We're living in a time where nearly everyone is obsessed with running in one way or another, and one lad has now put his body to the test by running one mile every day for 100 days in a row.
If you haven't caught the running bug yet, then you probably will at some point, whether it be a casual parkrun 5k or running the length of Africa, it's a sport that pretty much everyone can enjoy.
While you should be happy with whatever speed or distance you're running, there's always going to be someone who one-ups you, and once you make your peace with that, then life is far easier, as we can't all be Kipchoge.
Unsurprisingly, running regularly is one of the best things you can do for your body, so long as you don't overdo it and try to run for 24 hours non-stop, with some scientists even warning against the impact of a marathon.
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Social media influencer Zack Telander set himself the challenge of doing a mile every day for 100 days, with the added mission of taking 10 seconds off his time every time.
Speaking to Men's Health, he said: "I decided to start running because I was actually on the toilet, and I thought, 'Man it would be really cool to run a mile in 10 minutes today, and then try a mile in 9 minutes and 50 seconds tomorrow, 9 minutes and 40 seconds the following day'.
"Essentially, dropping 10 seconds each day until I can’t do it anymore. And then within the hour [of that thought], I was at the track running."
After starting on 1 June, Telander quickly racked up 22 consecutive days and was feeling better every day, even if there were times when he had to drag himself to the start line.
He added: "There were days definitely where I didn’t want to run. And the one thing I kept saying was 'You know you didn’t run'; I could be like, ah, well no one’s going to know if I didn’t do one of the days here – I could still say that I did the streak, but I would know. And I just remember saying that, it was really effective – I immediately put my shoes on and was like, alright, let's go."
After completing the 100 days, the US influencer had managed to improve his speed massively and also saw some significant changes in his body.
Zack said: "After 100 days, I feel great, and I will keep going because I worked this hard to gain this ability. Basically, when I started, I couldn’t run at this pace that I’m running at for longer than a mile and a half or two miles, and now I feel like I can keep going and going.
"And it would suck if I was just like, 'Alright I’m done' and then I lost that ability. So I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to do this, but I don’t see it stopping anytime soon."
His background is primarily in heavy-lifting, however, he enjoyed the challenge so much that he soon shifted his focus from lifting, as he continued: "Yesterday I ran 12 x 400 metre sprints at a pretty fast pace with only a minute in-between, and I didn’t even think about going to the gym later that night, so I think that’s more of what’s affected."
If improving your running speed is something you'd like to do, then Runners Need suggests incorporating squats, lunges and deadlifts into your workout routine.
They also recommend speed sessions and hill training to build speed and endurance.
James Moorhouse