general

Run a marathon? Try 100 in 100 days

BBC Sport

Patched up with pieces of a car tyre and orange with dust, it's clear they have covered a lot more ground than just a solitary marathon. While some of the thousands of finishers of Sunday's London Marathon might be waking up barely able to get down the stairs, vowing 'never again', consider this - what if you now had another 26. 2 miles to run?

And then another, and another and another. For 100 consecutive days? Across India?

On top of that, until 18 months ago, you had never run. This is the epic and emotional adventure that is stamped into those trainers. For several years, Cox had an ambitious route in mind - she just hadn't decided how she would travel along it.

Following her father's death in 2011, the 41-year-old had become increasingly fascinated by her Indian heritage and in particular with a 4,200km route used by the British in the 19th century to implement a controversial salt tax during its rule over India, a customs barrier which included the Great Hedge of India. When she met up with a friend in the summer of 2024 who asked her if she was "still obsessed with that hedge", she decided it was time to finally make the journey. She had not expected him to say "I think you should run it".

But it sowed a seed and she joined a local running club in Manchester. Soon she was running for 30 minutes three times a week. As her fitness progressed, the 5Ks turned into 10Ks and she began working on the back-to-back running days that were crucial if she was to have any chance of success in India.