FRANNY Benali was yesterday sitting in his kitchen dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, happily chatting to his wife and children and playing with his dog Ben.

The family laugh and joke, occasionally getting up to check their phones or get something from another room.

Franny himself is talkative and friendly, telling jokes and smiling away.

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ABOVE: Franny with the shirts donated from each club on his run.

Other than his swollen, discoloured ankles and slight limp, there’s no clue as to the punishment he has put himself through in the last three weeks - running almost two marathons EVERY day.

Only 24 hours previous, he was jogging around the pitch at St Mary’s with the sound of 30,000 Saints fans’ wild applause ringing in his ears, having run 1,000 miles to be there.

He was overcome with emotion at the finishing line on Saturday afternoon and, in the cold light of day, Franny admits he still hasn’t quite got to grips with what he has achieved.

“I don’t think it has sunk in yet, to be honest”, he says.

“It’s great being in familiar surroundings and just getting back to normal. It will take a few days to get used to.

“It’s lovely to be home and it’s so nice to be back in the house.

“It was great to not have to run although none of us slept particularly well – maybe the body clock was set to get up early.

“It was nice knowing that I didn’t have to get up and run.”

Benali’s Big Run, as the challenge was called, saw him run from Newcastle to Southampton, via all 20 Premier League football stadiums.

Although his running exploits put him at the centre of attention, Franny is keen to highlight the work others did that made the achievement possible.

Wife Karen, children Luke and Kenzie, and a long list of friends ran alongside him at various parts of the course, while others provided medical attention and practical support.

A GPS tracker even allowed strangers to wait along the preplanned route and run alongside Franny for a few miles here and there.

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ABOVE: Franny reading about his exploits in the Sports Pink.

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ABOVE: Franny and wife Karen washing his sweaty training shirts.

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ABOVE: Franny's swollen ankles.

He has no intention of letting this go unnoticed and says the spirit and camaraderie in the camp was what helped him keep going day after day.

Franny says: “Karen, Luke and Kenzie have all been running as well, driving the course, getting kit out of hotels. There was always something to do.

“I had to complete the mileage but the planning ... an awful lot of work went into that.

“There were times when it’s taken its toll – not just on me, but on everybody really.”

The team rose at 7am every day on the trail, hitting the road as early as possible but still leaving little leeway for unplanned stops.

On some days the route didn’t finish at a hotel or resting place, meaning in the morning Franny had to be ferried back up the road to the previous day’s finishing point to ensure the mileage was correct.

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ABOVE: Franny on the sofa at last.

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ABOVE: Franny is welcomed to St Mary's by Saints fans.

During the three weeks there was no chance to turn on the TV, listen to the radio, or relax.

As for what the coming days hold, he doesn’t have an immediate answer.

He and Karen are going on holiday to visit friends in Malta – the same friends who surprised Franny by turning up at the Emirates stadium to meet him last Thursday – and after that, the future is unwritten.

Franny says: “I’m looking forward to the coming days and reflecting on it in more detail.

“As a whole, I will look on it as a positive experience and I’ll be looking at it in lots of different ways.

“There were things that happened which in a perfect world would have been a bit different, but when you undertake and complete a challenge of this scale, things are never going to go 100 per cent to plan.”

Physically, the challenge has taken a huge toll on his body, and he is unsure what the long-lasting effects will be.

He anticipates carrying on with some exercise to keep everything in working order and admits considered a run involving Champions League stadiums, while Luke suggested a trip to all 92 grounds in the top four divisions.

But - perhaps because he knows how much work his whole family put in to the endeavour - his laugh is a little nervous when it’s suggested that he might want to take on an even bigger task.

He says: “I will have some time to think on holiday and get my thoughts down and reflect back on it.

“I certainly won’t be rushing out to undertake another one.”