A Suffolk dad took an April Fools’ Day joke to the extreme by running a marathon in his back garden during the coronavirus lockdown.
Daniel Upton, a builder from Lavenham, said he had been inspired by seeing recent news reports of people running long distances on their balconies and in their gardens.
Due to being off work and stuck at home, Mr Upton began setting up markers in his small garden and started jogging a few laps as part of a prank on his family.
But he quickly got into the swing of things and decided to run the whole marathon length of 26.2 miles in one day - which equated to 1,875 laps.
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Mr Upton’s wife Hayley posted videos of her husband’s marathon run online, with the attempt catching the attention of many users on Facebook.
To recreate the streets of London, Mr Upton’s children Freya and Charlie put up posters of landmarks from the capital around the garden.
Mr Upton eventually finished the marathon with a time of five hours and 51 minutes on Wednesday - and said he was feeling the effects soon after.
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He said: “I’ve always been into running and cycling. My family thought I was joking when I measured out the garden.
“It was just a spur of the moment thing for a bit of fun.
“It was so fun. My hips and knees are a bit sore now, but it was worth it.”
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