Credit: Special Arrangement
British runner Jack Faint, who was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour at 25, is on a running expedition of roughly 4,000 km from Siachen to Kanyakumari. He is expected to reach Bengaluru in two days.
He has been running for about 60 days and aims to complete the expedition in the next 13 days, ahead of schedule. “I run anywhere between 50 and 80 km a day. I pace myself at 6 to 7 km per hour for 7 to 10 hours each day,” he tells Metrolife.
Faint, from Cheshire in North-West England, was diagnosed with oligodendroglioma, a rare brain tumour, in 2019 after a seizure led to a hospital visit. When given the options of a biopsy, surgery, or regular monitoring, he instead chose to travel the world and discovered a passion for long-distance running.
To prepare for the run, he trained five to six days a week, focusing not only on endurance but also on adapting to varied weather conditions. “The preparation was challenging — not just physically, but also in managing the logistics of the event while balancing my full-time job,” says the 31-year-old, who works for a British tech startup.
He found it particularly tough to run through the high altitudes of the Himalayas and the heat of the Haryana-Agra plains. With “less traffic”, he says, he found the southern regions easier to navigate. He first visited India during the pandemic. The four months he spent here, he says, deepened his connection to the country.