This article, written by Helen, accounts an emotional journey to running 1,000 half marathons in consecutive days. Read her incredible journey.
So I first started running back in 2020 following the sudden and unexpected death of my ex husband. It was just before lockdown that I found out, we were divorced and separated but the news was devastating and telling our three kids who were only aged 11, 11 and 13 was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to do in my life. To make things worse, we were on lockdown within days of receiving this news as the covid pandemic hit the UK. I felt anxious, depressed and wondered how on earth I was going to cope. I couldn’t see family or friends or go to the gym. But I could go out and run. So that’s what I started to do.
I joined an online trainers 10 day tune up, he was called Jamie Alderton. I enjoyed this so much I went on to train with him every day throughout February. Mainly running, but also stretching and doing body workouts from home 3 times a week. I soon realised I could run a half marathon a day comfortably, so I googled the Guinness World Record and saw it was officially 75 days for a female. I also saw that someone called Sharon Tait Jessop was on a streak aiming for 101 consecutive half marathons. So I decided to go for 111.
I made 111 and soon became the official Guinness World Record Holder for the most consecutive half marathons (female) back in 2020. I still hold this title to date. I am friends with Sharon Tait-Jessop: she is from South Africa. She actually has her own podcast and she interviewed me was back in 2020 too! She’s been a great support.
In 2021 I was challenged by an American called Mika Shevit to run another half marathon streak. He was already on a half marathon streak of his own and had already run around 400 consecutive half marathons when he contacted me. He asked me to streak with him virtually as support as he lives over in Miami. I agreed it would give me good focus, and set out with an original goal of running 150 Consecutive half marathons to beat my current world record and to also raise funds for Mind charity as my ex husband had suffered from many mental health issues, which also affected me.
I got to Day 150 and although it was hard, I didn’t feel ready to finish! So I carried on, as did Mika. Mika has now ran over 1000 consecutive half marathons and I am well on my way to that same number. I have no idea when his streak will end! Buy my goal is 1000 which I’ll reach on the 24th Jan 2025.
I have taken a different approach to this streak than Mika. He runs mainly the same route and runs solo for almost all his runs. His runs are also almost completely flat.
I like to run with people wherever possible. I now have people come to me almost weekly for 4am to run! I have also ran all over the world as part of this streak, to include traveling to Miami to run the official Miami Half marathon in Jan 2023. I’ve also run official half marathon races in Italy – to include the X-Bionic Lake Garda Half, the RomeOstia Half, I’ve run up volcano craters in Fuerteventura, and across the deserts of Petra, Jordan. I’ve ran with Sean Conway as part of his Iron105 streak, I ran both half marathon distances and the full marathon with Sean. I’ve also ran some full marathons as part of this streak to include The Ynys Enlli marathon (Bardsey Island) only 10 people can ever participate in this race. Plus the Chester Marathon. A local club – the Penyffordd Run Club have basically adopted me and have been a great support, as have the Wrexham Athletics Club and the Deeside Striders. All my runs are varied on trails and roads and I run at least 1000m elevation every week. I run 4-6am weekdays before getting my kids ready for school and going to work. I run later at weekends and treat these as flexible recovery runs, where I can travel a little further and run in new places. I also like to incorporate races and parkruns on weekends.
As things got bigger and bigger I started arranging milestone social runs, with the biggest being on Day 500 so far. I was interviewed live on ITV Wales the day after from my local village pub where the race started and ended!
I almost finished the streak on Day 500 but still felt I had more in me. Mika was fast approaching 1000 and he made me believe anything was possible. We are great friends and chat regulary. I set up a #streakwithhelen run club on Facebook to encourage other people to start their own streaks whilst supporting me anywhere over the world. I will often set monthly challenges which everyone seems to enjoy. This helps keep me engaged and motivated and vice versa. My club now has 250 people in it and it’s growing daily!
I’ve now committed to 1000 which takes me to 24th Jan 2025 – ironically this is the Friday before the next National Running Show! So I am considering making plans to run the 85 miles from Wrexham to the run show in Birmingham to finish my streak on a high! Maybe I’d do this over 5 days, and encourage people to join me along the way! It’s all work in progress at the moment! if you can help in any way, I’d really appreciate it!
I’m currently hosting a free streak challenge on my Facebook group #streakwithhelen and it will run throughout Feb. I plan to do 2-3 more over the coming months too.
So that’s where I’m at! I’ve had no injuries apart from an old piriformis strain which was triggered on Day 450 when I changed my trainers from Hoka Clifton’s to zero drop Altra Mont Blancs. I changed back straight away and the strain corrected itself within a couple of weeks. I just adapted my runs but carried on through.
I’ve ran in all seasons and climates, on all terrains and in many different countries. I have a fair few things planned for 2024 to include some marathons (The GNR and Brighton, still trying to get a place for London marathon) I have the Chester 50 mile Ultra next month which I’ll attempt to do as part of this streak. If I can’t do the full distance I’ll do 15 miles as a minimum. I’m also off to Malta to run the Corsa Malta full marathon in March (I met the team at The National Running Show!) I’ll be running in Turkey in July as I holiday there with my children, and potentially Fuerteventura again for New Year. Plus a half marathon every day in-between. So lots and lots to look forwards to!
I’m running to raise money for Mind, I’ve raised around £5000 to date (I had 2 Justgiving pages – one for my trip to Petra as it was sponsored by Venari Partners) my current link is www.justgiving.com/Helen-Ryvar1
I’m also running for my personal health (mental and physical) also to set a good example to my children and to gain a new Guinness World Record!
