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Alison Jones, founder of Practical Inspiration Publishing, is coming to the end of a 1,000-day running challenge to raise funds for the National Literacy Trust.
She began her running streak on her 49th birthday on 1st June 2018, and since then she has run at least two kilometres every day. On 24th February, she is due to reach her milestone, covering over 2,000 kilometres, an equivalent distance to running from her home in Northwich, Cheshire, to Spanish capital Madrid.
Commenting on her challenge, she said: "I’ve ‘streaked’ — the technical term for running every day — several times in the past. Each time I noticed that there was a nice simplicity to it: you don’t have to ask yourself are you going to go for a run today? You just have to ask when am I going to do my run today?"
She said that each time she finished streaking, she found she missed it, and struggled to motivate herself to exercise regularly.
"When I started this streak on my 49th birthday I decided it should be open-ended," she said.
"If I’d stopped enjoying it I’d finish on my 50th birthday, or if I got sick or injured I’d stop it immediately. But the big birthday came and went, and I didn’t feel like stopping. And then as I started approaching 900 days I thought it felt quite significant. It seemed a shame to waste it. So I kept on running and started fundraising."
Jones achieved her target of raising £1,000 back in November and has now raised nearly £3,000 for the National Literacy Trust.
She said: "Running has been a lifesaver through all the craziness of the last year. Getting out on my run each day has kept me sane and kept my energy and my spirits up. I’ve got no intention of stopping!"
Jones has previously worked for companies including Chambers, Oxford University Press and Macmillan. She is also host of weekly podcast The Extraordinary Business Book Club.