Two decades ago, Danny Mills played every minute of England’s 2002 World Cup campaign while representing Leeds United. A five-year spell at Elland Road saw the right-back experience the highest highs and the lowest lows.
Mills was part of the famous Whites side that reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2001. However, the house of cards came tumbling down three years later when financial difficulties hit and the defender was shipped out to Manchester City on a free transfer.
On a personal note, his career ended in heartbreak, too. At 32, Mills was forced to retire prematurely due to chronic knee pain. How is it then, almost 20 years on, that he can run consecutive marathons in aid of the Bobby Moore Fund?
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"My knees won't take the long runs," he told Daily Star Sport. "It's very rare that I will run for more than 15, 16 miles on a training run. My knees are alright; I can run at a certain pace. I can run anywhere between a seven-minute mile pace and an 8.15, 8.30-mile pace. That's my window.
"Faster than that is not great for my knees, slower than that is not great for my knees. As long as I stay in that window, I'm okay. Twisting and turning is the hard bit, trying to play football is the worst thing in the world.
"Because I train all year round, I don't train for the marathon as such. I run all year round, no matter what. Two marathons five or six weeks apart is ideal."
Mills also revealed how he gained a passion for long-distance running six years ago. The prospect of representing one of England’s greatest-ever footballers was all the inspiration he needed.
"The first one I did was for the Jane Tomlinson Appeal, the York Marathon,” he added. “Then I got asked in 2016 by the Bobby Moore Fund if I would run the London Marathon for Bobby Moore, to raise money and awareness.
"They gave me the 1966 number, I ran it in the red kit, it was 50 years since Bobby lifted the World Cup trophy. I've done a few since; it's a great event… it's fabulous.
"I was down to do New York last year but I missed out by one day because of Covid. I did London, which was fabulous, and was planning to do New York. But New York didn't open up until one day after the marathon."
Mills missed out on the chance to run the New York Marathon but will do so this year on November 6 - just over a month after the London Marathon takes place on October 2. As ever, the ex-Leeds defender will be representing the Bobby Moore Fund, a restricted fund of Cancer Research UK.
"I've been involved with the Bobby Moore Fund and the cancer research stuff that they do, which is fabulous, for some time,” Mills said.
"I'll be running for them, doing my bit, seeing what I can do. For anyone that fancies doing it, London is amazing, and I want to put New York on that list as well, as a box ticker."
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