‘Running completes me’: since her first marathon aged 58, she’s run 11 more, and 9 ultramarathons. How a sedentary mum in middle age transformed her life

Pushpa Bhatt was middle-aged and sedentary with some health issues when she took up her employer’s offer of free entry to a 7km race. It was to change her life

Now 66, she has run 11 marathons, is the oldest woman to finish the Khardung La Challenge – the world’s highest ultramarathon – and is training for a 100km race

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At 47, Pushpa Bhatt took up running. Now 66, she shares how it has changed her life as well as tips, nutrition and lifestyle changes. Photo: Pushpa Bhatt

Published: 4:15pm, 6 Nov 2022Updated: 5:03pm, 9 Nov 2022

Nearly two decades ago, Pushpa Bhatt, then 47, was becoming worried about her health. Her sedentary lifestyle and desk job as a senior human resources executive was taking its toll, her lower back was weak and she had developed arthritis in her knees.

Bhatt, who is from Mumbai in India, was determined to overhaul her health and she started running – not realising that it would transform her life. Now 66, she has become a poster child for fitness and inspirational clichés.

Bhatt ran her first marathon at 58, learned how to ride a bicycle at 60, took part in her first ultramarathon at 63 and trained to become a nutrition coach at 64. Over the past eight years, she has run 11 marathons and nine ultramarathons. In 2022, she became the oldest woman in the world to complete the Khardung La Challenge.

The route of the 72km (45-mile) ultramarathon in Ladakh, high in the Indian Himalayas, begins in Khardung village at 3,975 metres (13,000 feet) above sea level. Runners climb steadily to the top of the Khardung La pass, at 5,370 metres, making it the world’s highest ultramarathon.

In 2022, Bhatt became the oldest woman to run the Khardung La Challenge in Ladakh, India, the world’s highest ultramarathon. Photo: Pushpa Bhatt

“As a single mother, I worried about who would take care of my daughter if something happened to me,” Bhatt says on why she started running. “The company I worked for offered me a complimentary spot in the 7km Standard Chartered race, and I signed up. When I started training, I could not run for more than 15 minutes without stopping.”

Her stamina, however, improved and she could soon run for up to an hour at a time. The following year, she signed up for the Standard Chartered Mumbai Half Marathon.