Many passengers go on a cruise to relax or discover new destinations, but Princess Cruises passenger Paul Manson had a different aim on board this summer.
Paul, who regularly completes ambitious runs for his YouTube channel The Random Runner, decided that a ship would be the ideal place for his latest challenge: seven marathons in seven days.
The ultra trail runner’s previous feats include running the length of Hadrian’s Wall and completing a 100-mile race through the Swiss Alps.
“This was my first ever experience of a cruise ship,” he told The Independent.
“I had never considered a cruise ship as a base for running around in different destinations.
open image in gallery“I was worried about cabin fever but didn’t appreciate how much time you would have off the ship until I saw the itinerary and thought, ‘Why don’t I see if I can run a marathon at each stop?’
“I do like to push myself and am constantly looking for different challenges to put me out of my comfort zone.”
Sailing aboard Enchanted Princess for a week, Paul ran the 26.2 miles in Rome, Naples, Kotor, Corfu, Katakolon and Mount Etna in Sicily, as well as one day at sea.
The first challenge, Paul explains, was timing.
A cruise ship has strict departure times from ports, so he knew he had to get off early enough to complete a marathon and then return to the ship before it left each afternoon.
Paul says: “First I had to prepare to explore a place I had never been before and incorporate that with finding my way around the ship.”
He planned the marathon routes for each stop using Google Maps at home and data from other users on the Strava app. He then had to make sure his running shoes, clothes and extra energy gels were ready each evening so he could get out as early as possible each morning.
This often meant waking up at 6am, getting breakfast delivered to the room and then being off the ship for 7am, which also helped avoid the hottest parts of the day.
Over the course of the week he ran 183 miles.
The longest day was his first, in Rome, which took seven hours to complete.
He says: “It would be different if I was just running but I was also making video and wanted to capture all the major sites.
“Rome has a lot of steps and had the most to see. It was really good to explore but took longer to run.
“There were, at least, lots of water fountains on my route.”
open image in galleryHis running times in the other ports ranged from five and ahalf to six hours, although back home in Milngavie, north of Glasgow, and in more normal temperatures, he can usually complete a marathon in three and a half.
The hardest marathon stop was Kotor in Montenegro.
Paul says: “I had considered staying down in the bay of Kotor but getting a marathon distance would have been more challenging due to the space.
“It was more of a challenge to head up into the cliffs so I took a 1,350 metre climb to get to the highest viewpoint and then ran back down to the bay.
“The trail going up was great but it was hard to follow the small roads going down, especially in 40 degree heat.”
There was extra time pressure in Kotor, adds Paul, as passengers had to get a tender to and from the ship.
He says: “I knew I had to make sure I was back for the last tender otherwise the ship would have left without me.”
Back on the ship, Paul says he would cool down with a shower and a celebratory cocktail by the pool before preparing for the next day’s run, including washing his sweaty shoes and t-shirts.
He says: “One of my favourite things to do when I got back on board was to grab a cocktail and head to the Wakeview pool, an infinity pool right at the back of the ship. As we sailed away, I could sit and watch as we leave behind the place that I’d just been running around.”
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While many cruise passengers may use a sea day to relax and even have a lie-in, Paul was up at the jogging track aboard Enchanted Princess at 5.45am to get his marathon done
He worked out that he had to run 185 laps to compete the marathon and had a clicker to keep track.
“It was like when you get on a treadmill and run, you just relax into it,” he says.
“There were fewer distractions as there wasn’t much to see. It is sometimes nice when you don’t have any distractions.”
He stopped every couple of laps for a drink and completed it in five hours.
By the time he was doing his sea day run, Paul had already become known as the marathon man around the ship.
He says: “A lot of people came up to the deck to see me. I hadn’t appreciated how interested people would be. You don’t get that type of response on land.”
So would he go on a cruise again? “Absolutely, it is a great way of exploring different areas and knowing you have a comfortable ship to return to each day,” Paul says.
He does have some top tips for those interested in taking on the challenge. The most important thing? At least three pairs of shoes.
“When it is hot, your sweat ends up in your shoes and they will get quite damp if you are using the same ones each day,” he says.
Paul also suggests using a GPS watch or a map to plan the routes, but scrapping the Strava app at sea, as it doesn’t separate the ship’s movement from your run.
“You could be breaking all sorts of records for distance and speed,” he jokes.