Ben Smith, has ran 401 marathons in 401 days

SABRINA BARR @fabsab5 3 hours ago Running a single marathon is an absolutely remarkable achievement. However, one man took his love of running to new heights when he decided to run 401 marathons consecutively for a project that would transform his life forever. So how does an individual go from enjoying running as a therapeutic activity to taking on the challenge of a lifetime and inspiring the world in the process? What may sound like a huge leap was actually a gradual transition for Ben Smith, a 36-year-old from Portishead, Bristol. In his 20s, Smith had led a very unhealthy lifestyle. He was a frequent smoker, drinker and followed an unwholesome diet. Everything came to a head when Smith was 29 years old, as a he suffered a TIA - a transient ischaemic attack, otherwise described as a “mini stroke”. A year after Smith’s health scare, a friend of his took him to a local running club in Bristol.After doing extensive research, Smith came across a man who had run 365 marathons in a row. Smith decided to round that number up to the nearest hundred and then add an additional mile for a “victory lap”, which is roughly how the number of 401 marathons came about.

posted Thursday April 19th