A day after he came back from Boston, Vernon Morais was back to running and training. At 5am on Saturday. This was no ordinary Boston trip though. The engineer from Chennai who has an MBA degree and now calls Kolkata home, had just completed the Grand Slam of running! Chicago Marathon in October 2016. Tokyo Marathon in February 2018. London Marathon in April 2018. New York Marathon in November 2018. Berlin Marathon in September 2019 and Boston Marathon in April 2022. And, in the process, he became the first runner from Kolkata to do so.
Many in his position would have allowed themselves the treat of a day off, but such fierce was Vernon’s passion that he was back to training without even a day’s relaxation.
The Telegraph caught up with him to chat about his wonderful achievement and got a peek into his disciplined life.
Congratulations for this super feat...
The Boston Marathon is the oldest marathon in the history of marathons. It’s normally held the day after Easter. It was held on April 18 in Boston. Runners from more than 100 countries participated. I finished in three hours 32 minutes 14 seconds, which was my fastest time. I am the first person from Kolkata to complete a Grand Slam of running and the 48th Indian to achieve this rare feat. There are six major world marathons — Berlin Marathon, Boston Marathon, Tokyo Marathon, Chicago Marathon, London Marathon and New York Marathon. You need to complete all these six marathons. I ran in Chicago in 2016 and by 2019, I had finished five of them. In 2020, I had a slot for Boston, but then Covid happened. I did 2020 and 2021 Boston virtually in Kolkata. I now have the 6-star medal.
Not many people know there is a Grand Slam of marathons...
The marathon culture itself is quite new. I moved from Delhi to Kolkata in 2014. Work brought me to Kolkata. When I came here, I found that people weren’t running. I used to stay in Alipore (he now stays in Park Circus) and used to take a cab and come to Victoria and run. Then I started running from Alipore to Victoria and then started running one loop, two loops. Then I found a 60-year-old man and we formed a WhatsApp group and then four-five people joined in. That’s how I started the culture of running in Kolkata and in 2015, I found the Kolkata Running Squad which was the first and the only running squad at that point. Many people must have been running, on their treadmill or in the parks, but (I started) the culture of structured marathon training and running, which I learnt in Delhi and elsewhere.
From then it’s been on and now you can find in Kolkata a host of runners. We brought in the Tata Steel Kolkata marathon in 2014 December. In 2017, I brought Milind Soman (Pinkathon)... more women into running. We trained about 500-600 women on the Maidan.
You have been running for how many years?
I have been running since 2013. I was about 108kg in 2009-10. So, that’s how the journey started and by 2013, I was 75kg and fit enough. Now, I am 59kg.
When did you run your first marathon?
My first marathon was in 2016 January, Tata Mumbai (marathon). I started half marathons in 2014. I was in the top 20 in my first 10K run. Then I tried a half marathon and I did pretty well... finished in one hour 52 minutes. I was running with a group of people who had been running for a few years and I was able to run faster than all of them. By the time it came to Kolkata in 2015-16, that’s when I started coaching people, determined to make more and more people run. I am the example for many of them and that’s when I decided that I should do a full marathon too. After Mumbai, I registered for Chicago. When I did Chicago, I came to know about the marathon Grand Slams. At that point of time, only 20-22 Indians had done it. By the time I completed five, 47 people had done it.
Tell us about your daily schedule...
I wake up at 4am and from 4am-7am, I do this. I go to sleep by 9pm and then I am also travelling two-three days a week for work. I manage my schedule. The best part of being a runner is, you finish all your work by 5.30pm-6pm and everyone knows that. This way not only are you efficient, but you also make your department efficient and improve the work culture as well. If you are a little lackadaisical, people bring you work at 6pm, 7pm, 8pm.
So, pretty much, anybody can run?
Yes, anybody can run. You need to have structured training to avoid injuries. See, in any sport you will have injury. You need to know what muscles to train so that those muscles don’t get injured. For a runner, glutes are the most important. I utilised all my injury time in learning about the sport and update myself on fitness, which I then got to Kolkata. Many of them have now run full marathons. We have over a 100 marathoners in the city by now.
What do you supplement your running with?
We do two days of strength training. You don’t need to be a full-time gym person with muscles.
What do you do for your breathing?
It’s something called body balance that we do. You need stability. There is a programme which combines yoga, tai chi, shiatsu. I train people in those as well so that people are stable enough. We usually run around Victoria (Memorial), Red Road area... the beautiful 14km stretch... start from Elliot Park all the way to Victoria, Babughat, Prinsep Ghat....