I’m Keith, a retired Physics teacher. I initially ran just for fitness and to ease away daily stresses when I did teach.
Inspired by the exploits of my daughter and son-in-law I have become an 27 times marathoner.
I have completed a project, to run 26 marathons, in alphabetic order, each in a different country, starting in Athens at the end of 2013 and finishing in Zurich in 2017
I have now started running ultras, completing all 5 of the XNRG Extreme Energy multi-day events in 2017 (the first person to do so). In 2018 I completed the 50 slam of Centurion races, NDW50, SDW50, CW50 and WW50.
PBs
parkrun 21.53 Riddlesdown 2 May 2015
5 miles 38:30 National Lottery Olympic Park
10k 49:06 ‘Run Through Wimbledon Common’ 16 June 2013
Half Marathon 1:44:26 Brussels 5 October 2014
Marathon 3:51:27 Istanbul 16 November 2014
Notable finishes
3rd place 60-65 Bacchus Half Marathon 8 Sept 2013
3rd place 60-65 Bermuda Marathon 18 Jan 2014
3rd place in 65+ Podgorica Marathon 25 October 2015
3rd place 65-69 Treviso Marathon 6 March 2016
2nd place 60-69 Guernsey Marathon 24 August 2014
2nd place M60+ Ostravsky Marathon 6 September 2015
1st place 65-69 Midnight Sun Marathon Tromso Norway 20 June 2015
1st M60-69 at WW50 17 November 2018
1st Brit to finish the Kharkiv Marathon…actually the only Brit to run the Kharkiv marathon!
Not Just Another Running Blog 
Hi Keith. My wife and I met you briefly in a restaurant in Tromsø where you to us about your goal. I’ll be following your exploits and look forward to reading about your experience of the Midnight Sun Marathon. It’s a small world so you never know, our paths may cross again at another marathon.
Good luck next week!!
Billy
Hi Billy It was good to met you in such an amazing place. Thanks for your best wishes for Saturday, I have just ‘finished’ the Midnight Sun by posting my blog on it.
Keith
Hi Keith. Tromso turned out to be a tough run, holiday marathons usually do for me. Do you have “R” picked out yet. I notice there is a Reggae Marathon in Kingston, Jamaica, on 5 December! I would love to do that but have our annual Ironman on that weekend. Anyway, good luck with your quest. Regards Dan (Australia).
Hi Dan
Yes I do have my R marathon booked and it is The Reggae Marathon. I think it will be tough.
Hi Dan
Reggae marathon done, so hot, a real struggle, but now onto S!
HI Keith, sorry we did not link up after you hauled me through to the end of the Vic Falls marathon. Thanks so much for your inspiration and encouragement. I was so whacked at the end that i saw you wonder off into the throng. Hope your ankle heals and good luck for marathons W -Z. Cheers, Geoff Thomas
Hi Geoff, it was great to be able to run with you over the 2nd half, believe me you were just as much help to me as I might have been to you! I saw you were running with what I assumed to be your children at the end, and I very quickly got ‘swallowed up’ by people saw my age on the bib, and asked about my running. I was even filmed by a US sports organisation, there should be something on YouTube in the near future. Am looking to get a doctors appointment about the ankle, and have booked up Zurich. Good look for any future marathons you run, please do keep in touch. Cheers, Keith.
Hi Keith. I found your blog reading marathon reports for Queenstown – which is to be my first marathon in a couple of weeks and I am freaking out! Your story about your A-Z marathons was absolutely inspirational, so I had to comment to commend you on your efforts. I will be discussing your story with my running buddy as we complete our last long run tomorrow morning. Thanks also for the great trip report (the hill is gone at least!). Cheers, Laurie in NZ
Hi Laura. Thanks for this comment, and your kind words. The A-Z quest was certainly a great challenge, and I can well remember my first marathon in Athens almost exactly 5 years ago. Coincidentally whilst I repeated the feat of Phidippides then, I was back in Athens just 4 weeks ago crewing for my daughter when she repeated his other more extreme journey, when she very successfully completed Spartathlon, from Athens to Sparta. Good luck for your first marathon in just 2 weeks, don’t be to worried about the trail section. Since I finished the Z marathon I have done a lot of trail running, at distances up to 50 miles and would relish another go at Queenstown; but I know I won’t, there are too many other races to run. I do hope to travel to Australia next year, with plans to run a number of races, maybe the Australian Outback Marathon and City to Surf so far planned. If I can find a suitable race in NZ I’d like to come over, maybe something slightly longer than a marathon. Again good luck in your first marathon, I’ll look for your result.
Thanks for your reply and encouragement! Look up Tarawera Ultra Marathon. Very popular ultra here – maybe your next NZ run? Kind regards, Laurie
Just looked up your result, congratulations, hope you enjoyed the experience (if not during the whole race then now when you have had time for achievement to sink in). I hope you want to carry on and do more. Just to let you know where I am now 2 years after Queenstown. I ran the 4th race of the Centurion 50 grand slam. It was a beast of a course, totally trail over 3300m of elevation, half of it ran in darkness but even though I damaged knee ligaments 8 weeks ago I completed it so am in possession of the grand slam top and medal. Keith
Thank you so much for messaging me. I did enjoy the race, but I injured myself two weeks out and stopped running. It definitely held me back on the day so overall I ended a bit disappointed. I am trying to work out if I want to commit to another one. Your results are an inspiration!! Is there anywhere I can read a summary of your A-Z marathons? I was talking about it with friends and we are all interested!