A Newbury mum of three has celebrated running every day for the past four years.
Fifty-eight-year-old Sue McDougall, who works part-time at Newbury College, set herself the New Year’s challenge of running a mile each day in January 2021. But she never stopped.
Sue, 58, has been running without fail every day since January 2021
She has just completed 1,461 consecutive days – and still plans to carry on.
Mrs McDougall spoke to newburytoday from a service station in Stoke-on-Trent – just before doing her daily run.
She said: “Lots of people run every day and probably run further, but I’m not an elite athlete, I’m just a mum that works part-time.
“I’m proud to say I’ve completed my four years of running every day that I record on my Apple Watch. And I do it wherever I go.”
Mrs McDougall has completed her daily challenge without fail in all weather conditions in locations including Paris, Stockholm, Majorca and Budapest.
She even ran during her 25th wedding anniversary in Mexico City, which she had to do in her dress and sandals after her airliner lost her luggage.
“I had to go for my run at like eight o’clock in the morning, because I couldn’t do it during the day when it was dangerous from a heat point of view,” she added.
And Mrs McDougall said her family have been really supportive of her challenge.
She continued: “It helps that I’ve got friends and family that accept I just have to go off for 12 minutes. Everyone encourages me to carry on with it.
“When we’d end up going to a different country, Lee would come with me at first because I didn’t know the area.
“But now I’m more confident. Even when we were on a cruise, I did it on a running track on the ship, and I guess I could do it on a treadmill if I needed to.”
Her husband Lee McDougall said of her challenge: “I was quite surprised, because it wasn’t something she’d done much of really.
“I wasn’t sure if she’d last the week, but she did it and kept going.
“She’s very committed. And I’m really proud of her really.”