Sunday 23 April, 2023, another day another marathon for long-distance runner extraordinaire David Lewis. This year’s London Marathon was David’s 41st and 894th in total!
Rio de Janeiro, Honolulu, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Vietnam, Toronto Waterfront, Perth, this isn’t a wish-list of some of the favourite holiday destinations across the globe but a sample of some of the places David has run marathons.
So how did David’s latest marathon go?
“It was as wonderful as ever with almost perfect weather conditions. This year my focus was on trying to get under four hours and with the help of my Garmin and the usual iconic milestones I was able to keep up a consistent pace from the start (between 5 min 20 sec and 5 min 36 sec kilometres for whole run).
“With just three miles to go my legs started to cramp badly but l knew if I could just kept going a bit longer I could hit my target time. It was such a great feeling to cross the finishing line in 3hrs 54mins and gain a ‘good for age’ TCS London Marathon 2024 qualifying time. I will now be raising money for this special charity again next year.
David, 68, originally from Welwyn Garden City and now living in Littlehampton, West Sussex, first competed in the London Marathon in 1983 when he was 28 years-old.
“I’ve run 41 London Marathons so far, including the virtual event during Covid lockdown,“ David, who was chairman of the official 100 Marathon Club a few years ago, explained.
David’s not only interested in running in exotic, faraway places, he’s also run round Brighton and Hove Albion’s football ground 62 times, completed 82 laps of Shepton Mallet prison and run 365 miles from Worthing to Scarborough in 12 days just for the fun of it!
David has worked out that he has run roughly one marathon every fortnight for the past 40 years! So is there one in particular he thinks is the best? “They are all so different it’s difficult to pick just one, but Snowdonia springs to mind as special; rugged, with plenty of hills and spectacular scenery.”
And is David aiming to do 1,000 marathons? “It’s not a specific target but it might happen!”
If you would like to run and raise money for the Centre, we have a few places available to take part in the 2024 London Marathon on Sunday April 21. Please contact Paul Bishop on 07973 237162.