FORMER Premier League star Fabian Delph has admitted he was “eating humble pie” after completing his first marathon.
The former Aston Villa and Manchester City midfielder completed the Athens Marathon on Sunday in a time of three hours 59 minutes and 55 seconds.
The marathon is believed to be one of the hardest in the world for competitors as it starts in the town of Marathon and is uphill from the 6.2-mile mark to the 19.2m mark.
To add to the difficulty for the recently retired midfielder he had to run it in 22-degree heat.
However, Delph managed to complete the challenge and finished 3229th out of around 15,000 runners.
Despite being happy with his debut marathon, he was aiming for a quicker time.
On Instagram, Delph wrote: “We got it done, my first marathon and I was eating humble pie the whole way.
“The middle section is a 20k climb in 22 degrees. Didn’t hit my target but a sub 4 hour I will take, see you next year Athens.”
Delph retired from football in the summer following the expiry of his contract at Everton.
The 32-year-old had been with the Toffees for three years but only played 35 league games for the club.
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Delph is not the only football star to take part in marathon running as former Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben was spotted at the Rotterdam Marathon in April.
The Dutchman finished his marathon in three hours 13 minutes and 40 seconds.
After completing the run Robben admitted that is “wasn’t really fun” and it was “a real fight” to get through it.
