How This Man Ran 6+ Marathons On His Balcony

Imagine you’re prepping to run a marathon.

The marathon is cancelled, you’re told to stay inside, and two days after you’re meant to be running 42km around Barcelona, you’re running along your 7 metre balcony in your house.

That was Elisha Nochomovitz back in March. There’s been an amazing amount of inspiring stories from the last few months — from essential workers to fitness feats to all of your stories too. Elisha got in contact with us to tell his story, honour medical staff, and spread the message that you can always make it work.

From Barca to Balcony

Elisha Nochomovitz lives in Balma, France. He was meant to run the Barcelona Marathon on March 15th but like so much else, it was delayed because of Covid.

That wasn’t stopping him though.

So that he could social distance (and make up for his missed marathon), Elisha ran on his balcony instead. “I just thought that it was a crazy idea,” Elisha said. Having run over 30 marathons, what’s one more on a balcony? He ran back and forth over 7 meters for 6 hours and 48mins — taking almost twice as long as his fastest at 3hrs 32mins.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B92NmdWo-7p/

He didn’t stop there though. Over the next couple of months, he went on to run 5 more marathons and threw in a half marathon for good measure. Throughout it all though, his girlfriend was there to feed him drinks and M&Ms.

The stats

This is what he’s achieved on his balcony so far:

• March 17: 42km Marathon (6h 48)
• March 24: 50km U.T.M.B  (6h 29)
• April 1: 57km Ultra-Marathon (4h 38)
• April 8: 42km Marathon (4h 29)
• April 15: 57km U.T.M.B  (7h 00)
• April 19: 21km Half-Marathon  (2h 21)
• April 23: 42km Marathon (4h 52)

His balcony is 7 metres long x 1 metre wide. He ran around 3000+ laps per marathon. That totals to over 311km: the equivalent of 7.4 marathons all in all. After all this, he said on his Instagram: “I have spent more time on my balcony than in my apartment since the start of confinement.”

He did this to push himself, say “no” to excuses, and prove his mental strength to himself. Also, according to him, to prove the fact that…

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way”

Through this, he said “I wanted to prove my mind-set, that whatever the situation, I was able to finish.” Surprisingly Elisha said this was more of a mental challenge than a physical one. He believes that the best way to stay motivated and positive is through sports and exercise.

After he was furloughed from his job as a restaurant manager, Elisha made the best of a bad situation. This is something we can all learn from — that even in tough times, you can still strive to better yourself. His running even inspired his neighbour to start walking on his balcony too.

Elisha didn’t just achieve this for himself though. He dedicated his running to others too.

“To the real everyday heroes” 

Elisha dedicated his running to those affected by Covid-19, raising 21,000 Mexican Pesos as part of a half-marathon, and setting up a charity to help even more.

Of the healthcare staff during the pandemic, he said “I cannot help them in the hospital, but maybe I can prove to everyone that you can [still exercise] at home.”

He also raised money for a nurse with Ankylosing Spondylitis (a disease which fuses the spine together) to fulfil her dream of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

Good job Elisha – you really seem like a good bloke.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-7aVbOnZgS/

Take home message

Elisha has inspired us to get up and start running (whether on a balcony or not). There have been loads of inspiring fitness feats throughout all of this and, from them, even more lessons to learn.

As Elisha says, there really are no excuses. So why not get out there and start inspiring others too?