Week At The Knees

Week at the Knees is an endurance event which challenges competitors to run 7 marathons in 7 days, that’s a whopping total of 183.4 miles across the week. Monday 7th March 2022 marked the return of this mammoth event since the Covid pandemic started, and across the 7 days a total of 60 competitors ran at least one of the races.

3 of the races are staged around Willen Lake, the last 4 around Caldecott Lake, both on the outskirts of Milton Keynes.

And guess what, yep “One More Marathon Man” and second claim club member Glen Jones decided this event had got his name written all over it and boldly and bravely took part to represent the Isle of Wight Road Runners, but also with the objective of fundraising for his favourite and close to his heart charity, the NSPCC.

Glen had to put a lot of thought and training into this challenge, not only was this going to be a feat of strength and endurance to keep those legs going but the mental battle to keep going when all your body wants to do is stop was going to be immense!

One big area of consideration for Glen was pacing. Although he was fit enough to be running a sub 4 marathon, this was a completely different challenge. This was about running 7 marathons, one a day! The plan was to aim for around 5 hours per day and that’s how our marathon loving loon started his Week at the Knees challenge.

Day 1 got underway, and Glen started to plod out laps of Willen Lake, taking in the picturesque scenery that was to be the backdrop for his first three marathons.

There were around 30 runners each day, but intending to do all 7 days, there were only 15, so Glen would no doubt get to recognise and know his fellow runners the further they went through the week……….I’m pretty sure he’d be on first name terms with the swans too after running endless circles around the lake for 3 days!

Paced perfectly, day one came to a close with a finish time of 4:52:57. Making sure he set the precedent for the six days to follow, Glen sensibly made sure to take breaks later on in his run ensuring adequate refuelling and enough time to stick plasters on sore things!

Day 2 brought a visit from his old nemesis, and in his own words “that big yellow source of pain hanging in the sky!” the sunshine. Despite a chilly start, as the hours wore on, the sun shone, and by the end Glen said he was feeling fairly rubbish. The finish time on day 2 was a brilliant 4:53:57, only a minute off the previous days time, but it wasn’t until later that evening that Glen realised how much the sun had had an impact on how he felt.

Unable to find an appetite to even eat breakfast the following morning and after seeking advice from friends and fellow runners, Glen decided he needed to tone things down if he was going to get through the next 5 days. So slow it down he did, and day 3 concluded in a time of 5:08:17, but he finished feeling happy again and back on track for marathon number 4.

Day 4 arrived and it was time for a welcome change of scenery. This was to be the first of 4 marathons at Caldecott Lake. The slower pacing strategy was going well and Glen brought Day 4 home in 5:01:15. However, not all was rosy in the running garden and those pesky niggles that we all know and usually choose to ignore, started to rear their ugly heads and Glens right leg started to grumble.

Day 5 brought with it its own source of sunshine, but not in the form of the big yellow ball in the sky, but in the form of fellow club member, friend and running buddy Keith Ruth. Keith had made the awesome gesture of coming up from the Isle of Wight to run one of the marathons with Glen having run 2 marathons with him in 2021 when he’d run 3 in 3. Despite having a great time running together, Glens running was more guarded as he continued to nurse the pains in his right leg but the giggles and mickey taking quite obviously carried them both along and day 5 came to a close in an astonishing 5:06:37.

5 marathons down and only two to go!!!!! The finish line (or two in this case) is actually in sight!

Day 6 and the most important job in order to get a glimpse of day 7 was to protect the calf injury. An interesting thing happened though and Glen found that the pain in the calf actually felt worse the slower he ran so for the last couple of laps he picked up the pace a little, and it actually felt a bit better. A couple of stronger laps got him home in 5:10:12.

Described by the man himself as being “A bit like a really shit Groundhog Day, each day the alarm went off and I realised I was running another marathon!” he had finally made it to day 7.

But here’s the dilemma. It felt better to run faster, so what to do??? Take it steady again and make sure he got Day 7 finished, or be a little bolder. Well what do you think he did????

He went faster of course! 😉

Setting out after already running 157.2 miles that week and feeling extremely emotional at being on the last day, Glen tells me that “Once I was into my running I knew I was going to finish it and I just felt so happy and proud.”

And proud he should be as he put everything he had into this last amazing challenge…….and lets just remember that ONE marathon on it own is a challenge, this is absolutely mammoth!!! Did it hurt, “yes” he said, but at least he knew that he was going to finish quicker and then the pain would stop!

Our crazy marathon man battled with every fibre of his body and mind telling him enough was enough and pushed on to finish in a phenomenal time of 4:14:14. 40 minutes quicker than the other days and dropping his average time for the whole seven days to under 5 hours per marathon. Glen finished Day 7 in 6th position out of 37 runners!

What a challenge it had been, 7 marathons in a row when he’d only done 3 in a row before. 186 miles in a week when the most he’d run before was about 80. Glen said of the event “It was a massive physical and mental challenge, but it felt massively rewarding to finish it with a flourish, and to see some donations come in for the NSPCC.”

And would you believe it, as the perfect reward for all of the hard work, the fundraising efforts, the blood, the sweat and the blisters, he only went and found out on the way home that he’d bagged himself a ballot place for the London Marathon, and after a few calls with the charity, both himself and Ruth, aka Mrs. Jones, will now be able to run for the NSPCC. Congratulation guys, what a day to remember that will be!

Glen, we are so proud of you. What an awesome achievement! Very well done…………but will you now have a rest please!