I ran 80 miles by lapping my block of flats – it was incredible but everyone kept asking the same question

RUNNER Edd Owen has been round the block a few times – 441 in fact over a 12-hour stint.

The 26-year-old ran 290-metre loops of his apartment block and covered nearly 80 miles.

He was inspired by self-professed “Hardest Geezer” Russ Cook ­— the first man to run the entire length of Africa.

Edd set off at 8am on ­Saturday and was joined by a stream of pals and strangers.

By the time he finished, he had covered 79 miles (127km) — even though his watch recorded 86 miles (138km).

Edd, who was raising cash for the Alzheimer’s Society, came up with the idea after joining Russ for the last 45km of his Africa odyssey.

Two weeks ago, Edd ran his hometown Manchester’s marathon in just under three hours.

The salesman, who only took up running two years ago, celebrated his latest achievement with a pint down the pub.

He said: “It was an incredible day. Loads of people asked me if I got dizzy. Everyone said, ‘You’re going to go crazy because you aren’t going to have new things to look at’.

“Lots of people asked me why I didn’t switch directions, but I got quite comfortable with the route and knowing exactly where things were.

“I’m inspired by Russ Cook. I always felt like I’m very capable of doing cool things.

“That’s where it came from, Russ thinking, ‘You know what, I’m going to run the length of Africa’ and so I thought, ‘Well I’m going to run for 12 hours’.

“I want to keep exploring how far I can push my body.”