‘I’m just trying to keep my feet on the ground’

Ben Smith is on the phone as he runs down the Pill towpath towards the end of his 400th consecutive marathon.

“It’s a bit weird mate, it’s a bit overwhelming,” he says, as I ask him how he’s dealing with the media circus which has been slowly drawing in as his 401st and final marathon on Wednesday approaches.

Satellite masts are already going up in Millennium Square as radio and television trucks from the national and international media prepare to document the last 26.2 miles of an epic run that has taken the 34-year-old 10,506 miles – the equivalent distance of Bristol to Sydney – far exceeding any record anywhere else in the world.

“I’m just trying to keep my feet on the ground,” the Portishead native adds, pun intended I reckon. “Look, I’ve got good people around me,” he says. “People with their feet on the ground too who will tell me if I‘m being a dick,” he adds, excusing his French shortly after.

Having been doing radio interviews to an audience of 80 million people on the phone earlier and with national TV crews lined up for when he crosses the line, with a BBC Three documentary due to air this week, he is mostly well rehearsed, apart from this small sweary slip on the phone.

Educating children about bullying. While running 401 marathons in 401 days for charity. Meet Ben Smith! ???????? pic.twitter.com/gVPMNKsEcS

— BBC Three (@bbcthree) September 28, 2016

Ben started out on his marathon of marathons 401 days ago, obviously. But his story began many years before. Having suffered from severe and often homophobic bullying in boarding school, he attempted to take his own life once at 18 and again at 21.

The rest of his 20s weren’t much happier and by his 30s he was depressed and overweight. He finally came out as gay at the age of 31, which he said lifted enormous pressure. He now lives happily with his partner in Portishead.

Shortly after coming out, to deal with the remaining stresses in his life he just started running, to paraphrase Forrest Gump.

In 2014 he began running marathons, and then, having entered events across the globe, he started looking at the world records.

On paper the official record for consecutive daily marathons was 52. But after looking at the complicated rules, he decided to go the unofficial route, discovering that a Spanish runner had completed 365 consecutive marathons.

“I just decided to round it up to 400. And then I added one,” he says, approaching the Clifton Suspension Bridge, phone in hand and a gaggle of runners and supporters behind him.

“We’re in unknown territory here. That’s why people are finding this especially difficult to grasp. I’m mostly dealing with the ‘why?’ in my interviews so far. Everyone wants to know why I’m doing it.”

It sounds like plain sailing as he speaks with little interruption for breath mid-marathon. But he explains that a back injury earlier this year put him out of running for 11 days – time he has made up with extra long marathons each day since.

This gruelling setback perhaps gives the best answer to the ‘why?’ question. “I was desperate to get going again. And just like all my lowest points when I’ve felt like giving up, all I could think was ‘I’ve been through worse’.

“I have been at the point where I’ve tried to take my life twice. From trying to take a knife to my wrist and swallowing 32 paracetamols, I shouldn’t even be here. It pushed me on.”

The official goals of his marathons were to raise £250,0000 to support Stonewall and Kidscape, anti-homophobia and bullying charities, and to inspire others to join him along the route.

In true Forrest Gump style, almost 10,000 runners have joined him at various points so far, and 400 are expected with him on Wednesday for his final lap in Bristol, while many more taken by his inspiration will be completing marathons across the world simultaneously too.

“The difference is, Forrest Gump was a fictitious character,” he says of the comparison. “One day they’ll say, ‘look, that guy’s doing a Ben Smith’,” he laughs down the phone like he’s on a gentle stroll to the pub.

To put it all into perspective a little, Andy Persson, the owner of Beyond The Wall cafe in the Harbourside, who ran from Lands End to John O’Groats in 17 days earlier this year, running the equivalent of two marathons every day, says that Ben’s audacious feat is almost unheard of in dedication and determination.

“It’s right up there with some of the greatest ever endurance achievements,” he says, as he prepares to join his “kindred spirit” on the final leg on Wednesday, conveiently starting in Millennium Square just a few hundred yards away from Beyond The Wall.

Back on the phone with Ben, asked what he thinks his suicidal teenage self would think looking at him now, he is silently pensive for the first time in our conversation. “I honestly think they wouldn’t recognise me. I don’t think I’m half that person inside.

“I’m confident, outgoing, proud of who I am. I feel powerful, but not in an egotistical way or arrogant way. I feel driven and passionate, and if that can rub off on just a few people, that’s enough for me.”

He reflects again for a moment. “We hear people moaning – and I’ve worked in an office -and they say on Monday, ‘well at least it’s four days until the weekend’. If you are not happy you can change that – do something about it. I’m lucky to have found something I’m passionate about to make that change.”

There is no precedent in human history for what Ben is doing to his body. “Nobody’s done this before. There’s also no scientific research. My heart is likely to have grown in size and I’ve likely become addicted to the endorphins released in my body when exercising. I’ve also been burning about 6,500 calories a day.”

He is now preparing for a “cooling off” period of just a half marathon every day for the next three months. “If I was just to stop, my body would go into shock,” he explains.

This doesn’t mean he’s not looking forward to completing his challenge. “This has been my life for 401 days. I’ve always know it’s coming to an end. And I have prepared. But you can’t train to do this, you just have to do it. I want to stop now and it feels like a natural conclusion in Bristol – an amazing city with an amazing attitude.”

When he crosses the line, after the television crews have finally packed up and the documentaries have been aired, Ben can finally get on with the next chapter of his project: setting up the 401 Foundation, a charity that will help youngsters build confidence and self-esteem through events and public speaking.

As he slowly jogs closer to Bristol city centre and before he hangs up on his latest in a row of interviews on the run, there are a couple of minutes to ask him what he thinks the people who bullied him in school would be thinking looking at his achievements now.

“I think half of the time,” he says, before stopping himself and going quiet for a second or two. “It’s the people who have been bullied that live with it for the rest of their lives. The bullies, they just move on.”

You can join Ben on his final marathon from Millennium Square on Wednesday, October 5 at 10am.  And you can donate to the cause here.

Read more: The end of an epic challenge