Inspirational Story of the Day — Mira Rai

What Makes Mira Rai Run?

“I didn’t know! I thought [it was] just training, and then [I realized], ‘Oh my god, this is a race!’ And then I felt like I [could] do it,” she says. Actually, despite never having run that distance before, she crushed it. Rai, the only woman to complete the grueling course, finished in about 9 hours (which included 45 minutes waiting out a hailstorm and another 15 minutes searched for washed away trail markers). That put her just two hours after the male winner and made her the number one female racer. Without money for food, and just a pair of “very simple shoes, not OK shoes,” Rai won her first ultra event and a 7,000 rupee (about $70) prize. With a laugh that slips out often, Rai says the punishing race was very tough, but “similar to my village [and what] I did everyday: carrying water, and going to the jungle, cutting grass.”

Richard Bull, the race organizer and founder of Trail Running Nepal, recognized that Rai had the raw talent and attitude to go places: “You have to be hungry, slightly intelligent, [with] a bit of personality, because [otherwise] you’re not going to get very far.” Bull says races of 10 plus hours across steep and often rocky terrain require a certain mental endurance and sense of calm that Rai seemed to have. But Rai was short on cash for food, let alone training. Bull pulled together donations from other runners to see if she had a chance to go pro.

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