I had just returned from a successful summit of Mont Blanc, the aches and pains of my blisters and muscles were still reminding me of the tough challenge but it was UK sunshine that warmed my face as I sat in the garden and not the French sun from a few days previously. Suddenly panic set in my mind………..What next? Where in the world could I go for my next challenge? A Solo or team event? Mount Everest, Machu Pichu or maybe The Matterhorn? I hadn’t even considered my next challenge until Mont Blanc was completed and safely, but now it was done I could begin to plan and decide and it was unsettling to not know what it would be without great thought. My trusty bucketlist, a list for life came out but nothing grabbed my attention, not at this time despite the huge amount of options.

It was a few days later when chatting with Kaya from the Weston Hospicecare about my experience and success of the previous week and it wasn’t long before we were talking about what I was planning for next. Suddenly Kaya said “how about running 7 marathons on 7 continents”? At first I thought how crazy and hard it would be to run 2 or 3 marathons, let alone 7 having previously run 5 marathons but over a 9 year period and each and every one was as painful as the last despite the many months of training and strict eating for fitness regime. They had all previously been London Marathons. The implications of flight costs and planning would probably take months and thousands of pounds and then there was the training period, would 10 months be long enough for 7 consecutive marathons? The travelling effect too? So much to think about.

After giving it a few days thought and researching the limited information on the internet I decided to make things a little easier, instead of running on 7 continents due to flight costs and limited time I would run 7 consecutive marathons in 7 consecutive days for 7 local Somerset charities and they would all be run in my home County of Somerset. It made more sense and would become more personal to me, family and friends who would also have an opportunity of running with me in any of the 7 marathons, therefore the “7 Marathons in 7 Days Challenge” was formed, it was decided and the challenge was ahead.

A date had been set, the last week in May and first weekend of June 2014 gave me 9 months to train and try to get in a good physical condition and able to withstand running 7 consecutive marathons with a strong positive mind, if that was ever possible.

Over a 10 week period a competition was running on the social website Facebook, it gave many listed charities an opportunity to vote for their cause and the top 4 votes were therefore receiving a marathon named for their charity and fundraising for each of the 7 charities throughout the 7 days. Trying to get support with additional runners and assistance was proving to be somewhat tough, the support wa immediate but runners willing to run 7 consecutive marathons was proving much much harder, emails and facebook messages were sent out and eventually 5 runners were found willing to attempt to run all 7 with myself and many others willing to run a few miles of each or even a mile. I had great advice on various training techniques, protein/food and I wrote up a full training schedule to give me one of the best opportunities of being successful in this challenge.

Needless to say, my family were shocked at my decision at such a big challenge, they knew how I always stated “Never Again” after each previous marathon but once it sank in they were delighted I wasn’t climbing Mount Everest……..for now…….. but they were still concerned of the effects and damage such a challenge would or could cause which is why I was going to give 100% in my training and focus to the next 9 months ahead, for me and my friends that had accepted the challenge.

I’m was relieved to have such a great reponse for the support, tracking down a defibrilator via my old fotball club and home town Weston F.C, 2 support vehicles, one a full support vehicle supplied by the wonderful leisure company Davan Caravans and Motorhomes along with a friend and medic that would be with us during every marathon. I was delighted to also have a friend agree to cycle 6 of the 7 marathons, 2 photographers and a film crew following us throughout the epic week.

Each marathon had reasoning, for each of the charities, 4 that had won via the facebook voting and the 3 charities I got to choose in person meant so much to m and each of us running, also to many that were supporting us each and every day.

The 7 Marathons in 7 Days Challenge was on May 26th/1st June 2014