At TMM, they say, conserve your energies for Peddar road. Everyone must pay their taxes there. And the tax is everything they have left with. I was no exception to that. I walked a few steps on the hill and then slowly picked up my pace again.

The Idea of Procam Slam

I had a cartilege injury in my right ankle towards the end of 2024. I was out of running since November that year. Feb 2025 is when I was back with a 10k training plan again and started training for Karnataka State Police 10k in March and then TCS World 10K in Bengaluru in April. At this time, I was following the Garmin Coach running plan by Coach Greg. My plan was to run sub-50 10k.

This training proved to be fruitful in that I could get a PB in TCS world 10k by completing it in 50:37, only about a minute faster than my previous PB 51:20 in November 2024.

That's when the idea of Procam Slam was planted in my head by Amrutha, who was attempting it for the 2nd year. Her first attempt was sabotaged by an injury the previous year.

Start with TCS 10k in April --> Vedanta Delhi HM, Delhi in October --> Tata Steel World 25k Kolkata in December --> Most coveted Tata Mumbai Marathon in January 2026. Voila! We would be Procam Slammers! Sounded simple enough.

A marathon before my first marathon

TMM 2026 was supposed to be my first marathon. If not for two reasons:

• I did not want to go to the most coveted road marathon of the country unprepared, not knowing what it means to run a marathon
• I had run the half marathon in NMDC Hyderabad marathon in 2024, so, graduating to full marathon in 2025 felt only natural

NMDC Hyderabad marathon happens on the 3rd Sunday of August every year. TMM happens on 2nd Sunday of January. So, I would have 4 months 3 weeks time to recover and prepare for TMM after the Hyderabad marathon. It sat at the sweet spot where I could attempt it without compromising TMM preparation. So, I went ahead against the advice of my running mentor Amrutha. I have written about my experience of it at length in my earlier post.

Becoming a student of Adiga sir

On August 26 Amrutha asked me if I was interested in joining Adiga sir's training. I was a bit hesitant initially because I was not sure if I could keep up. Especially, when somoene is watching, there is more pressure train more consistently. It was not like I create a Garmin Coach training plan for myself and follow it as I wished. Moreover, Amrutha mentioned that Adiga Sir would not like people skipping trainings or doing what was not there in the training.

Discipline was the key.

Finally, I said "Yes" and Vineet added me to the WhatsApp group. After my introduction and providing timing of past runs for 5k ,10k, 21k and 42.2k, Adiga Sir added me to the trianing plan excel and started sharing weekly personalized trainng plans.

Doubts creeping in

He would provide Interval runs on Tuesdays, Threshold or Hill runs on Thursdays and Long runs on Saturdays. Monday, Wednesay and Friday included easy runs. This was brutal for my hetherto not-so-consistent training style. Moreover, I had never used so precise training paces before. So, keeping up with interval runs was getting difficult.

It was about a month after starting the training that I thought of asking Adiga sir to reduce my training pace a little bit. But then, I thought, let me try for one more week. Surprisingly, it started getting easier. I think the body got adapted to the training and I started enjoying it. Interval runs provided the required intesity and threshold runs gave enough high aerobic volume to improve my VO2 max steadily. I started enjoying the training.

Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon - October 12, 2025

I was not plannign for anything dramatic. A Sub-2 HM was all I was targeting. Amrutha and I reached Delhi via Hindon Airport Ghaziabad on Saturday the 11th of October. Lunch was at a Haldiram's restaurant. We met other Burner boys for dinner - Yogi, Manju and Rajeev, who were all attempting the Procam Slam like we were.

Being almost a flat course, Delhi Half Marathon felt like a breeze. I could hold an average pace of about 5:05 min/km. I could save enough energy for the end to even push a little bit. It turned out to be much better than I had even hoped for. My final timing was 1:47:33 for 21.1 km.

This proved to me that consistent training is much more important than I had ever thought of. It was simply trust the process and let the training take care of you during the race.

Tata Steel 25k Kolkata - December 21, 2025

It was initially announced for December 14 and then got postponed by a week. We would have exactly 3 week's time to recover and train for TMM 2026.

Flights and hotels were already booked in September. Ramya gave me company this time. We reached Kolkata, via Chennai on Friday amidst the ongoing Indigo crisis. We stayed at a hotel near Church street. Next day morning, we did a shake-out run along with other Burner boys, kavya and Rajat. Post run, as per the ritual, our procession headed towards the Kanhaiya Kachoriwala. Procession took place in two ancient, yellow-cabs of Kolkata. Travelling through those streets felt like traveling back in time, the relics of the bygone era.

Having loaded ourselves with fat and carbs (read kachoris, samosas and tea), and a brief stop at the hotel, we headed to Kaali Ghat for Maa Kaali's blessings. That day being Saturday, proved to be almost disastrous. Till today, I believe, we all came out unhurt only becasue of the blessing of the Maa Kaali. Otherwise, we would all have become one among the statistics of a stampede.

Post the darshan, we hedaed towards Dakshineswar, and then a boat ride to the Belur Mutt.

As I did with the previous race, even here, I did not have any major expctation. Goal was to complete 25km in 2:09 minutes. However, the weather, the almost flat course, and most of all the training and encouragement from Adiga sir played a key role in I completing the 25km race in 1 hour 58 minutes. This race felt even more comfortable to me and I ran the full course at 4:43 min/km pace, a slightly higher pace than my threshold pace of 4:55 min/km. This was a great confidence booster. I could achieve a negative split by increasing my pace for last 4 5km.

Finally, the Tata Mumbai Marathon - January 18, 2026

Between TSK 25km race and TMM 2026, we had only 3 weekends. Adiga sir said it was not wise to increase the long run distance beyond 30km given the short time period for recovery. So, we all ended up running up to 27km as our longest long-runs before the TMM. Nevertheless, confidence was high. Adrenaline was even higher on morning of the race.

Nothing special needed to be done. Just do what we did during the training. Wear the same shirt and shorts, drink the same electrolytes. Do not attempt anything new. I did not take any gels. Rather, I carried some banana halva which I had tried during some long runs.

My goal was run comfortably for first 32 to 35km. Keep the pace a bit lower than target and save energy for the last leg. Given the humidity, plan was to take one 250ml electrolyte bottle and one 250ml plain water in hand while running. As they get emptied, keep swapping them at the aid stations. I had 7 halva pieces with me and I was going to take 1 at every 6km.

Vineet and I were in the same corral and we started the run together. Somewhere around 12th km, we passed Manju and Yogi who were runnig together. We were running at a comfortable pace of approximately 5:30 min/km. Becuse of the company, the run felt even more confortable. I was only trying to match Vineet's pace and cadence. He was sharing his pervious TMM experiences all along, what landmarks I should look out for, what bands I should watch out for on the course etc. Mind was kept entertained due to the Sea Link route and the Mumbai's skyline. I was soaking in all that experience and feeling privileged for being able to run there, thanking each every one who helped me, encouraged me.

Somewhere around 30km mark, Vineet fell back, having felt nauseous after taking a salt tablet. For a couple of kilometers, I kept looking back, hoping for him to catch up. But, then I realized, I probably had to run the rest of the course all alone.

Around 35km, I started feeling intense pain on my right toes. At the time I did not realize what it was. Also, I had gotten sick of the taste of banan halva and did feel like eating the last one. I started walk-run due to the pain in the foot. Only when I reached the finish line and removed my shoes did I realize that I had blood clot on my toes. On hindsight, had I removed my shoes and ran the last 4km on barefoot, I would have comfortably finished with a sub-4. But, as Amrutha would put it, there is no point thinking about it now. But, may be a lesson can be learnt for the next race?

I finished with 4:00:26, aout 5 minutes slower than my target timing. Nevertheless, the gratitude, happiness, the rush of joy and tears that I experienced after crossing the finish line can never be put into exact words.

Closing thoughts

It was a year of rigorous training. I was trying to keep my health together for the races. Missing one race meant having to re-try all 4 again next year. It made me believe that I could commit to something and stay true it to for a long time. Yes, I did not win a prize. But, within myself, something had shifted. I was always told that I could not keep up with any new hobby for more than a few months. I proved to myself that it was not true. And, that makes a lot of difference.

Yes, marathon running is a lonely sport. Once the race starts, you are on your own. You have to carry yourself across the finish line. But the support of people around you, your family, friends, the group that trains with you, coahes that train you, mentors that guide you - all of these play an important role in crossing that finish line. It would not be possible without them.

In that marathon running is a group sport - a group of people that stand behind you during that long journey so that you can carry yourself through those last 42.2km.