Condition your body with care, practice consistency, run easy and have fun!
Back in 2009, the year my son was born, my husband Marco was feeling quite stagnant in his training routine, he ran with some colleagues in a running club, but the training was quite in-consistent and lacking motivation he started to feel some niggles in his body.
As an ultra-distance runner wanting to up his game throughout the winter months he decided that he was going to run 25 minutes or 3-mile laps, which ever came first, everyday throughout November.
He was dedicated to his goals. I remember him coming back from a work trip in London one evening at 11pm, and while I might have crashed on the sofa, Marco laced up and headed straight out for his daily run. At the time I thought my guy was crackers! Why on earth was he doing this to himself? However, it was motivating to watch, and it was not long until I caught his madness!
Inspired by my husband and feeling the stir of inter-marital competition, I decided to do a very similar challenge, only as the tougher half of the partnership, I thought it fitting to take on a tougher month to run, December. I posted my vision on my blog site and around 20-30 people decided to join in on the challenge, which I had named ‘The Marcothon’, after my husband.
The following year I decided to do it again and this time I uploaded the challenge to Facebook and it gained a lot of attention, 500 people wanted to join in and that blew my mind! Back then, that was as big as I thought this thing would get, unprepared for the explosion in the distance.
Like a snowball the Marcothon just kept growing and growing, naturally, without much admin work, the challenge got bigger and wider as the years went on. Now, we have around 6,000 people who take part each December and the run is touching countries all over the world. Runners are uploading their miles to the group from as far as Japan and Australia. It is phenomenal!
The idea was pretty basic, just a challenge I thought up in my living room after being inspired by Marco. What it has become, I cannot take credit for or even tell you how we got here! A social media eruption creating a very special event, each year, from a very simple thought. The Marcothon is just a challenge, but the experience is 100% down to the remarkable community that keep the run alive.
I opened a Facebook group for the Marcothon challenge, and this phenomenal community just started to grow before my eyes. That is, without a shadow of a doubt, the special ingredient in this magic!
The group is so supportive of each other and provide a real motivation to get others out there and completing their goals. I watch runners come back year after year and seeing those guys accomplish what they do is remarkable. I have seen people, who have never been out running before, start to train, just to take part in the Marcothon. I know of casual runners who take part and once they start, they never stop.
Running 25 minutes a day, every day, for the 31 days in December, the Marcothon offers people the motivation to move. During that cold, dark December month it is really easy to look out of the window and think, ‘nah, not today’, but when you are a part of this community spirit, you have a reason and a yearning to finish the challenge. Not to mention the absolute onslaught you will get if you dare to mention that you are thinking of missing a day to the community. You will not hear the end of it until you have been uplifted and inspired to do your 25 minutes!
My son created the mini-Marco challenge, a sister run, 1 mile per day throughout December. It is wonderful to see more families and kids getting involved in running. We have a beautiful little girl in the group called Lilly, she is six and with her father Craig, she completes the challenge every year, it is amazing to watch.
We also have Ken, a much-loved star in our community, he is 88 and he comes back every year to smash the challenge. Ken doesn’t do social media, so his wife Shelia posts all of the updates on his behalf and we get treated to some wonderful photographs, the entire community absolutely adore them both. That is the best part about all of this, the inclusivity of it all.
Even my sister gears up at the start line, a woman who doesn’t run a single day throughout the rest of the year, and then takes on the 31 Marcothon days in a row.
The Marcothon has never been about experienced runners, for an Ultra runner, 25 minutes per day, might not be an enormous thing, that isn’t to say that the challenge is easy because it is not. Running at that time of year, when our lives get really busy, finding the umph to get out and do it consistently for 31 days, that’s no easy-going task.
For me, this challenge is about all those people who really have to push themselves to get going and get it done. I come down with this overwhelming feeling when I see someone surprise themselves and every-time I witness someone do what they once believed impossible. It is a lovely thing when someone gains pride in their accomplishments and overcomes a daily challenge to reach a goal. The Marcothon is about everyone and that is exactly why I love it so much!
Looking back to 2009 when I decided on a personal challenge, to today, where thousands of people, worldwide, are running with me each December, I am totally overwhelmed at the sheer scale and escalation of the whole thing. I can not even begin to imagine the size of the future if this keeps growing as it has each year. I have no plans to stop doing the Marcothon and honestly, I don’t think I could stop it even if I wanted to. This challenge will exist as long as people need it.
For people looking to take part in upcoming events I would recommend that you do build up some endurance beforehand and work on consistency. I am not a fan of big run stretches; rest days are just as important as run days. 31 days has proven doable, but I would not recommend any more than that due to the importance of recovery. Running for 15 mins to 1 hour, every day, for one month can be a really enjoyable and healthy challenge, so long as you keep within your abilities and don’t go out there looking to beat your own times during runs.
Condition your body with care, practice consistency, run easy and have fun and I will catch you on the start line in December!
Interview by Rachel Grant
Article by Sophie Hunt