University student, Rodrick Ekechi, embraced a new fitness goal to run from London to Birmingham after a month’s worth of training.
The 22-year-old says on his page that had been overweight for the majority of his life and as a result was dealing with daily problems while experiencing a period of bullying in secondary school.
He 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.”
@rkfitnessss Running from London to Birmingham🏃🏾♂️,this was a mad one guys ibr 🤧 @Under Armour @Gymshark @Nike @adidas @PUMA.UK Shoutout to my boy for finishing the run with me 🙌🏾🔥 @Ultra YC #run #marathon #fyp #viral #motivation #fyppp ♬ original sound – rkfitnessss
At 19 and 20-years-old, he documented his run from Enfield to Croydon and after receiving a private message from a supporter, Rodrick thought it was time to do “something different” and had the idea to run to Birmingham.
He embarked on the challenge with his supporter, Yuri Carvalho, 31, and filmed and edited a cinematic piece which received over two million views on TikTok.
He said: “This was the hardest thing that I’ve ever done in my life so I was quite scared but I told myself, just keep going.”
The journey started from London Euston, through Luton, Milton Keynes and Coventry, the pair used torches to help with visibility in the dark and struggled with a mental battle on whether to give up or continue.
Ekechi 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.”
He hopes to inspire others to achieve their fitness goals and use the same mentality to better their overall well-being.
In the summer season he plans to take on a bigger challenge of running from London to another country in Europe.
