Ed completes 6 marathons in 6 days!

Financial Planner Ed Stubbs recently completed a marathon a day for six days – all in aid of his local cricket club. We asked him how he got on.

Ed’s route entailed 165 miles between Bristol and Knutsford, stopping off at many a famous cricket ground along the way.

Day 1 – Gloucestershire County Cricket Club (CCC) to Gloucester Cricket Club (CC)
Day 2 – Gloucester CC to Worcestershire CCC
Day 3 – Worcestershire CCC to Warwickshire CCC
Day 4 – Warwickshire CCC to Stafford CC
Day 5 – Stafford CC to Knypersley CC (near Ed’s Grandma in Staffordshire)
Day 6 – Knypersley CC to Toft CC in Knutsford

The hardest section

Either the afternoon on Day 5 or Day 2.

• On day 5, my sister left for a wedding. She’d been navigating on the bike throughout and I was using maps on Strava from my phone in my running belt and went too far twice. We then had a very steep hill in Hanley, Stoke to contend with a 5km ascent to finish. My running partner also struggled a bit so I was out of my normal rhythm.
• Day 2 I was running alone in the Worcestershire countryside and the finish still felt a long way away! It was warm and sunny, so not great conditions to run and I was out on my own. The next day when I was joined by runners for the first time was completely different!

The most enjoyable aspects

Spending some amazing time with my family, who were my support team.

• The last day. My body felt great after a good sleep and I knew I could finish and finish well, so gradually turned up the pace throughout the day as I could leave everything I had out there. That was a good feeling.
• Running down the lane towards Toft and becoming a little emotional as I came through the cricket club gates! There were loads of people there to greet me and I went on a lap of the pitch with many juniors/club members following on.
• Having a number of teammates join me for different legs – I can’t describe how much that helped me through the challenge and kept me positive.

The least enjoyable aspects

• Two lovely blisters on my big toes!
• Running up Hanley Hill in Stoke on Day 5 – the legs felt heavy!
• Running down the other side of Hanley Hill in Stoke too! Turns out steep descents hurt your legs too!

How you kept going physically and mentally

In many ways it was a lot easier than I had imagined. It sounds strange saying that, but I put it down to 12 months of building my aerobic fitness using zone 2 heart rate training, leaving my ego at the door for running fast and instead learning how to run slow, to build fitness for the long term injury free.

My nutrition plan/routine was also key – at few points did I feel low on energy and I got enough rest and recovery in the hours where I wasn’t running – mainly down to the support of my Mum and Dad, sister and wife, Jodie.

Mentally it was huge having people run with me. On those days I was noticeably less stressed, had more energy and felt better after the run.

Will you do something that challenging again?

I’m not sure, but I know that I run because I love running and as soon as I can and have recovered properly (2/3 weeks of no running), I’ll be back out there at 6:30am doing my hour and making me feel fresh for the working day!