I have just been inducted into the TMM Legends Club by Tata Mumbai Marathon and Procam International. I am humbled. I am grateful. And I am still processing it. The citation that came with the recognition carries words I will hold for a long time: "There are no extraordinary people. There are just people, capable of doing the extraordinary. They are the ones who seize the day and make it exceptional. We call them THE LEGENDS." I have read these lines several times now. Each time, something stirs. The TMM Legends Club honours runners who have completed the full 42.195km Mumbai Marathon 10 times or more. This is my recognition for that commitment - year after year, start line after start line. But if I'm honest, the number is almost secondary. What brings me back to Mumbai every single year is not the race. It is everything around it.
It is a city that becomes something else on marathon day. Mumbai - with all its extraordinary energy, its relentless spirit, it’s impossible ability to hold together millions of lives - shows up for its runners like nowhere else I have experienced. The crowds lining the streets in the early hours of the morning. The strangers cheering your name from a bib they read in passing. The music / dhol beats that find you exactly when your legs are asking to stop. And then there are the children.
Kids, youngsters and elderly alike line the road with arms outstretched - offering salt, sweets, oranges, bananas, or simply a high five that somehow carries the energy of a hundred cheers. Families and Supporters hold up banners with messages so creative, so funny, so unexpectedly moving, that you find yourself laughing and tearing up at the same time. I have smiled at signs I still remember years later. That is not a small thing when you are at kilometre 35.
The volunteers - who have been standing for hours before you even arrive - and still find a smile that means something. The city's authorities and systems that make one of Asia's largest marathons feel, somehow, personal. And yes - the Mumbai weather. Anyone who has run TMM knows what I mean. January in Mumbai can be deceptively warm and humid, especially as the sun rises. It is not a forgiving climate for a marathon. But somehow, the city's energy more than compensates. You run through the heat not despite Mumbai, but because of it - carried by something larger than the conditions.
Mumbai does not just host this race. Mumbai runs it with you. What has also moved me deeply is how Tata Mumbai Marathon and Procam International have evolved this race over the years. The organisation, the course experience, the runner support, the logistics - all of it has grown and improved with a thoughtfulness that is rare. This is not just a well-run race. It is a world-class one. And it gets better every single year. To Tata Mumbai Marathon and Procam International - thank you for building something that goes so far beyond a race. You have created a community, a tradition, and now, a legacy through the Legends Club. This recognition means more than I can fully articulate.
I stay with the Marathon Mindset during my coaching sessions with the clients - the belief that transformation happens not in one dramatic moment, but in the accumulated commitment of showing up, year after year, even when it is hard.
- This induction is a reminder of that truth.
- Not because I did something extraordinary.
- But because I kept showing up.
- And perhaps that, in itself, is enough.