Marathons are no run in the park – figuratively – even if literally, they are exactly that. But when someone signs up to do a marathon, they mean serious business. Running a marathon requires a long-term game plan, dedication, and lots of training along the way.

And all of this makes it that much more devastating if a marathon that someone's been planning to dominate is canceled. But that didn't stop Sam, a 27-year old runner from England.

Man Takes His Half-Marathon to His Own Balcony for Charity

This English runner was so determined that when the news of his marathon being canceled came up, he dedicated himself to finding another way to complete it – quarantine and all.

How? Where? His front porch. Which he crossed the length of doing laps back and forth, 5,000 times over and ultimately covering a 13-mile (21-kilometer) distance – and at marathon speed of just 3 hours, too.

The London Landmarks Half Marathon would have taken him past many of the most epic local sights as Big Ben, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and The Shard. But due to the coronavirus pandemic's continuous spread, the race had to be canceled.

“It was going to be my first ever half-marathon and I was excited to do it, so it was devastating when it was cancelled,” said Hustler. “I had put so much training in and it’s such a great cause I am running for, that I still wanted to do it any way I could. I saw a video of a man in Italy who ran a full marathon on his balcony so I thought I could do a half-marathon on mine. I did a little 2-kilometer run on it on Tuesday and I thought ‘well it’s boring, but I can do it.’”

Man Takes His Half-Marathon to His Own Balcony for Charity

Hustler is also an amateur cricket player, but he'd never run as far as 13 miles before. He simply wasn't willing to give up on this promise he'd made to himself. But decided to turn the bad news around in another major way, too: by continuing to honor his commitment to raising money for Haven House Children’s Hospice, a charity that supports children with life-threatening or life-limiting illnesses.

“I really wanted to do it for Haven House and raise as much money as possible,” says Hustler. “They’ve been going since 1990 and they’ve just put up an emergency appeal for funding. All their fundraising events have been cancelled and their charity shops have had to close, which was a major source of their income. They are an amazing charity that believes in the best possible life for every baby and child with a life-limited or life-threatening condition,” he added. “They do so much for families who live in my community and I’ve seen the work they have done, which is absolutely amazing.”

Hustler hoped to raise at least £500 ($620) for Haven House, but with wild support from his community and the world wide web, – raising more than 1,900 GBP (2,400 USD) in the end!