As millions of parkrunners show, covering 5K is one of the most widely achievable feats in the sport. But committing to do at least that distance every day for a whole year – come rain, shine, work, travel, illness or family responsibilities – elevates it into much more demanding territory. But that’s what Jimmy Lloyd set out to do in 2024.
Jimmy, 48, works as a technology consultant and lives in Bristol with his partner Gemma, a physiotherapist for The Royal Ballet, and their four children. The seeds of his year-long challenge were sown in 2020 after they experienced the devastation of Gemma’s sister Hollie being suddenly diagnosed with, and dying from, brain cancer.
Then, at Christmas 2023, Jimmy read actor and comedian Rob Delaney’s book, A Heart That Works. The book details the care that Delaney’s son Henry received at the end of his life from Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice in London after a terminal brain tumour diagnosis.
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‘It’s a heartbreakingly powerful book,’ says Jimmy. ‘Rob spoke beautifully about the fact that the work these charities do is immediately tangible via the smiles and laughter from the children and their families. Charities like this are rays of light.’
After deciding to raise money for the hospice, he wanted his challenge to be somehow reflective of its work providing care and support, day after day – so he landed on running 5K every day for the next year.
After kicking off on New Year’s Day 2024, the first challenge was the small matter of Gemma giving birth to a son on 11 January. ‘I was there, thinking, “this is great, but I’ve still got to get a 5K in!”’ says Jimmy.
But after that, he got into a groove, usually doing his runs early in the day around Bristol harbour. ‘I’m an early riser, so I’d wake up at 5:30am or 6am and do it then,’ he says. ‘I found that if I got it out of the way first thing, it was easy – and if I left it it would get more difficult.’
The main difficulties were when he had to travel, as he regularly works at his company’s offices in Bristol, London and Chicago. ‘There were days when I was going abroad and I’d think, “do I do it when I land or try to squeeze it in before I leave for the airport?” I was in Chicago at one point and it was something like 10 degrees below zero.’
Another challenge was a family visit to see his brother-in-law, who at the time was climbing in a national park in Switzerland. ‘I was in this little chalet on the edge of a mountain. I had to get my Strava open to look for 5K routes. It was absolutely brutal – it took me about 40 minutes.’
As the year went by, Jimmy unsurprisingly became a better 5K runner. ‘Sometimes, I’d just plod along and then other times I had a real thing about getting a sub-20,’ he says. ‘The fastest one I did was on the treadmill in 19:07. But sometimes, it was difficult not to fall into the trap where you’re trying to get faster every day. If I’d have done that, I’d have probably injured myself.’
Jimmy got a couple of bugs from his kids but still managed to grind out his daily miles on the treadmill. But he stayed injury-free throughout, which is something that physio Gemma was amazed by – especially as he did all his runs in the same pair of trail shoes.
Perhaps surprisingly, he says the hardest part was during December, less than a month away from achieving his goal. ‘I thought that it would be easy because I love Christmas, I was going to New York, I’d be running there which will be great and I’ll be on the last 30 runs,’ he says. ‘But it was actually a real grind. I don’t know if it was my body just telling me to have a rest.’
But he says that there was never any doubt that he’d complete the challenge, helped by the support he got from Gemma. ‘I was really conscious that it did impact her, as sometimes it was complete chaos and the babies were screaming and I was like, “I’ve got to go and run peacefully in my own time” – so I did feel like a bit of a cop-out. But she was brilliant.’
And so, on New Year’s Eve, accompanied by his business partner Rory, Jimmy did his 366th and final run of 2024 (it was a leap year) to no fanfare, having had to squeeze in the run at 5:15am because of his other plans for the day. ‘It was just a quiet plod first thing in the morning, but obviously it was a nice sense of accomplishment to have got it done,’ he says.
To date, Jimmy has raised almost £6,500 for Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice. He has visited the hospice since the challenge and is already plotting his next one for the same cause. ‘I have zero doubt that I’m going to continue to try to raise money and awareness for them,’ he says. ‘It makes me feel better about the world knowing that this place exists.’
Jimmy’s fundraising page is here. Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice, in Barnet, London, helps babies, children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions. Visit noahsarkhospice.org.uk for more information.
