Fundraiser runs to every capital in UK and Ireland in 11 days

A long-distance runner who ran to every capital in the UK and Ireland within 11 days, covering a distance of 960km (596 miles), said he faced some physical challenges and urged people to “just keep going”.

Jonny Davies, 32, told the PA news agency he experienced severe pain in his feet and ankles from the first day and often only got four hours of sleep but he pushed through and completed the challenge anyway.

He started out in Edinburgh before getting a ferry to Northern Ireland and running to Belfast, then on to Dublin before getting a boat to Wales to run to Cardiff and finally to London, completing his challenge on October 23.

He said he completed the challenge because he is “stubborn” and was motivated by the people who joined him on the run.

“I’m a big believer in not quitting when things get tough and actually I often find that you figure out more about yourself when things get really bad and often we quit just before we end up succeeding,” Mr Davies said.

He explained: “We had a series of different… not necessarily injuries, but body issues, that just meant we had to still keep running, but then deal with them as we went and they actually happened quite early on, which made the whole thing so much harder.

“It got to the point where I was barely able to stand and my feet and ankles had been strapped but they were so swollen from day five onwards that I lost the ability to use them to push off or flex my feet.

“The challenge got incrementally harder as it went.

“We generally finished the day when I collapsed or when I was done and that was quite a shocking way to finish each day because I had to be carried to sleep because I couldn’t stand anymore.”

He said he “can’t stand” after the run but worked with a physiotherapist throughout the run to ensure he did not suffer long lasting injury.

He raised at least £30,000 for the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) and was joined by some people who had used the service on parts of the run, as well as other supporters.

“Sometimes in the middle of nowhere, people realised I was actually running past their house, and they would just come out and join me,” Mr Davies said.

“I think sometimes when you live in London, you have a bit more of a London bubble.

“You forget that actually the things you do have a bit of a further reaching effect.

“To try and push on each day to get to that point where I basically collapsed was made that much easier to do when I knew that so many people were touched by what I was doing.”

He urged people to push through difficult times and keep going.

“Even when you’re going through tough times, a difficult moment, things can always get better, and things can always improve, but you just keep going,” he said.

“A bad day doesn’t mean it’s a bad week, doesn’t mean it’s a bad year, doesn’t mean it’s a bad life.

“It just means a bad moment.

“And the beautiful thing about life is the longer we stick around, the better things can get.”

To donate to the fundraiser, visit justgiving.com/page/jdrunthecapitals.