Sam Hustler, a determined runner has completed a half-marathon by jogging the length of his balcony 7,000 times

Sam Hustler, 27, managed the remarkable feat by doing thousands of ‘laps’ of his three-meter long balcony, all adding up to an impressive 21 kilometers.

He had been due to take part in the London Landmarks half marathon, which would have seen him take in sights such as Big Ben, St Paul’s Cathedral and The Shard. But event bosses had to cancel the race following Boris Johnson’s nationwide lockdown to halt the spread of coronavirus.

Organizers encouraged runners to get creative and identify their own local landmarks and map a run around hidden gems in their area on a solo run. However, Sam has been self-isolating with his girlfriend Chloe Skerritt, 28, since Monday when she developed a fever and a cough.

So instead, he had to make do with the views from his third floor apartment in South Woodford, Essex, as he completed the run in three hours with Chloe cheering him on.

I saw a video of a man in Italy who ran a full marathon on his balcony so I thought I could do a half-marathon on mine.

‘We have been self-isolating since Monday. We’re fine, but it’s more of a precaution really. ‘We took the decision to work from home and not go out as my mum works for the NHS and my dad has health issues so we didn’t want to risk spread anything to vulnerable people.’

He also wanted to honor his commitment to raising money for Haven House Children’s Hospice, which supports children with life-threatening or life-limiting illnesses.

They are an amazing charity that believes in the best possible life for every baby and child with a life-limited or life-threatening condition. ‘They do so much for families who live in my community and I’ve seen the work they have done which is absolutely amazing.

‘They’ve been going since 1990 and they’ve just put up an emergency appeal for funding. ‘All their fundraising events have been cancelled and their charity shops have had to close, which was a major source of their income.’

posted Monday March 30th
by Joe Roberts