running a marathon could very well be a once in a lifetime goal for many. just a handful of marathons for others. but for one of the most admired runners within the running community of Maldives, it has become an affair! a running affair of course. this is his story in running marathons and every marathon of his is already writing history in Maldives distant running.
his mission is to run 100 marathons. even now no one has run as many marathons as him in the Maldives. he’s done 54 marathons to date and all but only four marathons have crossed the four hour mark! meaning a sub four for 50 of his 54 marathons.
we sat with this humble, passionate and serious runner to bring you some of his traits so that either you or someone else might just get that extra dose of inspiration to run a marathon or even run well what ever distance he or she chooses to run.
what started in the early 2000s with the MTCC Marathon has taken Nasru to the finish lines of many marathons in various destinations around the world. he’s run tough marathons such as the Kathmandu Marathon as well as worlds best of marathons, the Berlin Marathon to many many more!
Nasru, a father to very proud three children (an 20 year old daughter, a 18 year old boy and a 5 year old daughter) has certainly kept a fine balance between what he believes to be a passion, what he respects and would forever honour, his employer MNDF and his beautiful family. he certainly believes that if not for MNDF releasing him with a bond to put the miles on every day, he would have found it tough to balance his family, work and running.
a firm believer in putting the faith on the coach and the training plan, Nasru believes that no matter how hard a training goes, he always chose to complete the distances required and never questioned what his coaches asks him to do.
while he’s the uncle to the fastest marathoner in the Maldives, Shifaz, he envisions a day when his good friend Mohamed Rasheed (Mode) breaks this record and become the fastest marathoner in the Maldives. Mode has been guided, moulded and trained by Nasru for quite a while.
Nasru will one day reach his 100 marathons mission and he is already focusing on what needs to be done next. he believes that armed with such a diverse experience on running marathons, and Mode having already written history to be the fastest marathoner in Maldives, he would be in the perfect state to train more runners to become long distance runners. coaching will be his new journey.
if tomorrow is your first racing event, we asked this amazing character for some words of wisdom. his advice;
gear up on your first half of the race strongly and let the forces guide you to complete your race. this is the racing strategy he have used over all of his marathons and he firmly believes in staying true to your own pace! do not compete with a passer by just for the sake of beating him or her. hold your pace and let the body and mind do the rest.
this driven man will one day rest his shoes to focus on passing his knowledge, experience and wisdom to many like minded runners. but until this monstrous mountain of marathons be accomplished by another, Nasru’s story will remain in the history books of Maldives. his story will run deep in our community. his story will inspire many others to become active. his story ill make someone else dream as big.
thank you the greatest marathoner in the Maldives!