28th May 2024

The man who ran the entire tube map to smash the stigma around struggling

Name: Campaign Against Living Miserably
Price range: $

For most of us, just looking at the London Underground map is exhausting. Not Jonny. He’s decided to run the entire length of the London Underground for CALM. That’s a whopping 350-mile-plus ultramarathon in just 11 days. He took on this huge task to help smash the stigma around struggling and to raise money for our life-saving services.

When it comes to running, Jonny munches massive miles on the reg as a way to look after his head, but this challenge was hardcore even for him. There was a heatwave to battle, tummy troubles along the way and even a disagreement with Heathrow security guards, not to mention the aches and pains that came with running from sunrise to sunset. Here’s Jonny’s highlights from his mega challenge.

There was a good reason behind Jonny taking on such a huge feat. He wanted to use running - the thing that helps his mental wellbeing - to raise money for CALM. But along the way, his ultramarathon became just as much about connecting with his community as it did raising money. Jonny says:

“A lot of people are struggling with the cost of living crisis, and many young people are struggling with mental health challenges. I’ve seen firsthand how lonely a lot of people are these days, especially in cities like London, where it can be really isolating. The work CALM does is so important, but I also know it requires a lot of manpower and support financially to have those services available."

“I’ve been in the fortunate position where I’ve had people around me to help me through difficult times and a lot of people don’t have that. Running’s helped my mental health so much, so it felt like a good way to give back to anyone who might not have support from people to help them through difficulties.”

During his run, Jonny was joined by loads of supporters, hopping on and off their local tube to run for as long or as little as they wanted. Seeing Jonny share so many vulnerable moments also encouraged people to chat about stuff they were facing.

“With the tube being so accessible and me running from station to station, I was really easy to find. I had a live tracker on and was running at a reasonable pace where most people could stick with me. It meant I had some amazing conversations with people about their mental health. I think because I was in quite a vulnerable position, the challenge created a comfortable place for people to talk about the challenges they faced.”

A run like this is never without hurdles, and Jonny came across some pretty big ones. When he planned his run for September, Jonny had bargained on some cooler weather to make his challenge a bit more manageable, but the weather had other things planned.

“I thought we’d have longer days and the heat wouldn’t be as high, but then we had four heatwaves where it was above 30 degrees. I had to adjust to that with a lot of ice-cold water over my head every twenty or thirty minutes to keep me cool. We would start running at four in the morning so we could get as many miles in before the real heat of the day. Some days I was running 14 hours from sunrise to sunset. You have to get as many miles in early so you’ve got the rest of the day to rest, recover and refuel.”

On the final day of the challenge, Jonny ran an incredible 92k. He kicked off at midnight to make sure any supporters could join the last leg in the daylight. Compared to all the hard stuff Jonny had faced along the way, the last day was a breeze and he was carried along by the amazing atmosphere of hundreds of runners supporting him.