During 2014 edition of La Ultra - The High, there was this quiet and shy kid who was participating in 111 km. He had trained well and was on his way to finishing in a good time but it wasn't to be. He didn't make the first cut-off of 48 km at North Pullu in the designated time. He only missed it by 5 minutes. When he got there, he told me that it was over for him. No arguing, no requesting to let him carry on. 

I right away knew we had in him an amazing runner who would make India proud, but more importantly a very good human being who would always stay grounded no matter how much name and fame he would get on his journey. 

His name is Kieren Dsouza. 

He is running 111 at La Ultra - The High in a day's time. In September he'll be running Spartathlon, a very highly regarded race in ultra running world. 

I asked him to write something and he very hesitantly came up with this. 

Hope this stuff below is enough. my bum hurts sitting for so long to type this stuff out :)

Bangalore Ultra, UTMB (CCC), La Ultra (DNF), Bhatti Lakes Ultra, Nilgiris100k

I am 23 years old, and I started running as a sport when I was 17. I did my first ultra when I was 19. The reason I started was because team sports specifically basketball was really played in college and I started to run as it was something I could do easily and did not depend on others. As I started doing more and more distance my interest in the sport grew. It was really exciting to see how far I could go on my legs.

I started with the usual 10km and then did a 21 km. I found the jump really easy so decided to do a 100km run at the Bangalore Ultra, something to push my self a little more. 

I have alwasy been interested in the outdoors and travelling to new places and exploring new things. Through ultrarunning I am slowly trying to do just that. I have never been interested in the lazy kind of travel that people normally do. Since I was a kid my interests have always been in the outdoors, to climb mountains etc.

With ultraruning I am able to mix these interests of mine. I enjoy pretty much anything that would keep me in the outdoors. Love doing loads of other sports as well. My mum alwasy said I have ants in my pants. I completely agree with that one.