Dragging yourself around the Auckland Domain for days sounds like a monumental challenge for anyone to overcome, but Matt Fenn's dedication to raising suicide prevention awareness was motivation enough.
Over six days, from last Tuesday to Monday, the 22-year-old ran lap after lap of the domain - completing 654km.
Fenn pledged to run the 654km to represent the 654 New Zealanders who lost their lives to suicide last year.
On Monday, the gruelling run came to an end. After having a few days to catch his breath, he told Newshub of how he pushed himself through the six days.
"After the third day, I think my body sort of adapted and it realised that this was what we were doing and this is the new normal, and I had to find a way to essentially adapt to survive."
He was driven to undertake the challenge as a result of his own struggles with mental illness, as well as witnessing families being torn apart by suicide.
"It wasn't just for the people who lost their lives to suicide but also the family members left behind," he says. "I guess I wanted to do something so that I could have a bit of an impact."
Fenn gave credit to the people who supported him throughout the journey. He says he had people around him the entire way.
"Throughout that week we think maybe over 1000 people came down - just total strangers came down to support and do laps with me. I didn't do a single lap alone - which is pretty cool especially when you think about doing them through the middle of the night.
"It was really really overwhelming, the amount of support - which is awesome.
"At the end of the day, I'm just going for a run and it's not about the running - it's about the impact we can try and have with it," Fenn told Newshub.
He says he found the most challenging part of the run was in the earlier stages.
"The first half of it was incredibly difficult in terms of … the internal issues - just having issues with urinary infections and excreting iron and not being able to go to the bathroom, and then obviously the tiredness aspect came into it.
At the end of day three, he was so sleep-deprived he was falling asleep whilst going around the laps running and had to be physically held up.
Fenn could move his feet forward but found it difficult to do anything else.
“I felt locked in - I was trying to speak but nothing came out."
The motivation to keep going came from the people around him, he says.
"Once we got over that hump it was a little bit easier - it's such a big task that you can't think of it as a distance, you've just got to think of it as 'I'm going to be out here for a week and you're just going to keep on going.'"
And keep on going he did - crossing the finish line at 6am on Monday.
So what's next for Fenn? While he doesn't think he'll attempt to bigger just yet, he wants to keep raising awareness.
"I've got some ideas of doing something really different - I definitely have ambitions to keep working in that space and finding new ways to improve that mental health landscape."
Where to find help and support:
- Shine (domestic violence) - 0508 744 633
- Women's Refuge - 0800 733 843 (0800 REFUGE)
- Need to Talk? - Call or text 1737
- What's Up - 0800 WHATS UP (0800 942 8787)
- Lifeline - 0800 543 354 or (09) 5222 999 within Auckland
- Youthline - 0800 376 633, text 234, email talk@youthline.co.nz or online chat
- Samaritans - 0800 726 666
- Depression Helpline - 0800 111 757
- Suicide Crisis Helpline - 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)
- Shakti Community Council - 0800 742 584
