Deepak Shukla / First-hand journeys
Army preparation, island ultras, a fight in Rio and races that ran through the night. These are the things I have actually done — and the original stories behind them.
I’m a British-Indian founder and endurance runner. I applied to 21 SAS in autumn 2014, went through the Army's Alpha and Bravo training, spent a year of Wednesday evenings preparing alongside other applicants, and attended a 21 SAS assessment weekend where our performance was watched closely. In June 2016 I decided selection wasn't right for me, and I stopped before the formal course. I’ve run 30+ marathons and finished 100- and 200-mile races. This collection puts the experience before the slogan.
Read the storiesFrom my earlier ultramarathon preparation story; not a photograph of either 2024 Centurion race.
Some of these articles were written close to the experience. Others look back with a result sheet beside them. I keep the distinction visible: an original diary tells you what I wrote then; an official result establishes a finish; a planning feature explains what the evidence can usefully teach.
Not every chapter ends in a qualification or a finish line. My Army application included evaluated unit-linked preparation; I later left before CIC and the formal SAS Reserve selection course. My first full Ironman is now verified in Port Elizabeth on 29 March 2015, in 15:21:35; Maastricht remains a separately recalled DNF with an uncertain date. The value is in an accurate account, not a sporting or military CV polished beyond recognition.
Read the original 21 SAS diaryFour ways into the story
01 / Army Reserve / 21 SAS · First-hand accounts
I applied to 21 SAS in autumn 2014, went through the Army's Alpha and Bravo training, spent a year of Wednesday evenings preparing alongside other applicants, and attended a 21 SAS assessment weekend where our performance was watched closely. In June 2016 I decided selection wasn't right for me, and I stopped before the formal course.
02 / Ultras / Endurance · First-hand accounts
30+ marathons, island mountains and two publicly timed Centurion finishes in 2024. Read the contemporary stories for the experience and the new race ledgers for what the official results actually establish.
03 / Muay Thai / Action · First-hand accounts
I lived in Rio and trained Muay Thai before my first fight. It belongs here as a first-person experience of learning and competing, not as a claim to be a professional fighter or a substitute for coaching.
04 / Adventure travel · First-hand accounts
92 days through South America in 2009, from a Galápagos volcano to Bolivia's Death Road, then a seven-day hitchhike from London to Tallinn in 2011. Retold from my original diaries and photographs, with 2009 memories kept separate from today's travel advice.
2015 trip / 17 October 2026 archive note
My owner-attested portrait and a path from my privately arranged ten-day Georgia experience. Separate from Alpha and Bravo, Wednesday applicant sessions and my later 21 SAS-linked evaluated weekend; not an official course or qualification.
Verified finishes / 2012–2024
Elapsed times include the whole race, not just moving time. Overall positions belong to the individual event. Torino’s first place is explicitly the men’s M35 category, not an overall win.
1 December 2012
10:10:10
Finish · Tied 60th overall
First Welsh ultra · Nominal 40 miles; contemporary course reported approximately 42 miles
12 April 2014
30:30:25
Finish · 111th overall
29 March 2015 · Bib 235
15:21:35
Finish · 1,351th overall
115th M25–29 · First full Ironman
9 March 2024
11:46:24
Finish · 11th overall
1st men's M35 · 7th male · Not an overall win
8–9 June 2024 · Bib 561
22:43:38
Finish · 126th overall
11–14 December 2024 · Bib 167
69:14:32
Finish · 18th overall
In 2023 I stopped at roughly mile 32 of a planned 50-mile event on Salisbury Plain. That chapter belongs alongside the later finishes, not hidden behind them. It is a recollection of a nonfinish, not an official timing record.
Salisbury Plain: why stopping still belonged in the storyFrom the archive / 2009–2011
Retold from the travel blogs I kept at the time, with my own photographs. Each story is a dated memory; where safety matters, it says what to check today.
June 2009 / Ecuador
On horseback, then on foot over volcanic rock to one of the world's largest calderas.
June 2009 / Peru
A bike descent towards Santa Teresa, jungle trekking and a railway walk. Not the Inca Trail.
July 2009 / Bolivia
One skid, a good guide and what to check before riding it today.
July 2009 / Bolivia
Volunteering with rescued monkeys, macaws and a spectacled bear, as it was then.
October 2009 / Chicago
4:25:55, and the official splits that show where a fast start caught up with me.
July 2011 / Europe
Seven days, eight borders and about 1,120 to 1,200 miles overland.
Contemporary sources / Retrospective reading
The early blogs left different kinds of records: a rainy trek, short training runs, a social weekend and an ethically complicated documentary. Each article distinguishes what the original source records from what I can say looking back.
Contemporary diaries alongside later source-led retrospectives.
Separate trips, not a reconstructed continuous itinerary.
Exact year unconfirmed. A temporary choice, not an equivalent experience of chronic homelessness.
Verified results remain separate from personal recollections.
92 days backpacking from Venezuela to Argentina, then Chicago in October: 4:25:55 after a too-fast first half.
Read this chapterA self-reported approximately 3:45 second marathon, leaving Deloitte to rap and run a home studio, then a seven-day hitchhike to Estonia.
Read this chapterAn island ultramarathon and an application to 21 SAS around autumn 2014. Separate challenges, neither a credential for the other.
Read this chapterAlpha and Bravo preparatory training. Ten days of private Georgian training were a separate experience with a former sniper. Around 10–15 Wednesday sessions and a monitored 21 SAS-linked assessment weekend after Alpha and Bravo; I later chose not to continue to the formal selection course. No CIC or Regiment qualification.
Read this chapterPort Elizabeth, South Africa: 15:21:35, 1,351st overall. The official result sits beside my booking and swimming diaries.
Read this chapterMuay Thai in Rio and four marathons in consecutive weeks remain separate historical experiences.
Read this chapter100km in 11:46:24, first men’s M35, eleventh overall and seventh male at Parco Ruffini.
Read this chapterSouth Downs Way 100 in June; Winter Downs 200 in December. Official results anchor the story beyond recollection.
Read this chapterThe finish lines are visible. Ordinary routines are less photogenic. My discipline essays explore that less dramatic side: repetition, focus and the habits that survive a normal working week.
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