Running Tips From Marathon Man UK
A year ago Rob Young was 'an average 31 year old' who had a bet to run a marathon, which he did, and hasn't stopped since. In 365 days he has completed his 370th marathon beating the World Record for consecutive daily marathons. By now he ran 10,178 miles, climbed 473,242 feet, and burnt 1,815,414 calories. With an average pace of 9 minutes and 57 seconds, Rob runs 28 miles every day raising money for children's charities and helping people overcome their past by looking into the future. And, he runs in a kilt. By invitation of Lucozade Sport I went for a 5k run with Rob Young, Marathon Man UK himself, in Victoria Park (did I mention I was trying to come up with a creative reason not to do the run as the very thought of running out of breath in front of a man who snaps a marathon a day was already putting me to shame!) to ask him 'Why???' and also 'How???' :)
Turns out, not only Rob is a fun and very laid-back person who is also very open and has this genuine kindness shining through, he is an amazing running companion. As on a glorious summer evening as we made our way around Victoria Park familiar to me through my 10k running with Nike back in June this year, we laughed a lot, chatted about Rob's story and the hardship and abuse he faced while growing up and how he's been helping children, one marathon at a time.
During the run we switched to walking a few times (the luxury I was never allowing myself in my runs ever before!), I learnt that Rob smashes a couple of milkshakes after big runs and has a big dinner, and found out that running is easy once you stop focusing on the very fact of running and embrace the moment (the weather, the sounds and views of your city, your own thoughts, breathing) and make other people laugh during the run (the last bit is what Rob does when he is participating in official runs). Needless to say I didn't even notice how we arrived at our 5k 'finish line', let alone the fact that I managed to chat to Rob and the running crew all the way through (not seen before!) without immediately running out of breath. With his big smile and super positive vibes Rob puts people at ease and makes running feel like 'a walk in the park'.
'We didn't even break a sweat, who's in for one more lap?' said Rob, just like you do.
Having learnt about Marathon Man UK's recent experience of running 601 kilometres without sleep (!!!) starting on a Tuesday and finishing on a Saturday (you can read about how and why he did it and how his body started falling apart towards the end of the run in his blog post here), I couldn't stop asking Rob all sorts of questions about running, his motivation, life and happiness. Check out the video interview below to hear his story and snap some running tips from Marathon Man UK:
http://youtu.be/9XUecmp0-7w
While for many of us see what Rob is doing as 'not possible', Marathon Man UK is looking for a real 'impossible' challenge to make it possible while continuing to raise money for vulnerable children. Working alongside the NSPCC, GOSH and Dreams Come True to help disadvantaged children have a better chance in life, Rob has currently raised over £61,000. You can help him, too, by donating here.
By for now. I'm off for a run ;)
