26.2 Miles Upon the Waves
Steve Eaton Ran a full marathon around the Promenade Deck of Grand Princess.
August 7, 2012
by Steve Eaton
I may not be able to walk on water, but I do hold the distinction of being the world’s first person to run a marathon at sea.
Last September, I ran 80 times around the Promenade Deck of Grand Princess, just over the required 26.2 miles, as the ship itself sailed around the coast of Portugal. It was my 33rd marathon, and like most of my races, I ran it for charity.
Before anyone thinks I am some kind of health nut, you should have met me 10 years ago. You’d have found a tired, middle-aged man, who’d packed on the pounds since quitting smoking. I drive a lorry (truck to you Americans) for a living, working overnights, which would explain the tired problem. Also working against me, the notoriously poor diet and exercise habits of a lorry driver on the night shift. And then there’s the ex-smoker thing, you tend to substitute food for cigarettes.
I knew this couldn’t go on. I made a New Year’s Resolution in 2002 to go from fat to fit. I astonished my sedentary self by losing five stone (70 pounds) in five months. I figured the best way to keep the weight from coming back would be to exercise. To keep it off, Wesley, an instructor at my local gym, suggested I train for the London Marathon in support of the charity, Well Child.
Ten months before the marathon, I started training. First I could do no more than jog to one lamppost, and walk, panting to the next. Lamppost by lamppost, I ran through my town of Tamworth until I became a marathoner.
People who knew me from before would never have pictured me as that guy who could run for miles and miles, arms raised in victory at the finish line. But I am a competitive person and when I make up my mind to do something, watch me go.
As for my marathon at sea, my wife, Margaret, and I booked our first cruise for September 2011 about a year in advance. I certainly wasn’t planning on running circles around the ship, but when the son of our close family friends was murdered, leaving a wife and two young children, I wanted to do something in support.
His name was Christopher Chacksfield. Chris had survived tours of duty in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Bosnia, but was killed in Newcastle upon Tyne, waiting for a taxi with his wife, in an unprovoked attack.
Chris had earlier expressed a wish to raise funds for Help for Heroes, I wondered if perhaps I could do so in his place, and if running on a ship would attract more publicity and funds?
I called Princess, explained my idea and a few days later, they contacted me with the all-clear. Ahead of time, we measured the deck and worked out the route. I was relieved when Princess okayed my running briefly through the living quarters, so I could run in continuous ovals instead of stopping and reversing course at every half lap. That would have been dizzying.
The night before my run, the chef visited our table in the Da Vinci Dining Room and asked what he could prepare for my dinner. I chose pasta and meatballs. Martyn, the cruise director, arranged for breakfast in our cabin the next day. I selected more carbs…porridge, yogurt, toast and jam.
I was more nervous than usual. I’d never run on a moving ship before and I didn’t know if I would feel sea sick. There could be no turning back. Princess had promoted the charity marathon via public broadcasts. Donation boxes were put out on deck. And Stuart, the assistant cruise director, stood at the starting line, where he’d join me for the first five laps.
And I was off. I might have been the only person to run a marathon that day, but I was never alone. Margaret and some American friends we’d made kept time and recorded laps. A passenger joined me for 40 laps. Another Princess Cruises crew member joined me for 20. Security guards manned the doors.
I came in at 5 hours, 16 minutes and 45 seconds. Once again, Martyn came through, with an invitation to the Crown Grill for supper. You need your protein after such a run, so I chose steak.
For the rest of the cruise, I was a mini celebrity. Passengers were so friendly and supportive. The Princess crew made me a photo book commemorating the run, which I’ll always cherish. Best of all, I raised £640 pounds (almost $1,000) on the ship and a total of £1,200 pounds, counting donations from supporters back home, for Help for Heroes.
Now I am 58. I still run for charity. As of this blog, I have completed 53 marathons. My goal is to run 100 marathons by the time I turn 60, then, I have promised Margaret, I’ll scale it back.
I’ve run marathons in Paris, London, New York, Amsterdam and Berlin—great cities, all. But my most unusual race will always be the one I ran aboard Grand Princess at sea.
Steve lives in Tamworth, Staffordshire, UK. He has experienced one Princess Cruise and hopes to take another soon.
I really admire you for the Marathon fete. Congratulations! I only manage 5 complete laps of the Grand Princess promenade deck and then boredom and a knee with no cartilidge make me give up Well that’s my excuse!
Steve,
Good for you in making health a priority! We were happy to be part of this unique marathon effort and admire your stamina, as well as your commitment to raise funds for Help for Heroes.
Well done you should be very proud of such an achievement, and how typical that Princess should have supported you so well. I shall be travelling on Grand Princess in November, but I am ashamed to say I shall not be attempting such a feat.
Very Well Done Steve!! It’s surprising how many people enjoy their walk around the Promenade Deck while cruising. I am 74 and I managed to walk 3 times around the Grand Princess one afternoon in June. I believe that was about a mile. I do hope your marathon will inspire others.
I certainly do that … on a cruise from Melbourne to NZ and back in Feb of this year, I was walking (fast) 12 or 15 times around the promenade deck – each three laps made 1 mile, and for each mile, I figured I had earned another glass of wine with dinner
Well done Steve. We were on your cruise last September and thought you were brilliant.
Our son has served in Iraq and Afghanistan with the R.A.F so we always support Help for
Heroes. We have just booked another cruise on Grand Princess and you never know we might
see you doing another marathon at sea!!!
Well done Steve – we were on the cruise when you did this and were on the side line cheering you on – you did brilliantly. Keep up the good work
was on that cruise and cheered you on in your marathon task, you were brilliant.
I remember that day well Steve as we watched your efforts all the way! You have our admiration not only in completing that, and all your other marathons, but also in making a commitment to getting healthy and staying that way – no mean feat at our age! Very well done and happy running for years to come.
While I really admire your efforts here, please note that you aren’t the first to do this, there are entire cruises devoted to running marathons aboard ships. And then there are just the regular running cruises (see http://www.runningcruise.com). All said, keep up the good work!
Congratulations Steve for an excellent idea to raise funds for Help For Heroes. Having had a relation serving in Afghanistan too, we know how the troops injured appreciate people like yourself who are ready to assist them in their recovery. Princess Cruises should be commended too for allowing you do do the marathon on board and the encouragement they gave you.
A very well done mate, what an unselfish thing to do on your hols!
Jim, EX Royal Navy
Steve, I don’t know why as I read your story tears were running down my face. Never had one of these stories affect me this way. I have a son who’s deaf and in a wheelchair and travels with me on Princess 2 or 3 times a year. Kind of feel like you were running for him too.
Thank you for your gallant efforts.
Dee
Have you heard about the Antarctica Marathon in 2001 that was run on a ship by about 120 runners?
Yes, I read the article and I checked with the Guiness Book of World Records first they confirmed that their was no single handed record marathon run registered therefore, my completed attempt claim as the Worlds first single handed marathon run on a cruise ship whilst moving at sea even though I was not awarded by Guiness the first world record time You must remember the article reports that they were a team of runners and the wheather was so bad to run on land it was cancelled they decided to run the marathon as a team on the ship which was stationary infact morred.
Very inspiring, Steve! I’m going to make sure my husband reads this post; he recently ran his first half-marathon in Pasadena at age 75, and is training for his second. I have no doubt that this will help keep him focused. Well done!
That sounds so cool….as a fellow 50+ marathoner, I wish I had thought of contacting the cruise line to try something like that…maybe next year. I have kept track of my laps and on 7 or more day cruises had a total of over 26.2 miles, but never even thought doing it at one stint would be possible or practical. I will have to keep this in mind for a sea day next year.
Awesome story of giving back Steve! As a fellow marathoner and owner of a travel agency I can appreciate the commitment made by you and Princess. The next time you decide to take on the “2nd Marathon at Sea” let me know. I’d love to join in!
Congrats Steve,we had the privilege.of been onboard the Grand Princess on that occassin and we did an almost daily walk around that deck,we saw you during your trek that day and remember it with pride,you should be very proud of yourself..
What a great way to eat whatever you want on a cruise!!
Great job!
I ran 10 miles on deck 7 on the Grand Princess back in February. Great ship and always great to run deck 7 on any cruise ship…
I think it was great of Princess to give the okay. Love the cruise line. Our last trip as a family was about Princess. My husband came home from Iraq war with chemical exposure that was a death sentence the moment it happened. So this story especially touched me since Steve was raising money for Help For Hero’s. You go Steve. My husband would have joined you on the run if he could have. Keep running.
Congratulations on your marathon at sea and weight loss! You can really feel the resistance just walking on Deck 7 while the ship is moving, so running for over 5 hours is amazing! The sea air also has a way of re-energizing a person too. Don’t forget to add the Honolulu Marathon to your list of 100 marathons; the race is at beginning of December.
Jolly good show!!!! Look for you at the finish line in London in a few days!!!!
Thanks to you and Princess Cruise for Help for Heros is a great Charity
While I’m all for charity and donating, I’m glad I wasn’t on that cruise. I like to enjoy a relaxing afternoon on the promenade deck and would have been very disturb by the constant run around. If you feel like doing your thing please just go to the sports court.
Having been on a cruise before it is hard to imagine that there was not somewhere you could have gone to avoid being ‘disturbed’ for those few hours. This man was doing a very unselfish act to benefit the heroes from his homeland and should be applauded not chastised.
Consider retreating to the Sanctuary, the casino, the library or one of several bars during the duration of such an event, Frank. All the Princess ships are large enough that you could find many places to avoid activities that you find annoying.
Hip Hip Horray for you, that was so amazing, and a very good thing to do for a friend. Book another cruise on a Princess, I have been on two, and am booking our third soon for the Spring of 2013. Doing Charities sure makes one feel good. I have canvassed for the Heart and Stroke for over 35 years and do many jobs for Hospice (a non-profit organization for patients to live out their last weeks).
So proud of you for doing this, and for helping yourself.
Well done and you must be proud of yourself!!! my husband and I was with Grand in May of this year for their Hawaii Cruise. I enjoyed the run around the deck but only managed to do 10 rounds. I am running my first marathon supporting the “Cure for Cancer” which will be held in September 30th. Kudos to you!!
Great job Steve. My wife and I have been doing two 10-day back-to-back cruises on the Emerald Princess to the Caribbeans every Jan. and Feb. I run spring marathons so I keep my training up while at sea. This past Jan. and Feb. I ran a 11, 12, and a 14 mile run on the Emerald’s 1/16 mile jogging deck on the 19th floor. Makes for an interesting run when the walkers join in or the ship is rolling about with a cross wind. Running a marathon at sea now that would be a challenge. I’m 63. Keep up the effort. Thanks for the support Princess.
I met a Marine who had run the Marine Corps Marathon many years in a row. One year while deployed he was allowed to officially run the race on board his ship to continue his streak. He did his on a treadmill though.
Anyone have a list of runner-friendly ships with a deck that goes all the way around on one level with no stairs or wind breaks?
My wife and me just finished an Alaskan Cruise on Island Princess and found that I could run around the ship on its deck 7 without going up the stairs like most other ships.
Good job – but not the first. I ran 511 laps around the flight deck of HMCS Fraser in Sep 1987 for a full marathon for Terry Fox. And I know of at least 10 others before 2000
I’ll be 72 next year when I sail on the Royal Maiden Transatlantic. I have been running marathons for a long time. Have one coming up this December. Maybe Princess would let me run one on the new jogging track as a tribute to old people. I wonder how many laps equal 26.2 miles.
I remember the day well, the Captain did a few laps with you as well as the Cruise Director, I seem to remember they were close to the end so they could bask in your glory, WELL DONE Steve
Great job, Steve! It’s amazing how much we can accomplish when we set our minds to something. Congratulations! Like Bill Coffelt; however, I also wonder how many laps around the Grand Princess you ran to achieve your marathon.
Congrats Steve on a job well done. I wish I could have been there to witness it. My husband and I were recently in Lake Placid, NY. for the annual Ironman Competition in which our son took part. It was his first and we are so very proud of him. He finished in a little over 12 1/2 hours. For any of you unfamiliar with what Ironman is, as I was, it is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike race, and a 26.2 mile run. He trained for six months and we were truly amazed with his dedication and accomplishment. In a month my husband and I will be aboard the Crown Princess for a cruise to the Mediterranean and I will think about you when I walk the deck of the ship. Continue your good work for charity and stay healthy!
My wife and I where on the same cruise as Steve and we watched most of his run. It is a pity that it could not be recorded in the Guiness Book of Records.
A few naysayers aside, I join in with all the favorable replies and applaud your effort and appreciate Princess for helping you make it happen. We are” Princess Only” cruisers and know how they strive to accommodate their passengers.
I wish there was a convenient place to do this as I’d like to exercise outdoors with plenty of room without “harrassing” the others who wish to stroll and relax. The tiny court you have to go around 16 times to make one mile is too small, and dizzying. There should be one deck for strollers and one for active people.
That is wonderful! Congratulations and keep running. And kudos to Princess for making it possible.
Congrats Steve. Here is a link to the John Bingham’s story of running 422 laps around the ship that couldn’t dock in Antarctica for the marathon in 2001:
http://running.competitor.com/2004/10/training/the-endurance-factor_3312
Congratulations, Steve. Having someone assist with recording laps certainly was a help; I’d have lost track somewhere along the way.
I recently sailed on the M.V. Sea Princess and kept up my daily routine of walking 3 statute miles by walking nine laps around the Promenade Deck. Fortunately, on the Sea Princess the deck is a complete 1/3 mile circuit, so no stops or reversals were needed. Walking on a moving surface did, however, require additional muscles that I don’t exercise as much on dry land, and I certainly felt the effects.
Way to go Steve! I encourage other to take up this running onboard. If folks can walk the
deck that great. If they can run the deck, all the more power to them. There is room for both to do their thing. Just a little courtesy and friendliness, and to remember that those that exercise don’t take a break when onboard a ship. Theirs is a committment to fitness no matter where they are. Doing it for a worthwhile charity makes it even more rewarding.
I love this idea and plan to pursue it hopefully on the Grand/others someday.
I’m a “young ’71 yr old senior lady” that runs 20 miles a week at home.
Congratulations,Steve on your great effort for Help for Heroes. My husband and I are walkers,doing 5K walks for charities. Not your pace,but we feel that we are doing something to help others and ourselves.
We have been on five Princess cruises and always find time to do our walks on deck during each cruise. Princess has had the On Deck for the Cure walk/run to raise funds for the fight against breast cancer on their cruises. We have participated in these walks on each cruise that we have taken. It is a fun thing for us to do and there is a feeling of togetherness among those who participate.
However, we always feel that more people could participate in this charity event. After all, there may be three thousand people on board and only a small percent of that number shows up for the walk. One time,there were only twelve people participating!
Maybe when people read your story, they will be inspired to join the On Deck for the Cure walks on their particular cruise. It should only take up to an hour to complete,participants do not have to complete the entire 5k, and at the end of the walk/run there is a feeling of satisfaction that you are helping a cause.
As for us here at home,you have inspired us to upgrade our exercise routine. We have gotten a little slack regarding our daily walks because of the heat of this summer. We plan to “step it up” a notch and get back to respectable miles and time each day.
Keep up the good work,Steve. Maybe we will catch you on a Princess cruise someday!
As a past Princess cruiser I thoroughly enjoy the stories these passengers. My last cruise with my sister was on the Golden around the British Isles after which we spent 10 days lost in London. Imagine two ladies in their 70′s lost in London, a trip of a life tiime with the bonus of the cruise which included the Irelands, Wales and Scotland (with the tattoo).
Kudos to Steve for running a marathon while at sea and for Princess Cruise Line in helping you plan your route. I have run one marathon and did it with my then 8 year old son. We had run many 5k and 10k runs along with 1/2 marathons and 15 mile runs and then finally signed up to run the Honolulu Marathon. He had done so well in the past runs, but when he saw that we were only at the 9 mile marker he was ready to quit. So we ran and walked the remainder of the marathon. It took us 7 hours, but we finished together!
I started out training the same way Steve did, running one lamp post to the next and then walking to the next and then repeating the plan over and over until I could add another piece of trash or something on the side of the road I could pass today that I couldn’t pass yesterday. That worked really well in Hawaii, but now we live in the CA desert and it is not hospitable to training. I wish we lived near a shopping center or someplace with an indoor run track, but haven’t found any place yet. My son died in 2008 and I would like to run another marathon in his memory. I just must look harder for a place to train! I really want to run one more marathon. After all, I’m only in my mid 60′s!
Congratulations Steve. You raised money and helped a charity. That is an extremely honorable thing to do. The 3 men who responded with a negative to your accomplishment and their inconvenience are just jealous that they are not out doing the same thing.
Keep up the great work Steve. There are many more on your side looking at this as a very positive event rather than a negative occurrence.
Steve,
A great story. If you are still collecting money, I would love to donate. I run (not as much or as long as you) on Princess and I know some people are annoyed at times but most are fine with it and have joked with me about not doing it themselves. Again, would love to donate to your cause. As someone who is in his sixties, I appreciate what you have accomplished. Thanks for sharing.
What a great sad story and so inspiring, my husband and myself have run 4 Rotorua Marathons and we know how hard that is, but to do it 80 times around the ship that is awesome.
Congratulations and good on Princess for helping make it a success.
Steve I’m so glad you traded smoking for running. That is extremely annoying on a cruise ship….and dangerous for the other passengers. Besides 80 laps around the promenade is better than 80 laps around the buffet.
Wow. I am impressed you could run a marathon on the ship. I am running my 4th marathon this September and I couldn’t even imagine running around the boat 80 times. Congratulations-that certainly will be a marathon to remember.
Steve:
thats very inspiring! I am going to run on my upcoming cruise on Crown Princess! Congratulation!
Steve….way to go!!!….I have cruised on Grand, Crown, Ruby, Carribean, Emerald….10 Princess cruises with my wife Sue. Have always used the track on the upper deck for my runs, so hundreds of laps! Usually do about 40 miles a week on that damn track!!! Have run 15 Martahons on land, and would be thrilled to join you for a marathon, about 262 laps on the track, if we are ever on the same ship….and for your wonderful charity….I am in your age group!!!….happy running, Jim Owens
Congrats! What an incredible story, not just your weight loss journey, but your efforts for charity-fantastic!!!
that’s so cool! I wish my knees were better! my goodfriend runs in marathons in Europe every year. She is 57 years young. You have to move it, or you really do lose it!!
Ginger helps with seasickness too! Thanks for all the tips. We haven’t been on a criuse yet either (well, we’ve been on plenty of criuses….but they were the deployment kind, not the fun kind!). Actually, that’s why we haven’t been on a criuse. Every time we’ve been on vacation, one (or both) of us was just getting home from a deployment and wanted nothing to do with getting on another ship! (BTW, “boats” are submarines in Navy-speak! ha!)
I just finished a cruise to Hawaii and back to SFO. From reading your story I decided in 15 days I could walk a marathon. I met some great people on deck 7 and it was a grat way to start my day.
I didn’t do it for charity and did it for myself, when I saw my doctor on return she said I don’t know what you did but your a changed person.
Thanks for the inspiration.