I will lead Birmingham City in relegation scrap today and run the London Marathon tomorrow

While many other managers embroiled in the Championship relegation battle will likely use Sunday to de-stress, Gary Rowett, the interim manager of Birmingham City, has other plans. He will spend his Sunday participating in the London Marathon, a grueling 26.2-mile endurance event.

Rowett, who recently celebrated his 50th birthday, will be running the London Marathon for the fourth time. “For my sins, on my day off, I shall be running 26.2 miles, and then I’ll be in the next day,” he said.

Despite the taxing nature of the event, Rowett remains focused on the game. “I have retained the focus on the game because I’ve hardly done any running! It’s something I committed to before I came here, and I’m keen to do it. It’s a great experience.”

Rowett, a keen runner and seasoned marathoner, completed the course in just over four hours in 2022 and clocked four hours and 13 minutes last year when he ran London with his daughter.

“My time has come down this year, but that was when I was out of work, so for obvious reasons I could put a bit more mileage in. I don’t know if the stress of this job is going to add lots more time on top of it or not, we will see,” Rowett commented.

“When you’ve done London, it’s just such an enjoyable experience, the way people come out and support, it really is a great four hours – hopefully it’s not any longer than that! It’s brilliant, I’d recommend anyone to do it if they are stupid enough to.”

Rowett’s love affair with the marathon started during his first stint in the Blues hot seat. In 2016, he ran his first London Marathon in support of Liam’s Smiles, a charity set up by former Blues goalkeeper Colin Doyle and his wife Becky to raise money and awareness after their son Liam contracted meningitis.

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