I had heard of this exotic group called Marathon Maniacs, and in fact knew about a couple of people who were there on its list of maniacs.
Today, I went to their website and found that they in fact have an entry criteria for being an official maniac. There are several levels of maniacs, starting from the Bronze level, and then higher up to Silver, Gold, etc. The bronze level criteria is as follows (one of):
1. Back to Back Marathons (two marathons in consecutive weekends, races can be run on either Saturday or Sunday).
OR
2. 2 Marathons in 3 weeks (2 Marathons within a 16 day time frame).
OR
3. 3 Marathons in 3 months (3 Marathons within a 90 day time frame).
I was delighted to see that on Feb 22nd, 2009, I just completed their 3rd criteria above, when I ran the Running and Living Gurgaon marathon (in fact, I completed the 3 marathons within a 57 day period). The complete list is as follows:
- Running and Living Gurgaon Marathon 2009 (4:38)
- Mumbai Marathon 2009 (5:21)
- Mawana Sugars Indian Open (Full) 2008 (5:11)
So, I am a Marathon Maniac now (though official confirmation is pending)! Way to go!
Note: Other Indian runners on the Marathon Maniacs list:
- Dr. Ashis Roy (Silver, 3 in 3 weeks)
- Sunil Chainani (Bronze, 3 in 3 months)
- Rajesh Vetcha (Bronze, 3 in 3 months)
- Bhasker Sharma (Bronze, 3 in 3 months)