James Mwaura proved no human is limited when he became the first Kenyan to run for 956 kilometres in 14 days.
With the hope of raising funds and awareness against congenital heart disease Mwaura embarked on a race from Kisumu to Nairobi.
According to Mwaura, he has been doing professional sports for 10 years including triathlon and duathlon. In 2021, he became the Kenyan duathlon champion.
“I am an extraordinary person, the idea crossed my mind when I did the national duathlon championship when we finished the event, I had the privilege of interacting with the children with heart conditions. I mentioned the idea of running an extreme distance in order to raise awareness against congenital heart diseases,” he said.
“When I mentioned that I wanted to do 2000 kilometres, people were a bit sceptical I was later introduced to Care for a Child’s Heart (CFACH) and things got rolling,” he added.
For such an extreme sport, it took him one and a half years to prepare for the marathon and achieve his target of running from Kisumu to Mombasa in 10 days.
He recalls waking up at 3am to exercise. “I have about 200 mandatory burpees, run about 15 kilometres and swim about 5 to 10 kilometres daily,” he said
Mwaura says getting to the finish line in Mombasa after 14 days of extreme running was very emotional, being the first person to run from Kisumu to Mombasa, he had to endure all that pain throughout. Mwaura battled injuries including pain in his knees heels and shins. This meant he had to take breaks in between.
“I had planned to do the ran in 10 days, 100 km every day, but my knees started aching in Kericho and I had some complications that would not allow me to achieve that. We had an accident in Bomet, chased by elephants in Tsavo we also had an encounter with lions,” he said
He wanted to raise Ksh10 million but managed to raise Ksh130,000.
“The most important thing is that we raised awareness about congenital heart condition. I was at the finish line which means pain is temporary. I conquered 956 kilometres. I also conquered myself physically, emotionally and spiritually,” he said.
