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 kilometres or swims fifteen hundred metres, 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.
Once bitten by the running bug, Jayanth never looked back. He hasn’t missed a single edition of the Chennai or Dream Runners marathons since. “I’ve run all over India,” he says. “After my retirement in 2022, I ran the New York Marathon in 2023. This year, I’ve registered for the Dallas Marathon in December.”
Though the official record captures the post-60 milestone, his total tally is far more staggering. “If you take a total, I’ve done more than 200 marathons,” he says, adding that his weekly half marathons are a regular fixture. “My volume of running has come down, but I still run a minimum of a half marathon every week.”
Much of his running journey is documented digitally — on Strava app and he posts weekly to X. “I’ve been posting for the last five years. Before that, there was no Strava, so I wasn’t recording then,” he says.
The transition from a high-stakes policing career to long-distance endurance running might appear drastic, but for Jayanth, the continuation felt natural. He shares, “My body has adapted to long-distance running. In the job, there was a lot of stress, and running was a stress buster for me. After a run, the mind clears out, you can handle stress much better.”
In fact, for him, running has always been a form of inner exploration. “Running is a moving meditation, a way to access inner silence.” In his book ‘Enkindling the Endorphins of Endurance,’ he elaborates on the spiritual depth of running. “Initially, it’s very difficult. But once you get over that phase, your breathing syncs with your stride, the mental chatter ceases, and you experience deep silence. You feel oneness with the environment around you.”
It’s a feeling that keeps him going back for more. “When you’re running a marathon, it’s so painful you think you’re never going to run another one. But once you cross the finish line, you feel that sense of satisfaction and your mind is already thinking about when the next one will be.”
There is a lot of time and energy devoted to his grounding phase of the week. “Every week, twice, I go out for outdoor running. Those are my long runs, usually over the weekend,” he says.
Reading continues to be another of Jayanth’s deep passions. Murakami’s ‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running’ remains a favourite. “I also read Hal Higdon’s Marathon before my first run. It’s a beautiful book; every runner should read it.” His literary diet spans fiction and non-fiction, classics and contemporary writing alike. From Agatha Christie to Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy to William Somerset Maugham his shelves reflect a reader of wide-ranging curiosity.
On his runs, Jayanth sometimes plugs into music or podcasts, especially during the early stretch of a long run. “Once I fall into a rhythm, I switch it off. That’s when I get the second wind. Running becomes a spiritual experience, and I’m in bliss.”
The mental preparation, too, has evolved over the years. “Initially, I had to follow a plan — Hal Higdon’s four-month schedule for building mileage. But now, I’m ready to run any time. If you ask me to run a marathon tomorrow, I can do it.”
He believes that the India Book of Records recognition came to him almost fortunately. Jayanth had previously run to promote awareness for causes close to his heart — organ donation, plastic pollution, and climate change.
So, what lies ahead? “I look forward to running more. I’ve already registered for a few marathons this year. I want to run longer and bigger races internationally,” he says. With the momentum of recognition
pushing him forward, Jayanth feels there’s still much to explore.