Jack Faint is not fainthearted. And, his story is definitely not for the fainthearted. Reading about it will bewilder you and a conversation with him will give you goosebumps and make you reach out for the reset button of your life. Now in his early 30s, Jack was 25 when he got diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour. While the news left him shaken, it couldn’t break his spirit and soon he set out for a “year-long journey across South America and India”. The journey to tap into his inner joy had begun. Soon he was running ultramarathons. On Jack’s CV are Ultra X Azores, 120km and Ultra X Jordan, 250km. He also ran 650km in 14 days across South Africa.
Hailing from the UK where he studied mathematics at The University of Manchester, Jack has been working for a start-up in the UK for three years. He took a sabbatical to complete one of the biggest challenges of his life — running across India, from the northernmost tip to the southernmost.
Jack successfully completed his challenge on November 12, running 3,788.9km in 74 days. Midway through the trip, we managed to speak to Jack. Throughout the conversation, he was running. At a brisk pace and always in the moment. Excerpts from our chat.
Let’s start with your India journey. How has it been?
The plan was to go from the northernmost tip of India, which was the Siachen Glacier in Ladakh, to the southernmost tip of India, which is Kanyakumari. So, we’ve been right down the middle of India.
It’s been incredibly special, very challenging moments, very beautiful moments. The Himalayas were very difficult physically. The Leh-Manali Highway was incredible and then, since we’ve come out of the Himalayas, been from Chandigarh, then to Delhi, then to Agra, down to Nagpur, through Hyderabad. I was in Hyderabad for Diwali. It was really special, and then, now heading towards Bengaluru, and then south to Kanyakumari.
We’ve had lots of support from Indian people. It’s been really special. Lots of community engagements. Been to some schools, and some press conferences, and, some community runs in different cities. It’s been really amazing to have such support from the people of India. I have a crew, a team with me that came over from the UK. So, there’s five of us. A couple of crew members have come and gone, and they could only come for a short period, so.
We have one crew member looking after nutrition, another crew member looking after, sort of, recovery, physical performance, and then one crew member looking after logistics and communications, and then another final crew member looking after content. So, we have daily updates on Instagram, and then we’re putting together a documentary afterwards.
You’ve been to India before, but this is extensive. What is it about the country that has struck you the most?
I mean, there’re many, many themes, I guess, of my journey. I first came to India in 2019-2020, just before Covid, just after I was diagnosed, and then went through quite a spiritual and personal transformation during my time in India, and spent some time around Kerala, in Goa, in Mumbai, in Rishikesh. I was in Calcutta. I went to Varanasi. So I went all over India, just experiencing the rich culture and traditions. I was here for four months. It changed my life. And that’s why, when I started doing ultramarathons and raising money doing ultramarathons around the world, I wanted to do something that honoured India, because it was a really special place for me in my journey.
Nobody’s ever gone from the most northern tip to the most southern tip. I think there’s been a few runners that have gone from Srinagar to Kanyakumari, but nobody had ever gone from the most northern tip, which was the Siachen Glacier in the Nubra Valley. So that was the aim, to perhaps do something that had never been done before, but also to help inspire people who were facing adversity, and that they can choose gratitude, love, and be able to see light in the darkness.
How did you prepare yourself mentally and physically for this challenge?
So, the past six years have been a rollercoaster, some very difficult times. The first couple of years was all about trying to understand who I could become in the face of this illness, and I had a lot of emotions to try and deal with, and a lot of, I guess, understanding about my situation. But then I started to use tools that I learned in India, like meditation, that helped me really start to control my own thoughts and develop a gratitude practice that helped me react in far more positive ways that had a really beneficial impact on my life.
So physically, to prepare for this challenge, it’s been many, many, many, many hours every week, every day, training, running in the gym, working with coaches. I have a running coach and a strength and conditioning coach. I’m from the UK, but I live in Cape Town in South Africa.
The pre-run preparation went on for around 18 months, a few years. I did a trial run in South Africa last year, so I ran 50km a day for 14 days to try and understand what it would take, and I learned a lot from that experience. I used that as a platform to learn and then carry on training, get myself ready for this. So, I work with some really talented coaches there to get me in the best possible condition. I’ve been running ultramarathons for around three or four years, so I’ve done some big races around the world, which has helped me understand physically what it takes to prepare. And then, mentally, I think the hardest part of the journey was getting to the start line, to be honest.
It takes a huge amount of commitment, dedication to put a project like this together. Trying to raise money, trying to manage a full-time job, while trying to put a project like this together was really difficult. I actually didn’t think too much about the running component and how challenging it would be physically. It was more just trying to, day by day, just focus on small outcomes of what I needed to do to get the project to the start line and how I could prepare my body physically. My body has responded far, far better than what I ever could have imagined. I’ve had a couple of minor injuries, but most of the days, every morning when I wake up, I don’t have any injuries or soreness. I’ve been running 50, 60, 70km in a day, so the human body’s ability to be able to adapt and recover has surprised me.
What is a typical day in your life like now?
So, I wake up every day at 5am. I’m normally on the road by 5.30-6am. And I always have some food, so it’s normally some overnight oats or just a simple bowl of cereal and then a coffee. So, one of the team makes me a coffee and then I’ll have some treatment if I need any. So, I’ve had some issues with my toes, tt’s because it’s been so hot and sweaty. There’s been a lot of rubbing and chafing, so I might put some cream or Vaseline or any tape in anywhere that needs it and then I’ll hit the road. And then typically I try and get between 40 and 45km done before lunch. What that consists of is typically having a break every seven to 10km or five to 10km. And that break sometimes is just a few mouthfuls of food and a quick drink of water or electrolytes and then keep on moving. My team then goes ahead to the next stop five, seven, eight km later. That continues throughout the day, so I’ll have a team that will support me throughout the day. Maybe if I have time, I’ll have a sleep at lunch. And then I go back out in the afternoon, as I have done now, to finish off for the day.
(Meal) is just simple pasta, whether it’s berries and cream and granola and oats and just really simple foods, trying to get as much calories in me as possible. Paneer, chicken, trying to get some protein if I can. One of my teammates actually made a Shahi Paneer today, which was really nice.
The only way that I would stop running was if I got sick. And we’re running along mainly National Highway 44, which intersects pretty much the whole of India, right down the middle. We didn’t want to risk perhaps eating in somewhere that might make us a little sick.
Is recovery different in your case, because of the condition, or is it mostly the same as any other athlete’s recovery?
Same as any other athlete’s, really. I mean, yeah, there’s many different practices that can really help with the prevention of tumours growing. So, things like fasting and many other things that are starting to prove to have really great benefits. So, when it comes to performance recovery, it’s mainly similar to how elite athletes recover. But, yeah, once the run is finished, I’ll be switching my focus and sort of dedicating my practice on how to recover my health as best as possible.
When you told your doctors that you’re packing your bag and you’re going for this trip, what did they tell you?
I didn’t tell them! I had an idea of what they might say and I have a very strong instinct and understanding of my own body and my health. So, yeah, I have a very strong intuition to what I can and cannot do, and I knew that I could accomplish this challenge.
Were you always mentally this strong?
I’ve definitely developed more resilience through the years. I think I’ve always been somebody who, if a bad situation would happen, I’d react proactively rather than emotionally, so I’d always try and rationalise the situation and just try and find quickly the best outcome or best way to react, but that’s definitely heightened over the years. I’ve had some dark moments. I’ve suffered with depression on a couple of occasions and battled emotionally many times with my illness, but over the past few years I’ve moved into just a general state of gratitude and joy, which has been really helpful in my journey.
How has your life view changed ever since you got diagnosed?
My life’s changed in many, many ways. I guess I think it’s important always to know that we only get one opportunity at life. So that’s been a real key thing that I’m always acutely aware of and I think most people don’t think about it, but every morning, this morning, you and I both woke up one day closer to death than we did yesterday. And that is the same for everybody.
I’ve just been told that it may happen in a certain way, it might not. So, I’ve been given, I guess, the gift of understanding that fact. I feel in many ways very, very grateful because it’s been my greatest teacher. It’s taught me how to be more present. It’s taught me how to value things like nature, many things. And I’ve learned many, many skills to develop my own resilience and I’ve also had some really incredible experiences because of my diagnosis. I wouldn’t be running the length of India if I wasn’t diagnosed. That’s quite a special thing to think about.
Do you think the limitations are in our minds and it’s only us who limit ourselves, really?
Yeah, I mean, you’re right. As humans, we put limitations on what we’re capable of. I had an idea two-and-a-half years ago to run the length of India and most people thought I was a bit crazy or mad or didn’t think that it possibly could be done and it was just an idea. And then it’s taken two-and-a-half years of pure dedication to make that dream a reality but also bring a lot of other people onto that journey. There’s a whole team and crew behind me who’ve been unbelievable. They have been passionate about putting this project together and helped in many, many ways. People always need that push in the right direction to start that business, to take steps towards achieving that goal no matter what situation that they’re in.
What are your Indian food favourites?
Indian food has always been one of my favourites, whether it’s Tandoori Chicken or whether it’s paneer dishes. It can be vindaloo, it can be kormas, it can be lots of masalas. Biryani in Hyderabad was really good. England’s not short of Indian restaurants, so I’ve experienced a lot over the years, but obviously my time in India, I managed to try a lot of authentic food. My favourite food is in the South.
Do you have a favourite Indian location?
I mean, the Himalayas speak for itself. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. All around Ladakh, it was incredible. Rural India… remote villages were really special. The wildlife there was thriving, and we were running through villages where they’d never seen a white or Western person before, so really special experiences. And going to a few schools and interacting with some of the communities there was really wonderful.
What are your other hobbies?
I’m a big Liverpool fan. Big football fan. I used to read a lot. I’ve not had much time in the past year or so, but I’m looking forward to getting back into reading. I enjoy good food. I enjoy a strong community. Being in nature, whether it’s swimming. Cape Town is a very beautiful place and has a lot of places to immerse yourself in nature, so that’s something that my partner and I do quite a lot. I love music.
Do you see yourself doing more of these runs?
Right now, I’m in the moment. I’m an adventurist at heart, so I know in 2026, when I’m mainly focusing on my health and recovering and spending time with my partner and perhaps planning some adventures together, I’m sure an idea will arise, but it has to be meaningful and purposeful and aligned with what I want to do.
How are you refocusing as to what you want to do with the rest of your life?
It’s all about a few things. I mean, it’s spending time with loved ones, establishing a community that you care for, but also trying to leave a lasting impact on people and the planet. So it’s sort of a combination of splitting your time between endeavours that you feel can have a positive contribution to the earth and people around you, and then also saving some time to have some wonderful experiences and create a family…. There are so many incredible things that this planet and the people around us can offer, so it’s about trying to learn what’s important to you, I guess.