A highly motivated man has impressed people with his journey from being bullied for his weight to completing difficult challenges – and he recently went viral for running 118 miles with a friend
A young man has stunned people after spending 25 hours running from London to Birmingham – he dubbed the experience as “crazy”.
It’s that time of year when many of us have set new fitness goals or want to improve our diet as the new year has begun. Often it is not easy, and keeping motivated can be challenging, but it can be done. One man who has proved that is Rodrick Ekechi. The 22-year-old has been sharing his journey on social media lately – admitting that he had been overweight for the majority of his life and it impacted his daily life, including bullying while at school.
Rodrick decided something needed to change and he has gone from being unhappy with his physique to rocking abs and sculpted arms. Rodrick said: “I got tired of living with those problems and I was just tired of being tired and one day I just pushed myself and said I’m going to change no matter what. It starts today.”
Recently, he has been challenging himself to long distance runs – and he impressively ran 118 miles from Euston, London to Birmingham. He filmed the experience – which he conducted with a friend – and raked in two million views on TikTok.
The pair trained for a month beforehand but still found the experience challenging. “We’re going to get there by all means possible – no matter what,” Rodrick said as they set off.
“This is the maddest thing I’ve ever done,” he added. The pair walked when they were tired and stopped for breaks to drink water or energy drinks and enjoy some snacks. Rodrick said their strategy was to go at their steadiest and slowest pace so they could last for the entire journey through Euston, Luton, Milton Keynes, Coventry, and eventually Birmingham.
At times, they struggled while running near roads and even found that one pavement cut off in the road, so they were left running right by cars.
Mid journey, they issued an update and said: “So this is where is gets a bit tricky, we’re literally on the motorway right now walking, trying to find a way to get through. But, we have to make it by any means possible.”
Plus, the pair also used torches to help with visibility in the dark and they battled with whether to give up or continue. Rodrick said: “We had to try to use less energy and think tactically, it’s not about how fast we get there but we just need to get there.
“By the end of it, there was a feeling you can’t really explain but I felt so good, it was the craziest thing that I’ve ever done in my life.”
Commenting on the viral video, one individual said: “This is mind blowing, well done.” One other wrote: “The mental strength and discipline to do this! You deserve some sort of recognition or award because wow!”
Another impressed individual said: “I can’t even do 20 mins on stair master, accolades to you.” “I can’t even run for the bus,” another laughed.
The passionate man hopes to inspire others to take on challenges like him. In summer he plans to take on a challenge of running to another country in Europe.
