Come weekends and holiday times, most people like to relax and put their feet up.

But this is not the case for health worker Jon Aston, of Shropshire. Instead he pulls on his trainers and runs a marathon. Jon, 46, of Shawbirch, Telford, who has notched up more than 100 26-mile challenges in five years, has a saying when he crosses the line of his latest one.

“There’s always another marathon,” he says breathlessly.

Upon completion of his 100th marathon in 2011, Jon, who, just five years ago was 17st and wore 44-inch waist trousers, joined the esteemed 100 Club.

To date he has done 116, his most recent being on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in Liverpool.

Jon, who competes with his wife Sarah, keeps a log of all of his runs, including training outings, and since December 2006 has clocked up almost 8,000 miles. The equivalent of a round-trip to Japan.

“Some people do probably think I am mad,” admits the Wrekin Road Runner.

He also takes part in ultra-marathons with distances of more than 50 miles, and in February is planning four marathons in as many days, while in June he will attempt to run Telford to Caen in France.

It’s all a far cry from 2006 when he was told by his GP to shape up.

“I was so overweight that I used to go out on the Silkin Way at night and plod up and down, but finally got to he point where I could run for half an hour without stopping,” he added.

Jon did his first 10K run in 2005 and midway through, he got it into his head to take part in his first marathon. He completed the London marathon in April 2006 in 4hrs and 35mins.

“Finishing that was significant for me,” says Jon. “The first 20 miles I was running with a big grin on my face, then from 20 to 26 I started thinking

‘I’m never going to do another marathon in my life’.”

But at the finish he could not hold back the emotions.

“Within half an hour I wanted to do it again,” he said. He has since competed abroad including in New York, Paris and Dublin and on home ground including races in Milton Keynes and Telford.

And the challenge goes on. He said: “I want to have run 200 marathons by my 50th birthday in 2015.”