Mira Rai WARRIOR

From poverty in the foothills of the Himalayas to the dizzy heights of international trail running stardom, Mira Rai’s incredible story is one of hope, happiness and a vision of an equal world for women and girls

Words: Juliet McGrattan

“Running changed my life entirely. I never imagined reaching this place.” says Mira, now a record-breaking, professional, trail runner. Mira was raised in a remote village in eastern Nepal, in the shadow of Mount Everest. Her childhood days were tough. “Life was difficult and monotonous in my village,” describes Mira. “Every day was the same; fetching water, grazing cattle and going to school, not knowing how education would help us in the future.” Mira left school at age 12, to help earn money for the family. Alongside her mother, she carried heavy sacks of rice up and down the mountain trails to sell at the market. Little did she know then how the half hour run to school and the days spent carrying rice on her back would serve her later in life.

Nepali life

Life was all about family and day-to-day survival. “I always looked up to my mother because she was the epitome of resilience.” says Mira. “Even withthe financial difficulties that we had to go through, she was always the light at the end of the tunnel. I admired her kindness and compassion.” Hearing Mira’s description of her mother as her role model only highlights the enormity of what Mira decided to do next.

Dissatisfied withher life and disillusioned witha future as a woman in a Nepali village, Mira wanted to be diff erent. “I had little knowledge of what lay outside my village. I wanted to explore. As the eldest daughter of the family, the smaller ones were my responsibility. I wanted to support them financially and give them a better life.”

On the run

At the age of 14, Mira told her mother she was going away for a couple of days. She left her village and joined the rebel Maoist army. Withpromises of equality and opportunity, she became a child solider. “Although I might have been nervous and anxious, I wasn’t frightened about leaving home. I always wanted to give my best to everything I did. I was confident and trusted myself in every decision. I was more than eager to leave home, to do something diff erent. Maybe that’s why I was brave. I was positive about my decision.” Her army wages meant she was able to send money home to help support her family and she saw the army as a doorway to a wider world.