London Marathon: Hannah Cox’s 100 marathons in 100 days

“Everyone tried to stall me in the beginning; people didn’t believe I was actually going to do it,” Cox says.

But on October 26 last year, he set off from the Attari-Wagah border between Pakistan and India and headed towards Kolkata, just a few kilometers away from where his father Deric was born.

He stuck to his route, which sometimes meant there were days when he ran 42 kilometers along a “very boring” motorway, but other days it was through nature reserves, canals and farmers’ fields.

While there were cows, snakes and goats on the roads, drivers were constantly traveling on the wrong side of the highway. Some of them were busy roads and he has a scar on his right leg from colliding with a motorcycle while running.

He sometimes even needed a police escort as he traveled through areas known for regular deadly tiger attacks.

It was often hot, dusty and smoky, and although he had previously spent two weeks doing sessions in a heat chamber to acclimate, this was unlike anything he had ever experienced before.

And then there was the disease, which played a big role in him losing more than 10 kilos during the fight.

One such incident also coincided with one of the more surreal chance encounters.

“It was day 24 and we met Richard Branson at the Taj Mahal,” he says.

“He was there to host a charity cycling event and we were walking down the Taj and I was feeling worse and worse.

“He had invited me to dinner at a really expensive hotel the evening before. I caught a whiff of an old-fashioned cocktail and thought: ‘Oh my god, I’m going to be sick.’

“I had to run to these really fancy toilets and I was sick all over.

“I was supposed to run a marathon the next day, and five people attending Richard Branson’s charity event decided to run with me. I was sick on the side of the road all day that day, but I knew I had to finish.”