How running helped ultra marathoner Deepak Shukla make pearls from lemons

Entrepreneur Deepak credits the sport with helping him achieve success with business, Pearl Lemon

Nov 03, 2024

Deepak Shukla has run 33 marathons, ultras all over the world and completed his first 100-miler earlier this year

Deepak Shukla is not one to let life happen around him.

Over the years he’s done everything from form a successful seven-figure business, train with a Georgian former special forces sniper, and win a Muay Thai fight in Brazil.

Oh, and running. Lots of running.

A British born Indian who lives in Italy, Deepak has finished 33 marathons in more than 20 different countries and has run ultras in Italy, Poland, Wales and England.

He even completed an Ironman in Port Elizabeth, South Africa - despite never having previously ridden a road bike.

Earlier this year, the 38-year-old, who runs digital marketing agency, Pearl Lemon, completed his first 100-mile run at the South Downs Way 100, finishing in 22 hours and 43 minutes.

With a 200-mile race now firmly in his sights - he is returning to the South Downs for the Centurion 200 in early December - Deepak is showing no sign of slowing down.

He puts his seemingly boundless energy down, in part, to genetics.

“What I mean by that is that my family, if I look at our ancestral history, came from a hard farming background in terms of where we're from in India,” he told the Running Tales Podcast.

“Lots of farmland, lots of just dusk till dawn farming. I see now, with me being part of the first generation born in the UK - I'm the youngest of five - a bit of a tenacious energy level that manifests across all of my siblings.”

Deepak said there are down sides to his energy and positivity, with a risk of doing too much meaning “you can get overwhelmed or burn out”.

Although he believes in the power of saying ‘yes’ to big challenges, he is also learning the value of saying “no” on occasion, particularly when it comes to events or ventures he might not, in the cold light of day, enjoy.

Some of these ‘down sides’ manifested themselves when Deepak was in his 20s leading to mental health issues including a lack of self-esteem, anxiety and relationship issues.

He told Running Tales: “It was really interesting because I went to see a cognitive behavioural therapist and I spoke about how at that time running was quite medicinal and meditative for me.

“And she said, if that works for you, do more of that.”

The power of PAs and coaches:

It was running, alongside developing more rigid routine systems and structures, that helped Deepak cope with his anxiety.

He said realising everyone has “limited willpower” available each day helped him focus on what is important to be successful.

“What I mean by that is that you wake up, feeling fresh mentally and you've got maybe four to six hours of focus before everything becomes a bit more reactive,” he added.

“Knowing that, I think that structuring the most important task at your start of day is very important.”

On a day-to-day basis, this has seen him employ a virtual PA, based in the Philippines, who looks after everything from his Amazon orders to flight bookings, while he also has a virtual business assistant who he can fire questions at as they arise.

“I took to heart that whole concept of leveraging time,” he said. “The amount of time we spend on stuff like making bookings is quite significant.

“Because of the distributed world that we live in, it's so inexpensive to do it [have online assistants].

“I'll always go to someone to help me achieve a goal. I'm a great believer in coaches, I'm a great believer in personal assistants and that has really helped me with the business.”

It is a way of life which Deepak has also utilised in his running, which he described as something that can be done “with your secondary brain on”.

Instead, he added, it is the programming of runs, organising training and working on nutrition which “requires a lot of mental calories”.

This realisation persuaded him to adopt the same principles that have helped him in business into his running - this time in the form of a coach.

Deepak found a running app called V.O2, which offers people the chance to hire virtual running coaches. He now works with a Ukrainian coach called Alexi - a decision which has “transformed my running” even though they have only ever spoken on WhatsApp.

“He programmes all my runs into V.O2, which syncs with Garmin,” Deepak said.

“That changed things for me because I just needed someone to tell me what to do and when to do it.”

From running on Christmas Day to the Chicago Marathon:

Businessman, Muay Thai fighter and ultra runner - the many faces of Deepak Shukla

Deepak’s running story started when he was in his mid-teens, jogging around Black Park in Hillingdon, London with a friend.

He knew he was growing to love the sport when, instead of getting excited for the usual presents or family meet-ups of Christmas Day, he opted to join that friend, Tom, and his dad for an early morning run.

“They didn't believe in Christmas,” he said, “and told me they were going for a run.

“I remember feeling so excited. I still remember going out at 6.30am. My family thought I was nuts because I was 16 at the time.”

But it was after a visit to a self-development conference that Deepak’s running journey really picked up.

Then in his early-20s, he was struck by the meeting’s over-riding message that it’s possible for people to do anything they want if they are passionate enough about it.

He said: “That really inspired me because up until that point I had never run further than around eight kilometres.”

In fact, he was so inspired he immediately booked a flight to Chicago to take on the windy city’s flagship marathon. He even used a credit card to pay for the trip, a way of holding himself accountable and making sure he didn’t back down from the challenge.

“Then I posted it on Facebook because that was what the [conference’s] teachings about public accountability said to do,” he added.

“Do something it's difficult for you to turn back from.”

The plan worked and Deepak’s trip to America saw him return as a Chicago marathoner.

He was 23 at the time and running has remained part of his life since: “Joy is at the foundation of it. I just love running.

“I’ve tried lots of other things. I went and trained with a paramilitary programme in Georgia, I took part in a Muay Thai fight, I’ve completed an Ironman.

“But I've always loved running. It’s been a good thing for balance and for my mental health.”

It was after his conversation with his therapist that Deepak realised running more would be good for him, a mindset switch which started him off on a journey towards more marathons and ultimately into the world of ultras.

Ultra marathons give me a ‘second energy system’:

Hiring a running coach has taken Deepak Shukla’s running to another level

Deepak said his decision to venture into greater distances rather than get his running fix at parkrun or by taking on half-marathons was fuelled by an ambition to see just how far he could go.

He said: “One wonders where drive comes from and it's very difficult to articulate.

“I think there's a couple of strands. There’s that whole concept of the diaspora, so ethnic minorities that move from a developing economy to a developed economy, and need to work hard as a means to progress.

“Then that drive and the desire to want to push the bar has to come from within. There's got to be something internally that drives one to run 100 miles or more because there's absolutely no logical reason to do it.”

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That desire eventually led Deepak to take on the South Downs Way 100 earlier this year and he now has his eyes set on a new goal - doubling the distance to tackle the South Downs Way 200 on December 11.

“I'd love to finish it in less than 60 hours, but I have no concept of whether that's possible because at this point I'm just talking pie in the sky numbers,” he said.

“I did 23 for the first one, so 23 plus 23 is 46. Give it another 10 hours, because I'm going to slow down. That sounds alright.

“I’m planning to take a nap at the 24-hour mark, and sleep for between an hour and 90 minutes. The course is runnable so I’m hoping that will be enough.

“But I’m curious to see how it goes. I'm a bit nervous because it's in December and I’ve not run with that amount of cold. When you combine cold, dark and then slowing down, you can get like really cold.”

Deepak added another challenge will be running by himself for such a long time.

“What if I have a mental breakdown? That also worries me with this long event. I don't know how I'm going to be if I'm by myself for significant periods.

“I’m going to be going up to people and saying, ‘hi, I’m Deepak, will you be my friend!’.”

However the race goes, Deepak remains certain of one thing - the deep impact running has had on his life.

Asked where he would rate it’s influence in terms of the business success he has achieved, he said he would put its contribution at around 40%.

“It's all very integrated, he said. “Specifically, it helped with my anxious energy.

“There was a pattern of destruction [in my life] and running tired me out mentally and physically. It used up that excess energy.”

Deepak said when he started running ultras that added an extra layer of resilience that he was able to channel back into his life generally.

“Ultras helped me a lot in life because I just feel like I have a second energy system,” he said.

“Running ultras has given me this energy system that I can pull from in work that gives me an unfair advantage.

“I’m used to working hard and running is such a huge part of it. When you know that you've done long ultras, it makes the work that you do easier.

“Running has calmed me mentally, it's helped with my anxiety. There's more destructive pastimes. It could be going to the pub four nights a week, it could be 40 cigarettes a day.

“Runners that run these distances are obsessive to a certain degree because it requires obsession to want to do it, and there are clearly other obsessions that wouldn’t be as healthy.

“Running gives me a lot of joy.”