In December 2011, a co-worker of mine forwarded me an online news article which was titled - "12m12m". It stood for 12 Marathons in 12 Months. As crazy as it sounds, that's what a bunch of runners in Bangalore successfully did in the year 2011! As I was reading the article, the name of one of the runners that did the 12m12m caught my eye. That was Nitin Jain and he is connected to me on DailyMile.com. Nitin's success story instantly provided me an inspiration to start a 12-12-12 challenge. The idea was to do 12 Half Marathons in 12 Months in the year '12. And, there started an interesting journey of Half Marathons.
The first Half Marathon (1 of 12) of the challenge went well and I completed the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon on Jan 15, 2012 with a timing of 02:06:58. Mumbai was a breeze. Since we started running down the Worli Sea Link and then ran on flat roads up to CST, it was an easy course to finish! It gave me the confidence of breaking the 2 hour mark.
My next Half Marathon (2 of 12) was at Auroville on Feb 12, 2012. My target was to break the 2 hour mark at Auroville. It was also a reunion event as many of my friends from Bangalore, Chennai and Coimbatore were also running alongside me at Auroville. I was doing well up to the 17th km. But the humidity of Puducherry got to me at that point. I was severely dehydrated. I somehow finished the race, but my timing was 02:13:00. I threw up after the race and was sick for a few hours before I recovered well.
I also developed a left Achilles tendon injury at Auroville. The injury got worse forcing me to abandon long runs for the next couple of months. I did not do a Half Marathon in March & April 2012. But I kept on running shorter distances, which was a mistake. After every run, I applied ice on my left Achilles tendon and it gave me relief. But the injury did not heal.
I was determined to go ahead with the rest of the 12-12-12 challenge in May 2012 and did an unofficial Half Marathon (3 of 12) in Cubbon Park with my good friend Nagabhushan Puli. I was way behind schedule with my 12-12-12 challenge, as I had done only 3 Half Marathons in 5 months. Having 7 more months to go in 2012, I had enough time to make up for the lost months.
The left Achilles injury flared up again at the TCS 10 K run on May 27, 2012. Although I finished the 10 K in 00:58:31, I knew that I should visit a doctor and get my injury treated properly. An MRI showed no degeneration of the tendon and the doctor advised me a 3 week complete rest. The rest helped me heal completely. I also learnt an important lesson in this process. For any run related injury, rest your feet for a few weeks before you spend huge sums of money on the doctor and a MRI!
I resumed running by the end of June 2012 and did another unofficial Half Marathon (4 of 12) in Bangalore with my friend Nagabhushan again. This was my 4th Half Marathon in 6 months. I was still behind schedule.
July 2012 was a very hard month for me. My beloved dad passed away on July 14, 2012 after a yearlong battle with cancer. I was registered to run at the Dream Runners Half Marathon on July 15, 2012 and had to miss it. So, it was again an unofficial Half Marathon (5 of 12) with some running buddies on July 28, 2012 at Cubbon Park in Bangalore. We all finished it in 02:23 hrs. My friend and co-worker Girish Singh set the pace and I ran along with him. Overall, it was a great group run!
August 2012 was the month to make up for the lost months in 2012. I did 2 Half Marathons in August. The first one was a solo Half Marathon (6 of 12) on Aug 15th, and I named it "The Independence Day Half Marathon" commemorating the Indian Independence Day. I finished it in 02:13. The big event of August 2012 was the Airtel Hyderabad Marathon (6 of 12) on Aug 26, 2012. I was once again aiming for a sub 2 hour finish. You can read all about my AHM experience by clicking here.
September 2012 was a strong month for running. Did 2 more Half Marathons this month. The first one was at the Spirit of Wipro run (7 of 12) on Sept 15, 2012 in Bangalore. I finished close my previous PB with a timing of 02:07:43.
The unofficial Bangalore RoadRunners Sept 2012 Half Marathon (8 of 12) was very special for me. Do you remember Nitin Jain from the first paragraph of this blog? Well, he joined us for the run on Sept 22, 2012 and ran almost 14 km with us. We finished the run in 02:27 hrs.
Then came the first running event for me at Chennai in 2012. It was the CTC Buckingham Canal Marathon on Oct 7, 2012. I did the Half Marathon (9 of 12) at this event and it was also a moment of enlightenment for me. I felt that Half Marathons were not challenging any more. I was finishing Half Marathons without much effort, although the elusive sub 2 hour finish timing was still eluding me. I knew that the only way to conquer the 2 hour mark was to start training for a full marathon. So, I changed my Half Marathon registration at the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2013 to a Full Marathon and formally started my FM training.
My first step towards a Full Marathon training was to do a 10x10 challenge from Oct 22 to 31, 2012. This was running 10 km continuously on 10 consecutive days. My 10x10 log is posted here. Please look at row number 73. My successful completion of the 10x10 challenge without any injuries gave me the much needed morale boost to my full marathon training. My running buddies Alifiya and Rubaina accompanied me on and off these 10 days of running.
My target was to achieve running 30 km by end of November 30, 2012. Taking advantage of the November 13th Diwali holiday, I pushed myself to do a 27 km run (10 of 12). And, on Nov 24, 2012 I reached the 30 km mark in running (11 of 12). At that point in time, I had done 11 Half Marathons in 11 months and was well on target! With that confidence, I registered for a Full Marathon at Auroville in Feb 2013.
December 2012 came to pass and it was time for the final big running event of South India of the year 2012. It was The Wipro Chennai Marathon. It would be my 12th HM of my 12-12-12 challenge. It was a much publicized event and 1100+ people had registered for the Half Marathon. It was now or never for me to break the 2 hour mark. Two other running buddies of mine - Srinath and Keerthana were also aiming for the same. December 2, 2012 had dawned but the Sun was not out yet. We formed a trio at the start line and off we went at 5:15 am on a pleasant (no kidding) Sunday morning. The start was strong. We kept chugging along. Half way through the race, Keerthana looked at me and said, "Uncle, there are only 2 women ahead of me and I want to finish on the podium". I needed no more motivation than those words of Keerthana. I pushed Keerthana on and on, and in the process my pace and timing was improving all along. Of the trio, I finished first, Srinath next and Keerthana third... but all 3 of us BROKE THE 2 HOUR MARK! I finished with a Personal Best (PB) timing of 1:56 hrs according to my trusted Garmin 305 watch. More importantly, Keerthana finished 3rd in the Women's category and it was a podium finish for her! The official results of TWCM of Keerthana, Srinath & me can be viewed here. All 3 of us did it, and, it was the best feeling of my running career!
As I relax and type this blog, I just realized - it is not how you start that matters, it is how you finish! I am so happy to finish my 12-12-12 challenge so strongly. This feeling is just so amazing!
The first Half Marathon (1 of 12) of the challenge went well and I completed the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon on Jan 15, 2012 with a timing of 02:06:58. Mumbai was a breeze. Since we started running down the Worli Sea Link and then ran on flat roads up to CST, it was an easy course to finish! It gave me the confidence of breaking the 2 hour mark.
My next Half Marathon (2 of 12) was at Auroville on Feb 12, 2012. My target was to break the 2 hour mark at Auroville. It was also a reunion event as many of my friends from Bangalore, Chennai and Coimbatore were also running alongside me at Auroville. I was doing well up to the 17th km. But the humidity of Puducherry got to me at that point. I was severely dehydrated. I somehow finished the race, but my timing was 02:13:00. I threw up after the race and was sick for a few hours before I recovered well.
I also developed a left Achilles tendon injury at Auroville. The injury got worse forcing me to abandon long runs for the next couple of months. I did not do a Half Marathon in March & April 2012. But I kept on running shorter distances, which was a mistake. After every run, I applied ice on my left Achilles tendon and it gave me relief. But the injury did not heal.
I was determined to go ahead with the rest of the 12-12-12 challenge in May 2012 and did an unofficial Half Marathon (3 of 12) in Cubbon Park with my good friend Nagabhushan Puli. I was way behind schedule with my 12-12-12 challenge, as I had done only 3 Half Marathons in 5 months. Having 7 more months to go in 2012, I had enough time to make up for the lost months.
The left Achilles injury flared up again at the TCS 10 K run on May 27, 2012. Although I finished the 10 K in 00:58:31, I knew that I should visit a doctor and get my injury treated properly. An MRI showed no degeneration of the tendon and the doctor advised me a 3 week complete rest. The rest helped me heal completely. I also learnt an important lesson in this process. For any run related injury, rest your feet for a few weeks before you spend huge sums of money on the doctor and a MRI!
I resumed running by the end of June 2012 and did another unofficial Half Marathon (4 of 12) in Bangalore with my friend Nagabhushan again. This was my 4th Half Marathon in 6 months. I was still behind schedule.
July 2012 was a very hard month for me. My beloved dad passed away on July 14, 2012 after a yearlong battle with cancer. I was registered to run at the Dream Runners Half Marathon on July 15, 2012 and had to miss it. So, it was again an unofficial Half Marathon (5 of 12) with some running buddies on July 28, 2012 at Cubbon Park in Bangalore. We all finished it in 02:23 hrs. My friend and co-worker Girish Singh set the pace and I ran along with him. Overall, it was a great group run!
August 2012 was the month to make up for the lost months in 2012. I did 2 Half Marathons in August. The first one was a solo Half Marathon (6 of 12) on Aug 15th, and I named it "The Independence Day Half Marathon" commemorating the Indian Independence Day. I finished it in 02:13. The big event of August 2012 was the Airtel Hyderabad Marathon (6 of 12) on Aug 26, 2012. I was once again aiming for a sub 2 hour finish. You can read all about my AHM experience by clicking here.
September 2012 was a strong month for running. Did 2 more Half Marathons this month. The first one was at the Spirit of Wipro run (7 of 12) on Sept 15, 2012 in Bangalore. I finished close my previous PB with a timing of 02:07:43.
The unofficial Bangalore RoadRunners Sept 2012 Half Marathon (8 of 12) was very special for me. Do you remember Nitin Jain from the first paragraph of this blog? Well, he joined us for the run on Sept 22, 2012 and ran almost 14 km with us. We finished the run in 02:27 hrs.
Then came the first running event for me at Chennai in 2012. It was the CTC Buckingham Canal Marathon on Oct 7, 2012. I did the Half Marathon (9 of 12) at this event and it was also a moment of enlightenment for me. I felt that Half Marathons were not challenging any more. I was finishing Half Marathons without much effort, although the elusive sub 2 hour finish timing was still eluding me. I knew that the only way to conquer the 2 hour mark was to start training for a full marathon. So, I changed my Half Marathon registration at the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2013 to a Full Marathon and formally started my FM training.
My first step towards a Full Marathon training was to do a 10x10 challenge from Oct 22 to 31, 2012. This was running 10 km continuously on 10 consecutive days. My 10x10 log is posted here. Please look at row number 73. My successful completion of the 10x10 challenge without any injuries gave me the much needed morale boost to my full marathon training. My running buddies Alifiya and Rubaina accompanied me on and off these 10 days of running.
My target was to achieve running 30 km by end of November 30, 2012. Taking advantage of the November 13th Diwali holiday, I pushed myself to do a 27 km run (10 of 12). And, on Nov 24, 2012 I reached the 30 km mark in running (11 of 12). At that point in time, I had done 11 Half Marathons in 11 months and was well on target! With that confidence, I registered for a Full Marathon at Auroville in Feb 2013.
December 2012 came to pass and it was time for the final big running event of South India of the year 2012. It was The Wipro Chennai Marathon. It would be my 12th HM of my 12-12-12 challenge. It was a much publicized event and 1100+ people had registered for the Half Marathon. It was now or never for me to break the 2 hour mark. Two other running buddies of mine - Srinath and Keerthana were also aiming for the same. December 2, 2012 had dawned but the Sun was not out yet. We formed a trio at the start line and off we went at 5:15 am on a pleasant (no kidding) Sunday morning. The start was strong. We kept chugging along. Half way through the race, Keerthana looked at me and said, "Uncle, there are only 2 women ahead of me and I want to finish on the podium". I needed no more motivation than those words of Keerthana. I pushed Keerthana on and on, and in the process my pace and timing was improving all along. Of the trio, I finished first, Srinath next and Keerthana third... but all 3 of us BROKE THE 2 HOUR MARK! I finished with a Personal Best (PB) timing of 1:56 hrs according to my trusted Garmin 305 watch. More importantly, Keerthana finished 3rd in the Women's category and it was a podium finish for her! The official results of TWCM of Keerthana, Srinath & me can be viewed here. All 3 of us did it, and, it was the best feeling of my running career!
| Overall Rank | Bib | Name | Gender Rank | Net Time |
| 106 | 2302 | PATRICK PITCHAPPA | 104 | 1:56:30 |
| 116 | 2407 | SRINATH JAGANNATHAN | 114 | 1:57:52 |
| 119 | 2735 | KEERTHANA SWAMINATHAN | 3 | 1:58:20 |
