Why I... ran 10 marathons in 10 days
"Crossing the line with these people that you’ve spent so much time with and shared so many emotions with, along with having your family there, you get an immense feeling of joy."
In 2004, I signed up for my first marathon, which was in Sheffield. I crossed the finish line and I cried. I’d gone through so much emotionally and physically. I hurt all over and I said ‘never again’, then I did two more within about a year.
I read an article in Runner’s World about someone who’d run 10 marathons in 10 days. I thought it was absolutely nuts and put it to the back of my mind, but it wouldn’t go away, this nagging feeling that it’s something I should do. A couple of weeks later, I signed up. I’d only done three marathons at this point, so I then had just under a year to get up to the required fitness.
The difference between one marathon and the ten-in-ten is really how your body can recover, because you have to be able to do it again, and again, and again, and again. Training your body to do multi-day marathons is where you need to be. I did several three-in-three days to get my body used to it.
When you do lots of marathons, you start to see the same people so you get this friendship group. The camaraderie there is absolutely phenomenal and they’re a great bunch as well.
They call it the race day bubble: when you just live and breathe running, not worrying about work, about what’s going on with Brexit, you don’t have to worry about what’s going on in the news or anything like that. You are, literally, for ten days, accommodated with everyone else. You eat and drink with these other guys that you’re running with so have an amazing support network.
There are massive highs and massive lows as you really struggle to get yourself out of bed and actually get running again. I remember my absolute worst day – on day five, all the wheels were falling off and I felt absolutely deprived of the ability to run. And then, all of a sudden, it started absolutely teeming it down. I shook my fist at the sky and swore very loudly.
Day 10 is a public marathon so there are about a thousand people running. There are people continually congratulating you and saying well done, so you’re on this constant high. And they call that day ‘the lap of honour’ because, if you’ve done day nine, there is no way you’re not getting around day 10. They could cut off your leg and you’d get around, because that’s your day in the sunshine.
Going over the finish line on the 10th marathon, I cried. It was absolutely amazing. Crossing the line with these people that you’ve spent so much time with and shared so many emotions with, along with having your family there, you get an immense feeling of joy.
They say you should give yourself a day for every mile to recover. So, after a marathon, you should give yourself a month off. I’m not sure I was ready to give myself 262 days off, so I was back running within about a month.