“Everybody tried to place me off at first – individuals simply did not consider I might truly do it,” Cox says.
However on 26 October final 12 months, she set off from the Attari-Wagah border between Pakistan and India, sure for Kolkata, just some miles from the place her father Deric was born.
She stayed true to the route, which meant there have been generally days when she ran 42km alongside a freeway “which was boring as hell” however different days had been via nature reserves, alongside canals and thru farmers’ fields.
There have been cows, snakes and goats within the highway, whereas drivers usually travelled on the improper facet of the highways. Some had been busy roads and she or he has a scar on her proper leg from a collision with a motorcycle whereas she was working.
She even wanted a police escort at instances as a result of she was going via areas identified for normal deadly tiger assaults.
It was usually scorching, dusty and smoggy and despite the fact that she had spent two weeks beforehand doing periods in a warmth chamber to acclimatise, it was in contrast to something she had ever skilled.
After which there was the illness, which performed a big half in her shedding greater than 10kg throughout the problem.
One such episode additionally coincided with one of many extra surreal likelihood encounters.
“It was day 24 and we met Richard Branson on the Taj Mahal,” she says.
“He was on the market to host a charity biking occasion and we had been strolling around the Taj and I used to be simply feeling worse and worse.
“The night earlier than, he had invited me for dinner at a extremely costly lodge. I had one sniff of an Previous Customary cocktail and I used to be like: “oh my god, I will be sick”.
“I needed to run to those actually fancy bogs and I used to be sick all over the place.
“The subsequent day, I wanted to run a marathon and 5 of the individuals who had been a part of Richard Branson’s charity occasion determined they had been going to run with me. I used to be sick all day that day by the facet of the highway however I simply knew I needed to end.”
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