Why I’m taking on 100 marathons in 100 days

My name’s Jake, and I’m running 100 marathons in 100 days to raise money for Rethink Mental Illness. Why? That’s a very good question. 

Growing up, I always knew I would do a physically wild challenge. Having nothing to do and twiddling my thumbs just isn’t for me. I like to be active and stay busy. 

A few years back, while doing a cheffing gig in the isle of Skye, I would join my hard as nails colleagues to do 10km mountain runs. And that gave me the confidence to try a full road marathon. 

I didn’t take care of myself though and just ran for 20 miles before even sipping some water, so the last six miles were just me screaming! But it showed me I had the endurance to do something big. 

And then I read a book by Ross Edgley, the man who swam around Great Britain, that talked about Tendai Monks who do 1,000 marathons in 1,000 days. And that was my lightbulb moment. 

I'm not athletic. I can't get a sub three hour marathon or anything, that's not me. But if you give me a point A to point B, no matter how long it takes me, I’ll get it done.

So, last September I took on 30 marathons in 30 days. And I completed it! But I’ll be honest, it was on those long runs that my mental health came to light. 

I had so much time to think and it became obvious that it’s something I've been neglecting for years. 

Then my mental health got worse after the challenge. I’d bigged up those marathons so much that, once they was over, I had nothing to hide me from my negative thoughts any more. 

And so I spiraled into a thought pattern of, ‘I’m never going to not feel like this’ and ‘what am I trying to not feel like?’ and ‘why am I trying to be something else?’ and  ‘what's really bothering you?’.

All these thoughts attacked the ‘I’m all good’ walls I’d built around me for years and I no longer had the energy to keep them up. 

Luckily, in my job as a personal trainer back then, I opened up to someone I was working with about the thoughts I was feeling. And together we agreed I needed to talk to someone – quick sharp!

I thought I had the tools to fix any problem in my mind. Going to therapy has shown me I didn’t, but it’s helped me gather new tools to manage my mental health. 

Speaking to that person in my gym, sharing what I was thinking to a human being, changed my life. And Rethink Mental Illness has a fantastic set of peer support groups all over the country that allow people to do what I did – share what they’re going through with likeminded people. It’s a crucial service. 

That’s why this 100 marathons in 100 days fundraiser has come about. I feel like I’m in a good place right now and I want to take on an even bigger challenge for a charity that does such great work. I want to push myself and have an adventure. 

I want to show people, no matter how cliché it sounds these days, that being prepared to be vulnerable about your mental health, to the right people, can improve your life. You don’t have to fix everything on your own. 

My road to 100

I’ll be kicking off this wild adventure at the Dublin Marathon on 27 October 2024. 

And two other organised marathons I’ll be taking part in will be the Athens Marathon on 10 November and the Valencia Marathon on 1 December - it’ll be so exciting travelling around and ticking off such iconic events.

The remaining 97 marathons will be me stomping around my home of Cheltenham during the autumn and winter months. I can’t wait to test myself and get into the daily ritual of work-run-eat-rest repeat. 

But the theme of this challenge is to spread the word about talking about mental health. So if you’d like to follow my journey or join me on one of my many runs, follow me on Instagram: @jakeburnhampt.