Home Straight

In this three-part series in partnership with OS Maps, we take a closer look at GetOutside Champion Sean Conway’s National Parks Challenge — which saw him take on 15 marathons in 15 National Parks in 15 days — to learn what it takes physically and mentally to complete such a challenge and discover some of his highlights along the way.

Now on the home straight, in part three we catch up with Sean as he crossed the Severn Bridge over the mouth of Britain’s longest river and into Wales where he has just three marathons left to run. Simple right?

Participation in any newly found activity, regardless of what it is, always lands somewhere on some kind of commitment spectrum. One person’s idea of commitment will of course look pretty different to that of someone else. But the ‘commitment spectrum’ for running is surely wider than any other activity.

If you’ve followed Sean Conway for any of the wild ride that is his adventure career over the past decade, you’ll know that he does nothing by half measures. Endurance and suffering are Sean’s bread and butter, be it long-distance swimming, ultra-cycling, or a triathlon the length of Britain. So when he decided to take up running, it was never going to be half-arsed.

‘I always said I wanted to get into ultra running when my body was ready for it,’ says Sean. ‘When I turned 40 I thought that would be a good age to start my running career properly, and I’m loving it so far.’

From here, it was on to the coastal paths of Pembrokeshire (which turned out to be the hilliest route of all with nearly 2000m of climbing) before facing Snowdonia – one of the wildest and most mountainous National Parks in the UK. But by this point, in the form of his life, there was nothing that could be done to stop the animal that Sean Conway had become.

‘It felt like I was on the home straight once I got to Wales,’ he says. ‘Heading north on home turf, that’s when the marathons started getting easier. I actually felt a lot better towards the end. My body was getting into the swing of things. I almost needed to run 15 marathon in 15 days just to prepare to run 15 marathon in 15 days.’

While 15 marathons back-to-back isn’t likely to be on the agenda of any normal person in the first place, Sean’s recovery strategy matched up with logic even less. Seemingly dissatisfied with the achievement, or perhaps just eager to cash in on this newly found form, Sean barely stopped to take off his trainers.

My legs were starting to feel really robust,’ he says.  ‘I recovered for a week, went for a deep tissue massage and then I felt unstoppable. So I used the fitness to then go and run across Iceland, which I did without any niggles.’