Man completes half marathon after running 5km daily for month

A MAN ran at least 5km for each day of October to raise money for suicide prevention charities as he trained for a half marathon.

Phil Stubbington, 59, raised almost £100 for Samaritans and CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) in memory of his friend, Keith, who took his own life this year.

As well as running each day, Mr Stubbington completed a Dawn Walk challenge for Samaritans, walking 5km on each day from October 10 to 12.

He said that the challenge supplemented his training program for the Valencia half marathon, which he completed on Sunday, October 26.

Mr Stubbington said the challenges on top of his training programme saw him complete a total of 430km over the month.

He said: “Prior to Valencia I had been going through the training plan so some of the days I was doing a lot of kilometres as part of the training plan for Valencia anyway.

“It was harder on the days when I wasn’t, because trying to walk 5km a day is quite time-consuming and the best thing to do is either break it down by either distance or time.

“So, on Sunday I did
20 minutes a day, three times a day or if I had the time, I would do the best part of an hour in one go to get the most out of the day.

“I have done so many half marathons and a do a lot of running so I didn’t really find it hard at all.

“There are some nice routes around Henley, it’s a really nice area to run in.”

Mr Stubbington’s efforts contributed to a total of £127,551 raised through the campaign by Samaritans, and £114,000 raised by CALM. The Samaritans said this helps to fund more than 12,000 calls for help answered by its volunteers, or the costs of training, supporting and mentoring more than 5,000 volunteers for a year.

CALM said the money would cover more than 9,000 calls answered by its volunteers.

Mr Stubbington said he felt it was important to support charities helping those struggling with mental health.

He said: “Just like any illness, whether it’s physical or mental, not talking about it is not a solution. So I think people need to feel comfortable to be more open about the challenges they have got, whether it is mental health or physical health.

“CALM provides a lot of support for people who are struggling with their mental health but also for families and friends as well.

“I would definitely say to anyone who is struggling to get in touch with those charities and they will give you very good support.” The Valencia half marathon was the 12th Mr Stubbington has completed.

He said despite battling humid conditions, the flat terrain helped him set his third fastest half marathon time of one hour 55 minutes.

Mr Stubbington said: “The day before it got to 30 degrees, so I was glad it rained on the Sunday because it came down to a much better temperature for running in.

“Valencia is a lovely course, it’s very fast. I think the first finisher did it in something like 53 minutes.

“It was funny in Valencia because it was actually very humid, so it would be the first time on a half marathon where I have actually stopped and drunk an entire bottle of water at each water stop.”

Mr Stubbington said activity of any kind has benefits for physical and mental health and had already begun training for running events next year. He said: “Running or walking or cycling, there are lots of pros and benefits to physical health and mental health as well. Any form of physical activity you do is good for health.

“I particularly like the half marathon. What I like about it is, Valencia is a pretty big event, about 26,000 runners, and other than a lot of great support along the route, most of what you can hear is just people running alongside you.

“There is something quite hypnotic about people running alongside you as you do it.

“The support in Valencia from local people is absolutely fantastic, there are steel bands and brass bands all the way along.

“It was quite funny, because as we were taking off everyone had their index finger in their right ear because it was so loud.”

He added: “I’m just about to start the training programme for Wokingham half, which is in February.”