An average Singaporean walks about 5,674 steps a day. That's about 4.3km, according to a Singapore government site.
This means that the average Singaporean would have walked the full length of a 42.195km marathon in roughly 10 days.
42.2km, however, is the exact distance that a 27-year-old man has decided to cover every single day in the month of November 2023.
And he's not doing it just for fun, but for a fundraiser for mental health.
30-days of full-length marathons
Speaking to Mothership, Kieran Benson said the decision to run 42.2km a day was not a spur of the moment decision.
In fact, the daily marathon is part of the personal trainer's five-year ultra-endurance challenge to build up his stamina in preparation to summit Mount Everest before the age of 30.
The challenge began in 2020, when Kieran ran 100km in the span of 15 hours and 13 minutes, followed by running the 100km Ultra Trail Australia in 2021.
In 2022, Kieran participated in his first official triathlon at the Ironman Triathlon organised by the World Triathlon Corporation.
Participants of the Ironman would have to swim 3.9km, cycle a distance of 180.2km, and run a 42.2km marathon. The triathlon covers a total distance of 226.3km.
Two months after participating in the Ironman, Kieran ran in a 102-mile (164km) trail race.
"This year my plan was to run a 200-mile (322km) race. But I moved to Singapore, which isn't a very good training ground for 200-mile," Kieran said.
The personal trainer decided to be creative and chose to do a long yet consistent 30 days of a full-length marathon each day instead.
Image via Kieran Benson
Running together
When asked about his running routes, Kieran divulged that he has seven different running routes to spice things up a little.
The routes include running along Kallang River, as well as in River Valley, Marina Bay, at Marina Barrage, Bedok Reservoir, and the national stadium.
"My favourite of the routes has been Bedok Reservoir," Kieran shared.
The reason? Because many people joined his run on that route.
Kieran shared that many have reached out to join him in his run since he embarked on his marathon journey.
"Most times they join for 8km to 14km [out] of the 42.2km I’m running," shared Kieran. "But it is still very much appreciated and helps start the run on a nice note."
Image via Kieran Benson
Image via Kieran Benson
Image via Kieran Benson
Fundraising
Despite seemingly ready to face any physical challenges, the personal trainer divulged that running a 42.2km marathon daily for a whole month was a "very big scary challenge", which caused him "stress and anxiety before and during" the actual event.
Making his annual endurance challenge a little more special this year, Kieran decided to do his very first fundraiser — he will be running while raising funds for the Singapore Association for Mental Health (SAMH).
In his campaign drive, Kieran offered a form of connection between the endurance challenge and dealing with mental health.
"Through running and endurance exercise I've been able to push myself through many ups and downs and come out stronger than before," Kieran wrote.
"By embracing challenge and gritting through the downs we can build mental resilience and health."
Kieran shared that anchoring the challenge with a fundraiser has given him some confidence and motivation to succeed every day.
"Mental health itself is very important to me as I’ve experienced my highs and lows, and I’m sure everyone in my life has also. From family, friends, clients or the people I pass by on the streets.
So if I’m not there to support them at a time of need, I’d like to know there is a support system for them to reach out to and that I’ve done my best to help that happen."
You can follow Kieran's daily marathon journey here.
Top image via Kieran Benson