New Delhi, March 8 -- The Solang Skyultra calls itself the "race that eats your ego". It's a 100km run over two days in the mountainous terrain of Solang Valley in Manali. The run has an elevation gain of 7,350m. The temperature varies between 0-25 Celsius degrees while runners navigate glaciers and mountain streams.

"It's most challenging. It's also beautiful," says Arun Nayak, a Mumbai-based orthodontist.

Nayak found his "upper limit" in Solang because the race is essentially a combination of five three-day treks into one 32-hour run. In his first attempt, he hit a bit of bad weather; in his second, at 82km (and 26 hours), he had to stop. At the end, he had 18km (and 6 hours) left, but no strength to do it.

It's a miss that rankles, ...