Israeli marathon runner Gazcho Fanta decided to continue his training regime while under a government-enforced lockdown related to the coronavirus by running a 26-mile race in his living room, Ynet reported on Wednesday.
Fanta, who holds the Israeli record for the 50-kilometer (31-mile) run, completed the marathon while running from one side of his living room to the other. He finished in 3:50:14 hours with some 5,349 laps around the room at an average pace of 5:27 minutes per kilometer.
He was inspired to take upon the challenge after seeing a video online of a man who ran a marathon on his porch.
“It was quite a challenge,” said Fanta after his run. “I wanted to show people that even if you can’t run outside, you can still do it at home ... it’s all in your head.”
“The first 20 kilometers were crazy-hard, but I know I had to do it, and after a while got used to the furniture and the walls. What helped was that I had music playing in the background. I was starting to hallucinate, but I knew I had a goal. There were moments I told myself, ‘Why am I doing this?’ ”
Nevertheless, the athlete acknowledged not being satisfied with his completion time.
“At the marathon in Berlin, I crossed the finish line after 2:20:16 hours,” he said. “If the lockdown continues, I’m going to need to do this again to improve my time.”
