Beyond Belief - The 70 yr old woman who keeps running - Pushpa Keya Bhatt
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| London major April 2024 |
What does a runner run after or for? Why do they run so long? Why do they put their bodies through such gruelling performances? As if a simple 3 km wasn't enough, people are running 50-plus kilometres now. Is it the fountain of youth that they seek? Is it perfect health? I haven't yet found the answer in one simple sentence. Everyone is doing it for a different reason, I guess. However, I met someone recently who seems to be defying the signs of age, thanks to her running.
Pushpa Bhatt, 70, is a striking woman. She simply said “Hi” over the phone, but somehow, even that first greeting gave me a sense of the woman I was about to meet. She was wearing a dress I would love to be wearing, but I find that I'm not in the shape right now to carry it with the ease with which she did. What I do know is that she has been running since 2002. And that definitely shows, even over my tiny phone screen. Pushpa is a Bombay girl, like me. She grew up in South Bombay in a family of six children.
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| chilling after Sunday long run |
A marriage at 24, mother at 36, single mom at 40. A corporate career that she ended by choice at 50 to become an entrepreneur
Somewhere along the way, Pushpa began living for her passion. This year, when she turned 70, she decided to run 70 km to celebrate her big day. Runners joined her every few hours to run or walk alongside her. Pushpa is constantly doing new things and is, by her own admission, a sucker for adrenaline. In July this year, she decided to travel solo in the USA. She backpacked, stayed in hostels and visited Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco.
How did all this fall into place? Because, perhaps, that's what happened. By pursuing the two things she was now deeply involved in, fitness and nutrition, she began to assume a new identity. In 2001, she had started gymming. In 2002, she started running. She got a free bib from her company and ran her first official 7 km race, the Dream Run at the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, in 2003. Getting there was not easy.
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| Pilates |
When she ran for the first time, she stopped after 15 minutes, realising how hard it actually was. She wanted to run continuously, and whenever she found herself stopping, she would give up. When she eventually managed to run continuously for a whole hour, she found herself bouncing at the end of it. She realised that getting to that stage was incredibly challenging, and that the whole process helped one conquer one's own boundaries. In those days, she wasn't a consistent runner. She was more of a convenient runner. She ran when she had time, on weekends or whenever it was convenient.
That changed in 2013 when she joined Striders : a running club. Striders brought schedules and discipline in her run regime.
She started doing outstation runs from 2014, first being Satara Half Hill Marathon. She did 5 of these in a row and received 4 age category podiums.
In 2018, Pushpa contacted Daniel Vaz, head coach of Nike Club India and founder of Road Burners, to join his online coaching program, for a customised running program.
I have written about Daniel Vaz on my other blog, click title below to read.
Meet multifaceted Daniel Vaz- Head Coach Nike India Run Club, trainer, marathoner and Aerospace Engineer
Pushpa is evidently an ambitious woman, always looking for the next challenge to take on. She remembers doing one half marathon in Satara on a Sunday in 2 hours and 32 minutes and then travelling to Ladakh the following Sunday for a full marathon, where she missed the podium by just two seconds. Her time was 6 hours and 28 minutes. The Ladakh Marathon takes place at an altitude of around 11,500 feet. Before the event, Pushpa wanted to visit Pangong Tso, also known as Pangong Lake, a picturesque site at an elevation of around 14,270 feet. Because of the elevation and the subsequent drop back to Leh, many runners avoid this trip before the marathon. Pushpa didn't. She was severely affected by acute mountain sickness. She returned to Ladakh on the Friday before the race. She still ran the race and missed the podium by two seconds. Such is the determination of this athlete.
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| Chicago major Oct 2025 |
This part of her trip was also special because she noticed people running the challenging 72 km Khardung La Challenge. She found herself imagining what it would be like to run a 14-hour race at such altitude. It seems to have planted a seed for future goals.
In the same year, because she was part of the Striders Club, she received a free registration for the TCS New York Marathon. It was her first World Major, and she completed it under Daniel's coaching in 4 hours and 58 minutes. She has great memories of that run. The ambience was amazing. She also walked on Friday before the event with the Indian contingent and did the 5 km Abbott Dash on Saturday morning. Since they were part of the Striders Club, they also had additional facilities before the run like exclusive tents, bus service to the start line, warm ponchos post run ending with celebration dinner at Tavern.
She describes this first World Major to me in detail because it represented a breakthrough in her running after she started training with Daniel Vaz. She noticed that she had run 9 km in the first hour. She wanted a repeat performance, so she ran the next 9 km in the next hour. Boosted by her own performance, she set her sights on a great third hour and reached 26.5 km. She was to leave no prisoners over the last 15.5 km and completed the marathon in 4 hours and 58 minutes! A newly pumped-up winner was born. Ready to take on even more!
Pushpa also noticed a difference in her Tata Mumbai Marathon timings. In 2018, she ran the full marathon in 5 hours and 39 minutes. In 2019, she brought that down to 5 hours and 20 seconds. The goal was five hours for Pushpa because she needed to finish two full marathons within five hours to qualify for the Khardung La race.
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| Tata Ultra marathon, Lonavala 50kms |
Pushpa realised that she would need to train differently as the race was tougher and longer. She wasn't used to the ultra-world, so she didn't know many people there either. Like in Ladakh earlier, Pushpa also wanted to combine the race with a little tourism and visit Tso Moriri, or Lake Moriri, in the southern Changthang region of Ladakh. The area around it is home to the nomadic Changpa tribe. Travelling alone would be daunting and expensive, so Pushpa made some enquiries and connected with a gentleman looking for travel companions to the region because he wanted to cut costs. It was only later that she learnt that he was working on a documentary for National Geographic on the nomads of Tso Moriri. As it turned out, it was an amazing and incredibly fortunate coincidence for Pushpa.
The training for this race involved lots of long runs where she would run for hours on hills in Mumbai, including in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. She also did a 60 km night run in Lonavala. The run was in fog and torrential rains and involved crossing plenty of puddles along the way. After the first 44 kms, she joined Striders for Pavana 10 miles run hosted by Tata Chairman, S. Chandrasekharan. In all, she covered 60 km in extremely difficult conditions, a perfect practice for Khardung La.
Pushpa did her first Khardung La 72 km Challenge in 2019. She reached the first cut-off before time. Once you reach the 32 km mark, the race is downhill.
But altitude makes it difficult for you to push. Pushpa stopped to have some soup and said she spent 10 minutes there. This was compounded by the fact that her watch died at 47 km. When she reached the 58 km mark, she was told she had reached only 8 minutes before the third cut-off. That meant she would have to run the final 14 km in 2 hours and 8 minutes. Pushpa did her very best.
The official vehicle passed her and told her that she had eight minutes to cover the last 700 metres where in reality it was 5 minutes. Pushpa remembers the attending public screaming her name as she ran those final metres, thinking that she had made it. Apparently, she hadn't. She had finished the gruelling race but received a Did Not Finish result because she had missed the cut-off by just four minutes. Those four minutes were very hard to digest for Pushpa, her daughter and everyone who had supported her. Until the final stretch, she and her entourage had believed she was going to make it. But finally, Pushpa accepted her fate. Even though this result was a very difficult moment, one she still remembers, she now sees it as preparation for what was to come.
Back in Mumbai, she had to prepare the last leg of Berlin training. About 20 days after the Khardung La 72 kms that she “Did Not Finish”, Pushpa ran the Berlin Major. There was no lying down and worrying about what had happened or what hadn't.
Though she didn't cry when she heard the result of her Khardung La 72 km Challenge in 2019, the DNF had clearly left its mark. She had slid her emotions under the carpet, as most of us do, but that didn't mean they had disappeared. During the pandemic years that followed, Pushpa found herself watching a YouTube video in which the runner had gone through hell to reach the final stretch. He was running with bleeding thighs. Pushpa was watching the scene, completely caught up in the story, and suddenly found herself sobbing her eyes out in sync with the man on the screen. She was finally releasing the grief of her own DNF.
During the second pandemic in 2021, Pushpa went and stayed in a homestay amongst apple orchards in Manali for two months. She ran, did yoga and studied medical nutrition there.
Once she was in Mumbai, she contracted covid and was hospitalized for ten days due to fibrosis of lungs. It took her almost three months to recover and do her 10 kms run.
Come 2022, Pushpa decided to do Khardung La again. This time round she was 66 years old. She was making her comeback, and nothing was going to be left to chance. Everything was planned meticulously by her daughter. Her son-in-law came to be with her for the final 10 km. The whole family was coordinating Pushpa's progress. This time, Pushpa finished the race four minutes earlier than the cut off time. She ran for 13 hours and 56 minutes over a distance of more than 72 km. She also set a world record as the oldest woman to complete the Khardung La 72 km Challenge.
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| Sept 2022, Khardung La 72kms |
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| Sept 2022, Khardung La 72kms |
Since the locals, runners and spectators knew that Pushpa was back for a second time, a large crowd had gathered around the final 100 metres or so. The market exploded when she crossed the finish line and was given a valid result. She remembers people laughing, cheering and screaming with joy at her achievement. Pushpa says that today the race has a much larger audience and a far greater social media presence. But she became something of a celebrity after that finish. She was interviewed by several media outlets and television channels.
And then came the craziest part. The event finished on a Friday. Pushpa had nothing better on hand to do and so she decided to go and run the Ladakh half marathon on Sunday. She completed it in 3 hours and 11 minutes. She didn't listen to her daughter, who, knowing her rebellious mother, had apparently had a feeling that she would do something like this. I would describe Pushpa as a bit over the top, and I mean that as a compliment. As a runner who runs much less and experiences the same joy when I achieve a target, I understand her enthusiasm but can’t imagine actually being able to do something like this. Trust her to make hay while the sun shines.
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| Ladakh Half marathon Sept 2022, a day after Khardung La 72kms |
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| Ladakh Half marathon Sept 2022, a day after Khardung La 72kms |
I asked Pushpa how she manages to relieve herself or answer nature's call on these trails and roads, where there are no real toilets for women. Her answer surprised me. In the running community, she says, men are always helping women when they need help. They stand guard while the women do what they have to do, and she says she has only ever felt protected and taken care of by her fellow runners. She has never felt discriminated against for being a woman runner. I think there is a lesson here. In a country where women can face so many dangers and indignities, this is also a reminder that our men are capable of standing beside us and protecting our dignity when we most need them.
Pushpa has run a few ultras after 2022. She is part of the Tata Mumbai Marathon Legends club and will be running it for the 12th time in January 2027.
Pushpa is now off to run a half marathon in deep Uttarakhand called the Adi Kailash run in the Gunji Valley on 25th October, 2026. This area is 35km from India Tibet border and one can see Mansarovar from the Indian side.
After her 12th TMM in January, 2027, comes the Everest Base Camp trek in March 2027 and a Hyrox event in May.
She has taught fitness to people over 50, from 8 to 9 every morning, Monday to Friday for two years. Her focus was on breathing techniques and working one’s joints. Pushpa is a dog lover and feeder and is actively involved in her area in vaccination, neutering etc.
This is Pushpa's long list of achievements in short:
Started gymming at 46.
Started running at 47.
Chose to take a backseat from her corporate career at 50, after a successful career graph at Maersk Line India.
Became an entrepreneur at 50.
Became a full marathoner at 58.
Learnt cycling at 60.
Became an ultra-runner at 63.
Became a nutrition coach at 64.
Started solo travel, blogging and poetry writing at 65.
Marathons
Tata Mumbai Marathon: 11 appearances from 2014 to 2025, with four age-category podium finishes.
Ladakh Marathon: Full marathon, 2018.
TCS New York City Marathon: World Major, 2018.
BMW Berlin Marathon: World Major, 2019, approximately three weeks after her first Khardung La attempt.
Self-supported full marathon: Manali, May 2021.
London Marathon: World Major, April 2024.
Chicago Marathon: World Major, October 2025.
Ultra Marathons
Tata Ultra Marathons: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023.
Khardung La 72 km Challenge: first attempt, 2019.
60 km Lonavala night run.
Khardung La 72 km Challenge: completed in 2022, winning a bronze medal in the veteran category.
Became the oldest woman in the world to complete the Khardung La 72 km Challenge at 66.
Varsha Lonavala Ultra: 50 km, July 2022.
Neral Matheran: 50 km, August 2022.
Jaisalmer Hell's Ultra: 100 km category, completed 60 km, DNF.
Jaisalmer practice run: 55 km, November 2022.
Self-supported 50 km Mumbai run: November 2022.
Kalimpong Ultra: April 2023.
Kaziranga Ultra: December 2023.
70 km for her 70th birthday: June 2026.
From learning to cycle at 60 to inspiring so many people through her grit and
never-give-up attitude, Pushpa is a woman who seems determined to keep creating her own records and her own wins.
I am reeling from writing this extensive list about a woman who shows every sign of only growing more.
What a woman and what a world she has created for herself! What a life she lives, where women can and do achieve beyond belief. Hats off to Pushpa Bhatt and all that she has achieved. I myself did two runs in between starting and finishing this article. Such is the energy and inspiration I feel just writing her life's story.
You can contact her on Instagram on her handle Pushpakeyabhatt
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