But that’s exactly what Kevin Seaward did as part of his training for the Olympic Games in Rio, where he competed in the men’s marathon for the Ireland team.
Mr Seaward, 31, who is assistant head at The Martin High School in Anstey, Leicestershire, and also teaches PE, completed the marathon in two hours 20 minutes, finishing in 64th place.
He was disappointed with his time, which was six minutes slower than his personal best, but suffered a serious two-day bout of flu just before the event. Even so, he was determined to carry on.
“It would have been easy for me to stop, and a lot of people did, but the students inspired me,” he said. “We always tell pupils to persist and continue to work hard when things get tough or don’t go their way and I kept thinking about that message while I was running.”
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