In the quiet moments after completing 79 ultramarathons in 79 consecutive days, Sam King isn’t chasing the next goal or searching for something he missed along the way. Instead, what lingers most strongly is a sense that everything fell into place exactly as it should have.
“I have an overwhelming sense of satisfaction at the moment,” he says when we catch up with the 32-year-old from Frinton-on-Sea to hear about his incredible fundraiser for the Headway charity following his mother’s near-fatal bleed on the brain.
Fitting finale
King’s extraordinary run – 50 kilometres every day for nearly three months – concluded across a sunlit weekend, with crowds gathering for a finish he had deliberately kept low-key, with Mum Penny there to greet him outside her church. One simple social media post was all he shared in advance. The turnout, and the response, caught him completely off guard.
“I knew I had some friends coming, but I didn’t expect that many people to turn up,” he admits. “And then to go on and hit my fundraising goal the same day – it just meant the challenge ended absolutely perfectly.”
That sense of completion matters, because throughout the challenge King refused to let himself think about the finish line at all. Keeping going meant staying firmly in the present.
“I didn’t allow myself to think to the end,” he says. “It was always about getting through that day.”
Only once it was over did he finally step away – booking a holiday, taking time to decompress, and allowing himself to process what he had achieved. With his Mum also doing well in her recovery, it has given him space to feel something he rarely allowed during the challenge itself.
“I’m feeling very proud, very happy with how it went. It couldn’t really have gone any better.”
Day 80: the run he didn’t need to do
The initial aim was 74 ultramarathons in 74 days, one day for every year of his mother’s life before she fell ill. But he added on the extra days to get that Sunday finish outside Penny’s church.
If day 79 was about finishing, day 80 was about understanding it.
King had always said that he would keep running until his £74,000 fundraising target was reached. When he went to bed after completing his 79th ultra, he was still £8,000 short.
“I laid out my kit and snacks, expecting to carry on,” he says. “I genuinely thought I wasn’t going to raise the money overnight.”
By morning, the total had been hit. The challenge was complete. But King went out to run anyway.
“I was already in the mindset to get up and run,” he explains. “And I knew I didn’t have anyone to run with, so it felt like the perfect opportunity to just go out and soak it all up.”
Running alone had been rare during the challenge, but deeply meaningful when it happened. This time, with headphones in and a playlist of songs that had carried him through the toughest days, he retraced the familiar route one final time.
“I went through the whole challenge in my head – everything that had happened,” he says. “I just enjoyed it.”
The emotions surfaced quickly.
“I was quite emotional actually. I shed a few tears, just because I was so happy with how it had gone. I definitely got what I was looking for.”
More personal challenge than world record
King knew from the outset that the men’s world record for consecutive ultramarathons stood at 60. But it was never the reason he started.
“It was always about running one for every year of Mum’s life and raising money for Headway,” he says.
Still, the record became a quiet milestone along the way. Hitting day 60 with two weeks still to run provided a psychological lift in the middle of the challenge, and the paperwork had been put in well before the start.
“It was nice that there was a world record in there,” he says. “But I also tried to make it clear that the women’s world record is 200. The women absolutely fly the flag for this.”
For King, the significance is deeply personal rather than competitive.
For he was once the highest-ranked player in the world for video game ‘Call of Duty’ – and weighed about 19 stone (121kg).
But in the last eight years his ‘obsession’ has become running – and now extreme endurance tests – and as he says: “To go from being 19 stone and overweight not that long ago to being a world record holder – that’s pretty cool.”
His first 26.2-miler was in 2018 and since then he’s run over 100 marathons and ultramarathons before taking on this latest adventure.
When motivation shifted, but never disappeared
Throughout the 79 days, King never doubted he would finish a single 50K. But he did notice something change late on.
“When I got to day 75, something left me,” he says. “I cared a bit less, and that took me by surprise.”
The symbolic power of running one ultra for every year of his Mum’s life had carried him through the first 74 days. Once that marker passed, the emotional fuel dipped – even though the physical task remained the same.
“It just showed how powerful those first 74 days were for me,” he reflects.
Injuries, illness, brutal weather and exhaustion all took their toll, but none were enough to stop him.
“I’d quit my job for this. There was so much riding on it,” he says. “I cared too much about doing the challenge and finishing it.”
Even during the worst moments, doubt never fully took hold.
“I was concerned at times, but I never really thought I wouldn’t make it.”
A finish that meant everything
King deliberately extended the challenge to finish on a Sunday, outside his Mum’s church – a place that has been central to her life for more than two decades.
“She worked there. She’s got a real community there,” he explains. “And it’s near the seafront where I run every day, so it felt like the perfect way to end.”
With his Mum able to attend and understand what he had done, the moment carried a weight that went far beyond running.
“After everything we’ve been through this year, it was one of the most special days of my life,” he says. “Seeing her there with a big smile and her arms out to greet me – it was perfect.”
Determination, inherited
Watching his Mum recover from a brain bleed hasn’t changed how King thinks about suffering or resilience, he says – because those traits were always there.
“She’s always been incredibly determined,” he explains. “Every day of her life was like an ultramarathon.”
Her refusal to accept limits remains undiminished.
“She can’t walk now, but every day she tries to get out of her chair and she says, ‘I will walk.’ The physios say she probably won’t – and she just says, ‘Yep, okay, but I will.’”
For King, the connection is unmistakable.
“That determination, that stubbornness – I get it all from her,” he says. “It just reinforces how powerful the brain is, and where a determined mindset can take you.”
- Headway UK is a charity that supports people and families affected by brain injury – to find out more about Sam’s challenge or if you would like to donate, click here.
