A London man self-isolating runs half marathon for charity from his own balcony

By Samantha Day • Published: 29 Mar 2020 • 18:00

Sam Hustler, runs a half marathon from his balcony to raise money for a children’s hospice, while self isolating.

TIME spent self-isolating can be quite repetitive, but Sam Hustler has taken this monotony to fantastic new heights.

The 27-year-old is running a half marathon for charity from his own four-metre-long east London balcony.

That’s roughly 5,500 lengths each way.

Mr Hustler had planned to join 14,000 other runners for the London Landmarks Half Marathon on March 29 before the coronavirus pandemic forced it to be postponed.

But he was glad he would still be able to compete in his first half marathon when the event organisers got creative and replaced the race with a ‘virtual’ local landmarks run instead, where participants run around their local area and snap photos of their local sights.

Less than a week before the race, his girlfriend started showing symptoms of coronavirus which meant he would have to self-isolate for two weeks.

Refusing to accept defeat, he devised a plan C.

“I saw a video of an Italian man doing a full marathon on his balcony and I thought, ‘that’s something I can do’,” Mr Hustler confirmed.

“I went outside on to my balcony and did a couple of kilometres and thought I could do it. It’s just over four metres in length.”

The Woodford man had run just under four miles in an hour when he spoke of his achievement, and had quite quickly realised the challenges of running in a confined and uncomfortable space.

“I’m feeling incredibly bored,” he said.

“My ankles are in quite a bit of pain already. But I’ll keep going – it’s just a little niggle. I’m changing directions and the way I’m running back and forth.”

He credited his podcast list, music collection and encouragement from his girlfriend Chloe, who cheered him on from inside his flat, for keeping him going.

And there was a special cause that motivated him to reach his goal of running the 13 miles in three hours.

“I’m running for the Haven House Children’s Hospice, which is a local charity that I’ve known for a long time and is opposite my cricket club,” he said.

“What they do is quite outstanding. I’ve raised about £500 for them; more than half in the past few days.”

Although Mr Hustler missed out on running past some of London’s famous landmarks, he said the sights from his third-floor balcony could be worse, adding he could “just about see Canary Wharf.”