Climbing atop this mountain is easily the most difficult activity that has challenged me both physically and mentally. I knew what I'd signed up for when I'd decided I wanted to get up this mountain standing so monstrously tall but experiencing this treacherous climb is something that will stay with me for the rest of my living days. I had dreamt of scaling this humongous Friendship Peak way back in 2018 post my last trek and then as luck would have it, COVID struck and all of it went on a back burner. But maybe I was destined to accomplish this and my coach at All In Running and the ALL IN team would leave no stone unturned in the last few months to prepare me for this expedition.

I started trekking post turning 50, two years back. As I transitioned to high altitude trekking (did EBC this year & now preparing for Kilimanjaro early next year), I realised the criticality of starting to run as a preparation for this. I approached All in Running to be coached on how to run & couldn’t believe that I could in a period of less than 3 month’s start doing 7 kms continuous running. The other tangible progress is having a customised well thought training schedule & being able to follow it consistently.  Also it is amazing to get instant feedback & inputs on a near daily basis on Apps like Training Peaks. The program is beautifully curated with diverse interventions to holistically prepare the body…running, strength training, weighted hikes, weighted stair climbing, yoga & most importantly prehab via Physiotherapy!