Meet the man aiming to run a marathon every day for one year
In 365 days, Rob Young hopes to complete 367 marathons, a total of nearly 10,000 miles
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Your support makes all the difference.If you thought getting into work early was a sign of dedication and stamina, think again. By six this morning, Rob Young had already run a marathon and he still went to work.
In fact, by next Friday, 31-year-old Young will have run 200 marathons since April when he began his quest to run 26 miles and 385 yards every day for a year.
Young’s aim is to complete 367 marathons in 365 days to raise money for three charities. He is hoping to run nearly 10,000 miles, the equivalent of a flight from London Heathrow to Sydney in Australia.
When he sat down to talk to London Live, having run a marathon plus an extra few miles to the studio in High Street Kensington, Young admitted - in somewhat of an understatement - that he was feeling "tired".
“This morning was pretty tough," he said. "On the weekend I did 86 miles, 17,00 feet of climbing on the Saturday over the Lake District and on Sunday it was...over to Isle of Wight, (I) ran a marathon over there, and then back over to here, another one, and then this morning, another one.”
What is remarkable about Young's mission is that he had never run a marathon before. While the former soldier represented Great Britain in Junior Biathlon and Triathlon tournaments during his youth, he said he was "terrible" at running. Still, it was watching the London Marathon with his fiancé this year that forced him to change his stance.
"I was really inspired by all the charities there and I pretty much turned to my fiancé and I said I really want to do a marathon and that was it. She said that I couldn’t do it.
"It was a bet between my fiancé and I. I’ve always wanted to raise money for charities which really mean something to me and on top of that I’ve always wanted to do something mad and crazy and this was it.”
Young is raising money for three charities: Dreams Come True, the NSPCC and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. Dreams Come True help children with serious diseases have a special wish realised for them.
Young has raised just under £8,000 with a target of £200,000. He told London Live that despite the great support he was receiving, he was disappointed with the amount of money he had raised so far.
"To be honest, compared to the efforts that I'm making, I'm actually quite upset," he said. "I think maybe I’m not putting myself out there enough...I think I’m doing the charities injustice at the moment.
"I’m not a person in the limelight. I don’t really want to put myself out there and to be honest maybe that’s why I’m not raising enough money and I think it’s time for me to start doing that because I need to do that for my charities."
To sponsor Rob Young, visit: http://www.marathonmanuk.com/
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