Beating the coronavirus blues: Burntwood man runs 26.2 miles in back garden
It took nearly 900 laps of his back garden, but Darren Bentley managed to prove you can complete a marathon while the country is on lockdown.
The 45-year-old was running constantly for almost six hours to complete 26.2 miles on the grass in his Burntwood garden, which is double the time it has taken him to run a marathon previously.
During that time he posted updates and live videos on Cannock Chase Trail Runners Facebook group alongside friend Michael McCarroll, from Hixon, who did the same in his own garden.
Darren, a HGV technician, wanted to emphasise that people can keep fit and healthy during the lockdown.
"I've worn a line in the grass around the garden where I've been running. It's all part of the fun," the father-of-one said. "We both started at 5.30am on Sunday and did live videos and uploaded them on Facebook so everyone could follow our little journey.
"It was just going around in circles and obviously with no speed. My fastest marathon is just over three hours and on Sunday it took me nearly six. The constant turning just takes its toll on your body.
"Our running group would normally meet on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays but due to what's going on in the world we've cancelled all our group runs.
"Our running group is like a family, everybody loves it.
"On Sunday they all thought we were mad, but it's something to take their minds off what's happening.
"Without people getting together people will struggle, so we're trying to promote that you can still keep fit.
"It's taken years to get the group to where it is now, we don't want it to ever finish."
Darren has previously run seven marathons, and just last month won a 42-mile run from Newport in Shropshire to Burton, taking him just over five hours.
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