Accessibility links Hill was running sub-2hr 10min nearly 40 years ago, went under 2-20 in 29 races and 2-45 on 103 occasions &ndash but
increasingly his fame now rests on the most celebrated “streak” in athletics. Hill has pulled on his running shoes and gone for at least one run every day since Dec 20, 1964. That’s 16,192 consecutive days of running. For 26.2 years he actually ran twice a day and once on Sundays. On London Marathon weekend his advice and approach to a life spent on the move will resonate with many and possibly inspire those who have yet to discover the joys of endurance sport. “I feel alive and well, therefore I run. I run, therefore I feel alive and well,” explains Hill with the air of a man solving a quadratic equation or, better still, confirming the elixir of life. No surprise therefore that he has a chemistry degree. “Running every day is actually a mindset, it is more mental than physical although obviously you have to maintain a certain level of fitness.” Let’s get the obvious question over with first. Why 16,192 consecutive days and counting “Because I love the fresh air, I enjoy the euphoric feeling of moving fluently and my body coming alive. I weigh the same today as 50 years ago, which is nice. I also appreciate the hours of quietly thinking things through. I have run in 100 countries now and some runs stay with you for ever. A sunrise run as the mist cleared around the Angkor Wat palace in Cambodia probably tops my all-time list.
“Then there is that relaxing shower to look forward to when sitting down with a hot drink reading the paper. I always run in the morning these days. I can not think of a single day when I didn’t feel so much better at the end than when I started.”