MARATHON READY, ALWAYS

After earning the recognition in the India Book of Records 2026, K Jayanth Murali, a retired IPS officer shares about the stretches of miles he covered, and the rewarding experiences in life

- DIYA MARIA GEORGE

HARUKI Murakami told The Paris Review that when he's writing a novel, he wakes up at 4 o'clock, writes for five or six hours, runs ten kilometers or swims fifteen hundred meters, reads, listens to music, and is asleep by nine. Day after day, month after month, this routine doesn't change. For Murakami, repetition is a spell.

The same magic lies not in sentences but in strides for retired IPS officer K Jayanth Murali. His mornings begin with meditation and movement. And like Murakami, his discipline has carried him far—far enough to run over 200 marathons, earn a place in the India Book of Records 2026.

Rewards of discipline

Speaking about his journey, Jayanth recalls that his first marathon was in 2012, when he was 50 years old. "At that point of time, I was actually feeling that I had to do something in life. Life was just passing on," he says. Though he had been running regularly on the treadmill, it was the Chennai Marathon that truly set him on a new path. "Four months later, I ran the Auroville Marathon in February 2013," he adds. That run became his fastest, clocking in at three hours and 47 minutes.