains or end traces. She grew up like most of us — learning, working, looking for her place on the earth. She labored in tech for 9 years. Bought married. Adopted the trail she thought she was speculated to.
However there was all the time a voice in the back of her thoughts, nudging her towards motion.
“I used to be all the time athletic — I performed subject hockey in school — however realised I used to be higher at endurance than pace,” she mentioned.
In 2019, she ran her first ultramarathon — the 110 km Malnad Extremely in Karnataka. On the finish of it, she nonetheless felt like she had extra in her. “I nonetheless had power after operating 100 km — that’s once I began dreaming a couple of 100-miler,” she mentioned.
Getting there wasn’t simple. Ashwini give up her job and started teaching and coaching full-time. She began operating 70 to 90 km each week, added energy coaching, and labored on her mindset.
(Picture courtesy: Instances of India)
She selected races that examined her mentally, just like the Yard Extremely, the place she ran 187.8 km in 28 hours, loop after loop, with out figuring out when it will finish.
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She pushed her limits so she may at some point survive a race like Japan.
This race was totally different. It was unforgiving.
However even with all that prep, the Deep Japan Extremely 100 was in contrast to something she’d confronted.
“You climb one mountain, and so they make you climb it once more. And once more. You run by way of forests with barely any support stations, generally 28 km aside. It’s brutal,” she mentioned.
The climate didn’t assist. Sizzling. Humid. Then 33°C on Day 2. Some runners collapsed. Others gave up. Seventy-two dropped out. Ashwini didn’t. “The dropout price was enormous — 72 runners didn’t end, which reveals simply how brutal the course was,” she mentioned.
Nevertheless it wasn’t simply grit that bought her by way of. It was the individuals behind her. “My husband and in-laws supported me all through. My mother-in-law manages issues at residence once I’m away,” she shared. The race itself was funded by the CSR wing of an automotive tech firm, Tekion for Good.
Ashwini packed every part she wanted — vegetarian meals, water, security gear — into her backpack, figuring out she couldn’t rely on the help stations. She carried over 8 kg of weight. And nonetheless, she moved.
(Picture courtesy: Instances of India)
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‘I hope to encourage girls to imagine in themselves’
By the point she reached the end line, Ashwini was exhausted. However not damaged.
The truth is, she was smiling. “Ladies are born with limitless endurance… I hope extra girls will step onto the paths and imagine of their energy,” she mentioned.
Ashwini Ganapathi’s story isn’t nearly crossing a end line in Japan.
It’s about listening to that small voice inside you that claims, “You’ll be able to go additional.”
After which taking one step. And one other. And one other.
Till at some point, you search for and realise…
You’ve run 173 kilometres.