‘Horrendous blisters’: Retired UK banker, 65, attempts to run 200 marathons in 200 days | Marathon running

The primary fortnight was powerful – horrible blisters, a flare of gout that wanted a go to to A&E and the fast realisation that working 200 marathons in 200 days across the coast of Nice Britain wouldn’t be a stroll within the park.However Steve James, a 65-year-old retired banker from Devon, has discovered his toes, and on Thursday reached the midway mark – a mean of 100 marathons in 100 days.“In these first two weeks I used to be pondering: ‘What have I completed?’” James stated. “I’ve been working for 50 years and by no means get blisters – however I had horrendous ones for the primary 10 days. My toes felt like that they had been put in a vice and squeezed. The gout was a little bit of curveball however the hospital prescribed some stuff and it went away. Now I really feel effective.”James’s progress alongside the coastlines of England, Wales and Scotland is being tracked by consultants from the College of Exeter, who’re eager to search out out the consequences of such an excessive problem on an older particular person.James being monitored by researchers on the College of Exeter. {Photograph}: Steve James/College of Exeter/PAHe set off from Topsham, on the south coast of Devon, in April and headed to Kent in south-east England. He then ran north to John o’Groats in north-east Scotland and is on the Scottish west coast steadily working his method south.There isn’t any set route. He has a plan however adapts and modifications it. “For those who’re in Devon and Cornwall and Wales, there’s a clearly outlined coast path. In Scotland there’s just about no coast path, so that you’re carving out your individual routes. I’ve been on the Isle of Mull, which was by no means within the unique itinerary, however I hopped on and off and it labored.”The problem is to do, on common, a marathon every single day. Some days, relying on the place the lodging is, it could be a bit much less; others a bit extra, and he’s not attempting to clock good marathon instances.‘I can maintain going,’ says James, who will not be following the kind of weight-reduction plan an elite athlete would possibly undertake. {Photograph}: Steve James/Exeter College/PA“I’m not flat out every single day. There’s quite a lot of strolling concerned, a little bit of jogging, a little bit of working – an actual combine. And I’m stopping a few instances every day simply to kind of relaxation up, when you like, have a espresso, a cake or no matter, after which get going once more.”“It’s all about routine,” stated James, who’s from Devon and skilled for his problem on Dartmoor. “It’s all about getting up on the similar time, leaving on the similar time; it’s a bit like going to work. I really like the bodily problem, the concept of stretching myself bodily. I’m not particularly gifted at issues – you wouldn’t wish to play golf with me, you wouldn’t need me in your soccer workforce. However I can maintain going.”He’s not following the kind of weight-reduction plan an elite athlete would possibly undertake. When the Guardian spoke to him, James had eaten cereal, a bacon baguette, cake and was planning fish and chips for dinner, washed down with a few pints.James is elevating cash for Most cancers Analysis UK and the Scouts. {Photograph}: Steve JamesThe Exeter researchers assessed James earlier than his departure and he sends information every day for them to analyse. They’re finding out his calorie consumption, oxygen ranges and muscle measurements to look at the impact of the problem. He has misplaced about 10kg however the workforce has seen no ill-effects to his well being.Freyja Haigh, a dietary physiology researcher on the College of Exeter, stated: “Steve offers us an actual perception into how one of these endurance impacts the physique of an older particular person. We’re not sure in the meanwhile if Steve’s weight reduction is from fats or muscle mass.”James, who’s elevating cash for Most cancers Analysis UK and the Scouts, passes the time by listening to music and can also be studying Cymraeg – Welsh. By the point he will get to Wales, he hopes to have the ability to order a pint within the language.He thinks probably the most tough stretch bodily would be the north coasts of Devon and Cornwall. “I’m sort of hoping by then my physique’s fully acclimatised and I’ll be capable to address that.”