A DETERMINED runner who lost more than 30kg in less than a year is set to take on even tougher challenges this year through his ultra-marathon adventures.
Sam King, 29, from Frinton, was an accomplished gamer in his youth even reaching the highest position in the Call of Duty worldwide rankings.
However, gaming is a stationary hobby and over time his weight gradually built up eventually hitting 107kg.
When Sam left Frinton for London he bought a gym membership and quickly found himself going to the gym five times a week.
Sam said: “I reduced my alcohol intake and cut out beer completely, within eight to ten months I dropped from 107kg to 75kg.”
Shortly after his swift weight loss journey, Sam was offered a charity place in the London marathon by his brother.
He was offered the place in February and the event was in April so there was a short window to train.
Sam added: “I set myself a target of running the marathon in three hours and 30 minutes and ended up finishing in 3 hours 29 minutes and 44 seconds, this is the day I got the running bug.
“Two months after running the marathon, I ran my first ultra, a 100k run through the Cotswolds called race to the stones.
“After running my first marathon more things seemed possible, then I ran my first ultramarathon and everything seemed possible.”
In October last year Sam ran a multi-day 250k ultramarathon through the heat and sand of the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan to fundraise for Ambassadors in Sport, a charity closely associated to Frinton Free Church.
To train, Sam set a minimum target of 70k per week and signed up to several ultra marathon events before the desert run.
Sam weighed 90kg three months before the event and lost a further 16kg in time for the run.
For this year’s plans, Sam intends on running up and around Mount Kilimanjaro as well as running five marathons in five days before work which would mean waking up at 3am each day.
Sam has an Instagram page dedicated to his running, to find out more visit bit.ly/3GzR2UA.
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