Living life, the Ultra size!

Wahid Akbar Pathan, Dhyanchand Awardee for sports.

"I am a 42-year-old, ex-national hockey player who represented Maharashtra State at the Nationals, now working as a Police Inspector with Mumbai Police. My job and my fitness are the two things I am passionate about.

In 2017, when Mr. Krishna Prakash, an IPS Officer, did his Ironman (Triathlon competition), he was the first one from our police department to achieve this feat. He is our inspiration. That was the moment I told myself “Second person from the department to do Ironman would be me”.

Hence from 2018 onwards, my journey towards fitness, running, and Triathlon started. I competed in Ironman 140.6 Langkawi, Malaysia Ironman 70.3 Colombo, Sri Lanka Ironman 70.3 Goa Olympics Tri (Goa, Pune, Kolhapur) 5 times finisher Swimathon Goa and Mumbai, 5 km and 2 km respectively G2G race (India Gate, New Delhi to Gateway of India, Mumbai) in 2021. Cycled for 6 days covering a total of 1500 km. Have done 2 ultra marathons, 5 marathons, and 20+ half marathons.

On May 22, I registered for the Comrades, and in one of the practice runs I injured my knees badly. Was out of running for the next 3-4 months. But from September 2022 onwards have started with base training.

Got in touch with the right coach and right nutritionist who helped me lose almost 10 kgs of weight in 2.5 months.

Duty hours have always been demanding. Twice a week, I have to do night shifts then on those days, I do my practice runs in the evenings, or sometimes I go swimming.

During the Ramzan month, I used to run at night after the prayers from 10:30 pm to 1 am

My mantra is, come what may, no matter how busy the day goes or hectic the schedule gets, training should not be missed. Break large targets into small achievable ones and give your 100% to that. Don’t think ahead. Just focus on the current target only.

I feel refreshed and energetic after my runs. Have been awarded and felicitated by the commissioner of Police, so there is always a great balance in life between my runs and professional commitments.

I get motivation from a lot of people. I think of my kids and my parents to motivate myself. I think of the volunteers who selflessly support us, especially during the long night runs. Recently in Boston, a 75-year-old lady ran in 3:30 hours, that’s a huge inspiration.

In the future, I would like to participate in races like -

The Border hell race, La Ultra at Ladakh, One Ironman, Swimming from Sri Lanka to India.”

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