118 Seconds Away Vedanta Pink City Half Marathon 2025

My first run in Jaipur

By the time I reached Jaipur, the two-hour half marathon had become more than just a target.

It was something I had started thinking about almost every time I ran.

My previous best was 2:05:10, and now I wanted to break the two-hour mark.

This was also my first race in Jaipur. I was staying at my office friend Pankaj’s place, and the weather couldn’t have been better for running. Winter had started, the air was cool, and the roads felt great.

Everything seemed to be in my favour.

So close

I finished the Vedanta Pink City Half Marathon 2025 in:

2:01:58

with an average pace of 5:46/km. The event was held in Jaipur on November 30, 2025.

When I saw the timing, I was happy about the improvement.

But at the same time, I was disappointed.

2:01:58.

I was just 1 minute 58 seconds away from my target.

Only 118 seconds.

I kept thinking that if I had pushed a little harder during those last few kilometres, maybe I could have finished under two hours.

Even one second faster per kilometre would have moved me noticeably closer.

That thought kept bothering me.

“Koi baat nahi, next time”

After the race, I was feeling quite sad.

Pankaj tried to make me feel better:

“Koi baat nahi yaar, next time kar lena. Itne close aa gaye ho.”

My brother said pretty much the same thing.

And technically, they were right.

But there was one thing they couldn’t really understand.

I had to wait another year for the next big race.

When you’ve spent months training for one particular goal, being less than two minutes away can hurt more than being much further away.

For a while, I couldn’t really enjoy the result.

Then I looked back

A few days later, something changed.

I started looking at the bigger picture.

I remembered where I had started.

My first official half marathon:

2:47:17

And now:

2:01:58

That was almost 45 minutes faster.

Suddenly, 2:01:58 didn’t feel like a failure anymore.

It felt incredible.

I had come from simply trying to survive 21.1 km to being just 118 seconds away from two hours.

That realization made me genuinely happy.

Sometimes you miss the target and still realize you’ve come much farther than you ever imagined.

118 seconds

Today, I still think about those last few kilometres.

Maybe if I had pushed a little more, the story would have been different.

Maybe I would have broken two hours.

Maybe not.

I’ll never know.

But this race gave me something I needed just as much as a sub-two finish:

perspective.

The two-hour mark was no longer a dream.

It was right there.

Just 118 seconds away.

And after coming this far, I knew I wasn’t going to stop chasing it.