Set Yourself A Festive Challenge

14 NOV2011

With the festive period approaching, the running calendar becomes somewhat restricted and is often limited to fun runs in Santa outfits. and is often limited to fun runs in Santa outfits. For devotees of Marcothon, however, December signals a vigorous month of uninterrupted running. Started as a personal challenge by Marco Consani in 2009, participants are required to run for every day of December. His wife, Debbie - an ultra runner with an impressive CV that includes the 24 hour run at Llandudno - decided to follow suit and posted the event on her blog, dubbing the event Marcothon.

The event quickly spread in popularity and attracted 500 participants from across the globe last year. The rules, outwith the necessity of running for the entirety December, is to complete a minimum of 25 minutes or 3 miles in each run. The challenge starts on December 1 and finishes on December 31. And yes, that includes Christmas day.

Debbie is quick to stress that the event places the onus purely on the individual: "Marcothon is not a competition, just a personal challenge. If you cheat, you're only cheating yourself."

Debbie is also keen to emphasise how the commitment to the challenge gave a real community feel to the event: "Last year, the camaraderie was amazing and it really kept everyone going. We encourage runners to chart their progress with each other online, a lot of participants said if it wasn't for Marcothon they wouldn't have even attempted a run."

For more information about joining the other runners taking part in this year's eventm have a look at the Marcothon Facebook page.