'Mad' Royal Navy veteran completes lockdown marathon crawling around his garden in Portsmouth
THOSE strolling down Eastney’s Gibraltar Road would be forgiven for stopping and staring at the sight of a sweaty, bearded muscleman scrambling up and down his lawn on his hands and knees.
But for the past four days that is exactly what ‘mad’ fitness fanatic Dan Fallon has been doing outside his home, day and night.
The former navy physical trainer has been bear-crawling and completing weighted fireman carries up and down his garden in a bid to finish a whacky marathon for charity.
Determined dad Dan pushed his body to breaking point, completing a whopping 1,750 laps of his 39ft garden carrying 45kg and a further 1,750 laps crawling on the floor – hitting a total marathon distance of 26.2 miles in the process.
And his superhuman effort has seen Dan raise an impressive £1,430 for armed forces charity the Royal British Legion – obliterating his initial £100 target.
‘The whole thing has been absolutely honking,’ an exhausted Dan told The News during his final 5k stretch.
‘I have gone through nearly 20,000 calories in four days and I’ve lost three kilograms in weight. It’s been mad.’
Dan came up with the idea as a way to challenge himself, something he would regularly do at the end of a deployment with the navy.
‘I can’t run these days because of the injuries I’ve had in the past so I thought what is the most honking exercise I could do: a bear-crawl.
‘So I said to myself, “I reckon I could do a bear-crawl half-marathon and a fireman carry half-marathon,’ he added.
Dan, who is a fitness coach by trade, said he hadn’t prepared or trained for the challenge, which he broadcast live over Facebook.
Starting during the VE Day commemorations on Friday, the veteran sailor ‘hit a wall’ sooner than expected after going ‘too fast’ in the early part of his challenge.
‘The first day was horrible,’ he added. ‘I did 10k and I was in so much pain just getting out of bed the next day.’
Dan is expected to complete the marathon tonight. His wife Sharlotte, who is a physical training instructor on destroyer HMS Diamond, was amazed at his efforts.
‘At the beginning I thought he was being as mad as he always is but as time has gone on I have felt very proud at what he has been doing,’ she said.
‘I was on duty on ship for 24 hours and I got back this morning and he was still in the garden doing bear crawls. It’s quite surreal. But I’m mega proud of him.’
Dan said the Royal British Legion was a cause that was ‘close to his heart as a veteran’ due to its work helping former servicemen and women.
He added the support he had received from his friends, family and the military community had blown him away.
‘It’s been overwhelming that so many people have come out to support me,’ he said.
To sponsor Dan, see: justgiving.com/fundraising/daniel-fallonvechallenge