One of the hardest parts of a marathon is that race organisers will generally insist on you finishing it in one go. We guess they don’t realise running really does become a lot harder after you’ve been doing it for a couple of hours.
However, the new virtual running event Marathon In A Day goes against the grain – this 42.2km race can be completed anywhere and broken up in whatever way you like… providing you cover the full distance in one 24-hour period between Friday 1st and Sunday 3rd September.
Keen beans can still smash out the 42.2km in one go, but you can also break it up into two half marathons, or four 10Ks and a 2.2km dash, or 42 one-kilometre sprints (followed by a 200m crawl).
Only the time that you spend actually running will count towards your overall time, so the chances are you’ll be covering the total marathon distance faster than ever before thanks to the breaks you can take. You won’t have to worry about taking running gels and drinks on the go either, because you can stop for a leisurely lunch to refuel if you want.
If the prospect of running a marathon in 24 hours is still too daunting even with the rest stops, you can tackle Marathon In A Day as part of a team. If you can cobble together a team of eight, you can knock out the entire distance by all participating in a parkrun on Sunday morning (providing that one of you agrees to take on the final 2.2km to complete the marathon).
Whether you run solo or as part of a team you have to provide proof of your runs to the organisers. That could be a photo of your fitness tracker, a screenshot of your favourite tracking app, or a pic of treadmill display if you’ve knocked out some of the distance indoors.
It costs £15 to register as a solo athlete, and £12pp for teams, with discounts on entry available for teams of four or more people. Marathon In A Day is raising money for mental health charity Mind, if you needed any extra motivation to head to marathoninaday.com and sign up.
RECOMMENDED: The Best UK Running Events For 2017
