It was at the historic Edwardian-era Flinders Street Station in Melbourne where Jack Faint had the accident that would upend his life. “March 2019. I was cycling to work one morning when I had a seizure,” says the British ultramarathoner, who is currently attempting to traverse the 4,000-kilometre-long stretch between the mountains of Ladakh and Kanyakumari on shank’s mare.
He fell off his bike and collapsed right outside the station, waking up in the hospital with a nasty gash under his eye and no recollection of what had happened. “They just said that they were going to do a CT scan and wait for the results,” says Jack, who passed through Bengaluru on his 61st day of running.
The results of the scan came back, and they were not good: a spot at the back of his brain that required further investigation. It turned out to be an oligodendroglioma, “a slow-growing brain tumour that accounts for 2-5% of all primary brain tumours,” he says, with a wry laugh.
“If you can have a good brain tumour diagnosis, this is probably one of the better ones since it is not particularly aggressive and grows slowly.”
When he heard this news, Jack, who was only 25 back then, remembers turning to his neurosurgeon and asking her what he could do to have a positive outcome with this diagnosis. “In that moment, my neurosurgeon took off her doctor’s hat and put on her human hat…saw a young man that needed help, a change in his life.”
She told him to limit drinking, stop smoking, move to a more plant-based organic diet and start meditating, “a complete holistic lifestyle change.”
Reeling with fear and grief, he packed his bags and began travelling — to South America for six months, followed by another four in India, where he visited Mumbai, Kerala, Chennai, Puducherry, Kolkata, Varanasi, Agra, Rishikesh and Jaipur.
“A lot of the tools that I learned on that trip to India, like meditation and breathwork, became some of the most important practices of my life, helping me deal with the uncertainty of the diagnosis, cultivate a sense of gratitude and see things in a far more positive light.”
A healthier lifestyle
When he returned home to Cheshire in Northwest England, Jack began embracing a healthier lifestyle, which included CrossFit and running. He steadily built up mileage, starting with 5K and 10K runs before graduating to half and full marathons.
“When I travelled around the world, the first thing I would do when I landed in a new city was to put on my shoes on and go for a run,” says Jack, who, like the writer Haruki Murakami, thinks of the sport as a form of meditation.
Born to Run, by American author and journalist Christopher McDougall, argues that humans are inherently built for endurance running
In early 2021, he participated in the Goggins Challenge, a popular endurance event founded by retired U.S. Navy SEAL, author, and motivational speaker David Goggins. As part of the challenge, participants run four miles every four hours for 48 hours, and are encouraged to raise money for a charity of their choice by creating personalised fundraising campaigns.
“It was amazing. We ended up raising about £17,000-18,000 for The Brain Tumour Charity in the UK,” says Jack, who feels that this challenge was a bit of a turning point. “I realised that running could be a real vehicle for change.”
Soon after, at an Ayurvedic retreat in Sri Lanka in January 2022, he stumbled across Born to Run by American author and journalist Christopher McDougall, a bestseller that argues humans are inherently built for endurance or ultra-running.
“I remember putting that book down, and within about 30 minutes, I had booked an ultramarathon,” says Jack. He started with an 80 kilometre race in the UK in April 2022, followed by other “huge races in 2023”: 120 kilometre across the islands of Azores and a 250 kilometer race across Jordan’s Wadi Rum desert, “one of the most special experiences I’ve ever had.”
India calling
Jack and his team
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
The Jordan run got him thinking about running the length of India, a country that had played a significant role in his healing journey. “But I also knew that before I took on something as big as this, I needed to test myself,” says Jack, who had moved to Cape Town by then, after meeting his now-girlfriend on a trip to South Africa’s legislative capital.
He began working with “some very talented” coaches, training hard at the gym and spending a lot of time running on the road. In April, he completed a 650 kilometre run along the coast of South Africa in 14 days, which he considers a trial run for the longer one in India. “I learnt a lot: about logistics, organisation, about my body and what I needed to improve.”
Jack would spend the next year and a half prepping for his run in India, taking a few months to recover from an injury before jumping into training. He also had to think about financing the run, drawing on his own savings, his parents’ savings, and a few small sponsors to get started.
“We also have a GoFundMe that people have been donating to. We are still a little short, but I always knew that this was a financial gamble worth taking for many reasons,” says Jack, who intends to raise money for two charities, the UK-based Brains Trust and Indian former cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s YouWeCan. “Every single penny that we don’t need, after the bills are paid, will be split equally between those two charities.
Jack kick-started the run, throwing himself wholeheartedly into it, despite encountering a logistical challenge at the very beginning. “Ladakh experienced the worst rains in 55 years, and some roads in Himachal Pradesh got washed away,” he recalls. This meant that the two camper vans in which Jack and his team were supposed to sleep and cook were stuck at Mandi, nearly 600 kilometres away. And the only way to get to them was to run through the mountains.
“So we hired two local taxi drivers, piled all of our belongings into taxis, and stayed in homestays,” he says. Despite the challenges, however, the run was worth it, in his opinion. “Because the roads were so damaged, we were literally the only people in the Himalayas, going through the most beautiful valleys you’ve ever been, which is rare in August and September, a very touristy time,” he says. “Even though it was challenging, we were blessed to have that experience of the Himalayas.”
Ahead of his schedule
Jack is now looking forward to the next chapter of his life
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
On most days, Jack begins running at around 5 am and continues until around 11 or 12 pm to “try and get a marathon, 45 kilometres, in before lunch.” Then, after taking a break, he returns late in the afternoon or early evening to cover another 10 or 15 kilometres. “The baseline started to become 55-60 kilometres a day,” says Jack, who initially planned to take around 80 days to get through the 4,000 kilometres, pacing himself at 50 kilometres a day and is now ahead of schedule. And this is despite being stopped frequently in the middle of the highway by people wanting to take a selfie, he admits with a grin. “There has been a lot of curiosity, but the reception has always been one of warmth, of interest. We’ve had no negative experiences at all from the people of India.”
He credits a large part of his success so far to his team, including his performance coach Jordan Fairclough, his good friend and head of logistics, Fred Reid, and another friend, Daniel Robinson, who is in charge of nutrition. “As a team together, I think we are the perfect group to celebrate what modern masculinity should be. We act stupid, have fun and are silly, but in the next breath, we are crying and holding space for each other.”
He also has an incredible support system, in his girlfriend and family, all of whom will be there waiting for him in Kanyakumari when he arrives in about 10 days or so. “It feels like the end of a chapter, and I am quite excited for the next chapter, whatever it is going to bring,” says Jack, with a smile. “I think it is going to be equally challenging and beautiful.”
