Inspirational runner turns his life around and goes the distance
“During this stretch, I was extremely dehydrated as I had run out of the water, but police officers came to my assistance, asking what I was doing."
Dowerglen resident and long-distance runner Nuno Morais is on a mission to help others by taking to the roads to create awareness for various causes.
The 49-year-old former Edenvale High School learner has turned his life around after being in three rehabilitation centres for alcohol addiction.
Most recently he ran 72 hours, racking up well over 300km with only six hours sleep to help raise funds for a teacher in need at his former high school.
“Last year, I was overweight and had several health issues, I could barely run 300m downhill and if I did, I was toast.”
“Thirty years of drinking had taken its toll on me and over the years my health became worse.”
After leaving the last rehabilitation centre in October, Nuno spent some time in a halfway house after which he assisted a friend to establish an organisation similar to a rehabilitation centre until January.
“I used to be in catering, but I wanted a complete change in my life, so I started to run to keep myself busy.”
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Starting out with walks and slow runs in the neighbourhood with other community members, Nuno built up his fitness and slowly lost weight.
Over time he ran longer distances, growing from 5km to 10km until one day Nuno decided to push himself to see how far he could go.
“I wanted to push myself and by the end of the day I had completed 38km in Edenvale.”
Hoping to push himself even further, on April 2 Nuno set off for a 315km run to Dullstroom.
“I took my daughters to school and told them what I had in mind, I didn’t have a set route in mind and just set off in the direction off Linbro Park with my running bug.”
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From Linbro Park Nuno ran to Hatfield, where he slept over at a family member for a night before leaving for Bronkhorstspruit.
After Bronkhorstspruit, Nuno set off for Groblersdal, but after 40km had to return to Bronkhorstspruit due to poor weather conditions and visibility.
The following day he set off for Belfast, passing through eMalahleni and Middelburg.
“During this stretch, I was extremely dehydrated as I had run out of the water, but police officers came to my assistance, asking what I was doing.
“After I explained myself, they gave me some water and I carried on to Belfast.”
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Nuno said by the last day of his journey he had developed tendonitis and the going was slow.
“The 35km took me the whole day, but I enjoyed every moment of it.”
Nuno said after the run he was asked by many why he did not do the run for a cause.
“I hadn’t thought of running for a cause, for me, it was to see how far I could go, but the question got me thinking.”
Two days after his trip to Dullstroom, on April 25, Nuno was back on Linksfield Road at 2.30am where he saw a vagrant keeping warm by a fire he made.
“The man was so happy and we greeted each other as I went past him.”
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“On my return home it started raining and I wanted to return to the vagrant so I could give him my hoodie, but when I arrived at the fire the man had disappeared.”
After the early morning run, Nuno decided to have a Winter Warm-up Drive to create awareness about people less fortunate.
The 48-hour donation drive between May 10 and May 12 saw Nuno cover a distance of 255km along Linksfield Road.
“Initially, it was meant to be a 24-hour run, but I didn’t think that was challenging enough.
“The community was overwhelmingly supportive with many people donating clothes for Khanyisa House at the Dowerglen Spar.”
Almost a week after his donation drive, Nuno was contacted by Edenvale High School to assist in raising funds for a teacher in need of a wheelchair.
Not wanting to slow down, Nuno agreed almost immediately, starting on May 22 and ending on May 25 to raise funds towards the R36 000.
Edenvale High had raised R14 000 and Nuno raised R12 500 from donations and his sponsors – Wealth Creators and Banareng Office Supplies.
Nuno said the school still needs about R11 500 for the wheelchair.
Anything raised above the required amount will go towards a hoist for the wheelchair.
Looking to the future, Nuno said he hopes to take on an even greater distance with fellow long-distance runner Hazel Möller, either from Johannesburg to Mozambique or Beitbridge to Cape Town.
“Since taking up running and changing my life I feel like I can do anything.”
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