Marathon man Mark on run again
Tears streaming down his face, emotion overcame Mark Vaz as he cross the finishing line of his 90th marathon in 90 days.
But as he collapsed in an exhausted heap on the grass at the end of the Chester Marathon, he already had his sights set on his next challenge.
The grief of the six miscarriages suffered by his wife Tammy inspired Mark to tackle a marathon every day over the summer.
But, having reached his goal in style, he is still not satisfied.
So now he is pursuing the dream of 400 marathons in 365 days – and has already reached 130.
The Penkridge window cleaner insists it is just the next logical step to raise more money for charity and personally challenge himself.
Mark had set himself a target of raising £90,000 for the Tommy's pregnancy charity and Katharine House hospice in Stafford.
He has so far raised about £6,500, but Mark said he is going to keep running until he reaches his original target.
He said: "I am doing this new challenge because I haven't raised enough awareness or enough money for the charities.
"I think I have raised about £6,500 but for what I am doing I think I should have raised a bit more than £6,500.
"My target is £90,000 and I won't stop running until I have raised that money for the charities. It's going to be hard work."
The 400 marathons in a year challenge is a continuation of the 90 in 90 which started this July.
He was seen across the Midlands, stopping off at the Black Country Living Museum and various running clubs along the way – often ending up with a group of supporters following him.
Asked about the gigantic challenge and its logistics, Mark said he knows that he will have to double up on some days – although he is yet to work out which marathons he's going to run and when he will double up.
He said: "I have until July 7 next year to finish. However I need to finish on a Sunday so that makes it the third of July, my birthday is on the 4th.
"This time around I'm going to different areas which is completely different from the 90 in 90 where I tended to stay around the same places.
"I'm going all round the West Midlands. Stafford, Cannock, Wolverhampton, Stoke, Shrewsbury, Lichfield; the list goes on and on.
"I know I'm going to need to double up at some point but I haven't quite worked out the logistics for that yet. I have doubled up before so I'm not worried about it.
"Recently I ran from Stafford to London in three days which involved a 70 mile run on the first day."
Mark also added that a large part of marathon running is in the brain.
He explained: "It's difficult, you've got to keep going. I have got an ankle injury at the moment but you have got to use your brain cells and think about putting less weight on it for example.
"Obviously it's physical as if you're out of shape you won't be able to run one, but a large part of it is mental. Some days I really hate it and I'm in despair but when I'm struggling I put it on the Facebook page and my supporters help me. It's hard to describe."
And if the 400 marathons in 365 days wasn't a mammoth enough challenge, included in that Mark is looking to run the mind-boggling Lands End to John O'Groats route, a distance of some 874 miles.
It usually takes a cyclist 10 to 14 days but Mark is looking to break the running record, which stands at nine days.
He said: "In April next year I am looking to run from Land's End to John O'Groats; the record for this is nine days which means I'll have to do about four marathons a day to break it. Right now I'm not that confident as I haven't done the training but we'll see nearer the time."
Mark is looking to complete the challenge alongside his day job of a personal trainer, mainly helping people to train for marathons.
He said of his normal routine: "A typical Mark Vaz day is getting up at 3am, have a bit breakfast and then go for a marathon. Once I've done the marathon I then grab some more food and then head off to work.
"Once I finish work, at about 6pm, it's straight home and straight to bed.
"Or, depending on how I'm feeling, I might wake up at 7.30am, go straight to work, then go for a marathon in the afternoon before home and bed.
"That's my life for the last three to four months. It's literally been sleep, work, run repeat. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it."
He added about his job: "I love helping people. Obviously I am a marathon runner so I help people train for them. Someone I have been working with has got their times right down since they've been working with me and that feels great.
"I am always honest, I'm not going to lie to people and say yeah it's easy when really it's not."
The two charities Mark is raising money for is Tommy's pregnancy charity and Katharine House hospice in Stafford.
Tommy's, which researches pregnancy problems as one in four women lose a baby during pregnancy and birth, is close to Mark's heart after he and wife Tammy suffered six miscarriages.
Mark said: "Tommy's is obviously very close to me and my wife with what we have gone through. They phone me once a week to see how I'm getting on."
Rather than being relieved at finishing the 90 in 90 challenge in October, Mark said: "I was gutted when I finished the 90th. I realised then that that was it, it was over. The last few miles were so weird as I got flashbacks to everything I had been through, food poisoning, a trapped nerve in my knee. It was part of the reason I decided to do this 400 in a year challenge."
Mark is looking for personal sponsors at the moment as the travelling is getting a bit expensive.
Those interested in sponsoring him or donating to the charities can visit MarksVirgin money giving site www.virgin moneygiving.com/team/9090 or his Facebook page www.face book.com/90marathons/
