April is the month of two World Marathon Majors happening back-to-back. Boston Marathon is often held on Patriot’s Day, which falls on the third Monday of April. The London Marathon takes place on the following Sunday. This year, Boston Marathon was held on April 15, 2024 and London Marathon on April 21, 2024. We spoke to a few Indian runners who ran these two World Marathon Majors.

For Surat-based Dhruv Trivedi, Boston Marathon 2024 was his first World Marathon Major. His training for this event spanned six months during which period he did the Ahmedabad Marathon and the Tata Mumbai Marathon apart from Boston Marathon.

He curated a training schedule that comprised hill runs, interval training, long runs, strength training and one day of swimming and cycling.

Dhruv has been running since 2015. An ayurvedic doctor by profession, Dhruv soon realized that he was getting into a bad lifestyle. “I started walking. Soon after I heard about a 10 km night run and registered for it,’’ he said. He then pursued it with diligence. In 2016, he did the Comrades Marathon, the downhill version of the ultramarathon held every year in South Africa.

Thereafter, in 2018, he ran the 12-hour stadium run in Mumbai. In 2022, he finished in second place in the 60 km Ooty Ultra.

His training for Boston Marathon was with an eye on a finish timing of 2:48-2:50. He had run the Tata Mumbai Marathon this year in 2:50:53, his personal best.

“ First, the Boston route is quite brutal. Second, the whole process of dropping off the bag at the finish line and then hopping on to a bus that heads to the start line is quite irritating and tiring,’’ he said.

He commenced the race well but after 6 km he realized he could not meet his target of 2:50. “ The second half of the race is much tougher. There was a huge crowd throughout but the overall experience was very good. The hydration support was excellent,’’ he said.

He finished Boston Marathon in 2:59:21.

Mumbai-based Uday Bobhate has been running for over 40 years, having started in 1984. “ Those days, I would run a distance of 3 km, 5km or 7 km, mainly for fitness,” he said.

In 2004, the year when Mumbai Marathon made its debut, Uday had registered but could not run because of injury. “ In 2005, I straight away went for the full marathon,’’ he said.

The 2024 edition of Boston Marathon was Uday’s first World Marathon Major. His training was not up to the mark as he suffered an injury during a fall in a race in the run up to Boston Marathon. “ I lost 8-10 days of practice because of this fall,’’ he said.

Uday left for the US two weeks before the marathon, which was on April 15, 2024. “ My sister lives in Westborough, very close to Hopkinton, the start line of Boston Marathon,’’ he said. This gave him a chance to acclimatize to the weather conditions there.

“ I started the race very fast. Soon I realized I was lacking stamina. By the time I reached Heartbreak Hill I had to walk. My strategy was wrong, I should have started slowly,’’ he said. He finished the run in 3:20:39. His personal best is 3:14:56, which he set during the 2024 edition of Vadodara Marathon.

Krishna Sirothia, a Pune-based recreational runner, got to know of Boston Marathon sometime in 2016. He had started running in 2013.

“ In 2018, my goal was to qualify for Boston Marathon. I qualified in 2021. But the absence of a window for visa interviews for travel to the US made it difficult to travel for a couple of years,’’ he said. In 2019, he completed the Berlin Marathon. The following couple of years were lost to the COVID-19 pandemic when races around the world were either postponed or cancelled.

His training for Boston Marathon was well planned, according to him. He opted for six days of running, combining easy runs, interval training, long runs and recovery runs. But mid-way through his training, an injury in his tendon prompted him to go for some physiotherapy sessions and also change his schedule. Krishna has been running full marathons since 2015 when he did the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon.

On race day, he had a good run for 21-22 kilometers. Following that, his injury started to act up and he felt the pain. “ I had to slow down,” he said. Krishna finished the race in 3:40:52, against his target of 3:10. His personal best in the full marathon is 3:02:46 achieved at the New Delhi Marathon, 2021.

“ I am not in a hurry to do World Marathon Majors. I want to do them with proper training,’’ Krishna said. He plans to resume running sometime in mid-May as he wants to give time for recovery from the injury.

On March 3, 2024, Sunmbul Rahman ran the Tokyo Marathon. She had six weeks between Tokyo Marathon and Boston Marathon. The intervening period also coincided with the Ramzan month of fasting.

“ It was quite a challenge training under fasting conditions,’’ she said.

Her coach, Ashok Nath, tweaked the training program to suit her fast. That included running on a treadmill with an incline.

“ The first half of the Boston Marathon course is downhill and the second half is hilly terrain. We have to approach the run very mindfully,’’ Sunmbul said.

“ My run started at 11 AM. It was quite warm with no shade along the route. Many runners were in bad shade because of the heat. At Newton Hill, I felt strong. But I had to take many water breaks,” she said adding that her timing suffered during the second half of her race. Sunmbul finished her run in 3:44:03. With this she has completed her six World Marathon Majors.

Kolkata-based Sunmbul started her World Marathon Major journey with the 2022 edition of the Chicago Marathon. In about one and a half years, she has completed her mission.

Following the 2024 Boston Marathon, Sunmbul headed to Yosemite National Park for solo hiking. Walking and hiking can be a very good way to recover from the fatigue of road running, she said. She now plans to focus on hiking and climbing, and getting more fit.

Dixon Scaria, the 71-year-old runner from Changanasseri, Kerala, was quite happy with his training for the Boston Marathon.

He follows a strictly formulated training plan that includes six days of running and one day rest. “ I do one day long run, one day interval training, one day tempo run and three days of recovery run. I follow this plan all year around,” he said.

While most Indian runners found the Boston weather warm, Dixon found it quite cold. “ Also, the route was quite hilly. I had a finish target of 3:45 but could not meet it,’’ he said. He finished the race in 4:25:35. Boston Marathon was his first World Marathon Major.

Dixon has been running for several years. At Tata Mumbai Marathon 2024, he secured an age category (70-74) podium win with this 3:49 finish.

He will be running some of the key marathon races later this year including the Hyderabad Marathon, Tata Steel Kolkata 25 km and Delhi Half Marathon.

Two marathons in less than a week. R.K. Murthy ran the Boston Marathon as well as the London Marathon, held just five days apart from each other.

Murthy’s training was well planned but in retrospect, he felt he was less prepared for the Boston Marathon. “ Boston requires proper training as the second half is completely rolling hills,” he said.

At Boston, the weather was a dampener. “ It was very warm. During the second half of the race, I got severe cramps and had to resort to walking. It was a real struggle,’’ he said. Murthy finished in 4:21:03, a relatively slow finish compared to his personal record of 3:12:04.

However, the London Marathon proved to be a much better race for Murthy. He finished the marathon in 3:26:34. “ London was quite cold. And there is an ocean of people all around you,’’ he said.

Qualifying for and completing the Boston Marathon offers a satisfying feeling, according to Murthy. Having done both Boston Marathon and London Marathon within a week, Murthy is of the opinion that such a feat should be avoided.

Subhojit Roy had tried getting a berth for the London Marathon six times via the ballot route but never made it. Eventually, he decided to go through the tour operator route to experience the London Marathon.

His training for London Marathon was well charted out and executed fairly diligently. But a month before the race, Subhojit’s father fell ill and passed away after a few days. That was a setback and his training had to be stopped. “ I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go and do the race. I eventually decided to go,’’ he said.

At London, the cold weather conditions made things tough. Subhojit did not hydrate well fearing that he may lose time at the mobile toilet stops. “ My plan was to run under 3:05. I was on track for this target until the 32-33 km but could not maintain the momentum after that,’’ he said. He finished the run in 3:13:47.

“ I was ready to do well and am therefore disappointed with my timing.  I had a better performance timing wise at New York City Marathon,’’ Subhojit said. At the 2023 edition of NYC Marathon, he had finished in 3:12:31.

Subhojit is yet to do Tokyo Marathon to complete the World Marathon Major six-star circuit.

Vandana Arora, Bengaluru-based recreational runner, completed her six-star World Marathon Major (WMM) journey at the 2024 edition of the London Marathon.

Earlier this year, she did the Tokyo Marathon. Her WMM journey commenced in 2018 at the New York City Marathon.

Last year after Chicago Marathon, she came down with a hamstring injury. This impacted her training for the Tokyo Marathon as well as for the London Marathon. Ashok Nath, her coach, had already charted out a training program with the injury in mind.

“ I wasn’t pushing too hard. I had reduced my mileage during training,’’ she said.

At London Marathon, Vandana took a shot at improving her personal record. “ Weather was perfect but the course was gently rolling. I did the first half of the distance in 1:37 but during the second half, the injury started creeping up,” she said. Vandana finished in 3:22, a little over a minute over her personal best (PB) of 3:20:54, which she had set at the 2023 Boston Marathon.

“ I was able to get close to my PB because of my coach. Only he could make an injured athlete race close to her potential and fulfil her dreams,” Vandana said.

Tamali Basu, originally from Kolkata, now in Mumbai, began her fitness journey in 2013 when she enrolled at a gym. “ There is an obesity problem in my family. I was also gaining weight. At home, there was no concept of exercise,’’ she said.

At the gym she heard about somebody starting a running club and also about a 5 km run.

“ In 2019, I enrolled for a 21 km in Salt Lake. I struggled to finish within three hours. I spoke to a runner about my inability to improve my speed in running. He asked me to do blood works to check by hemoglobin levels. My test showed that I was deficient in iron. After I started iron supplements, within a month I could see a difference in my speed,’’ Tamali said.

Soon thereafter the world entered a lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tamali started ramping up her mileage during this period doing around 120-130 km on a weekly basis. The long mileages did help her improve her timing but also resulted in injury. In March 2021, Tamali ran the Kolkata Marathon and finished overall second among women with a timing of 4:01:51, against her normal finish of 5:15.

Subsequently, she decided to look for a coach to train under. Initially, she trained under Amit Yadav. While under his training, she ran Comrades Marathon, an ultramarathon that takes place in South Africa. She did this consecutively for two years.

Later, she joined Bengaluru-based Ashok Nath for training.

London Marathon was her first World Marathon Major. “ I trained as per Ash’s (Ashok Nath) plan. But I could not meet his target of a 3:45 finish,’’ she said. She finished in 3:48:14.

“ At London, I found the cheering very good. There were spectators all along the route. But the hydration support could have been better,’’ she said.

She has enrolled for the Berlin Marathon, which is due to be held on September 29, 2024.

After Tokyo Marathon this year, Atul Godbole ran the Boston Marathon as well as the London Marathon.

“ There was very little time between Tokyo Marathon and Boston Marathon. During this period, my focus was mainly to maintain the fitness levels I had attained during the training for Tokyo Marathon,’’ he said.

Atul’s plan was to race Boston Marathon and run London Marathon at an easy pace. “ But Boston did not go as per my plan. I had set a target of 3:20 but I could not meet it. The weather was quite warm and not conducive to racing. I lost it both mentally and physically,’’ he said. He finished Boston Marathon in 4:09:54.

“ It is a privilege to run the Boston Marathon. It is a goosebump moment when you cross the finish line,’’ Atul said.

Six days later Atul ran the London Marathon. “ The vibe at London Marathon is very good. There is loud cheering all through the course. The course does have some rolling hills and the roads are sometimes narrow,’’ he said of London Marathon. Weather, according to him, was perfect for racing.

He finished London Marathon in 3:34:39. He has two more World Marathon Majors to finish – Berlin Marathon and New York City Marathon.

In under a month Atul will be heading to South Africa to run the Comrades Marathon. “ I won’t be doing any intense training for Comrades. I am hoping for an easy finish,’’ he said.

(The author, Latha Venkatraman, is an independent journalist based in Mumbai)