Racing the Planet to answer existential questions and battle depression; ultra-runner’s 250km mission of discovery
- Joshua Campanella is running a 250km stage race in Georgia, after Covid-19 forces him to reckon with existential questions about his capabilities and vices
- The 250km Georgia race, by Racing The Planet, takes place over six days in June
A coronavirus lockdown and restrictions in Singapore forced Joshua Campanella to re-evaluate his own ambitions and limits. Now, the self-proclaimed cardio-hater is about to run 250km over six days in Georgia.
“We all face that existential crisis of, what am I doing with my life, am I achieving what I want? We mask what makes us uncomfortable about ourselves with vices – drinking, smoking or something else,” the Singapore based-Canadian Campanella said.
“But the pandemic exposed a lot of people. Mental health has always been an issue. I feel like the reason why it was exacerbated during the pandemic, was that everything before was go go go. But once the world stopped we were faced with looking at ourselves in the mirror and saying ‘I’m not OK’.”
Campanella suffers from depression and general anxiety disorder. The 34-year-old was a smoker and drinker, all as a “mask” for his struggles. He was into weight training, and during lockdown started running. He could not run 1km. He slowly improved, and aimed for 5km.
“A lot of people were complaining about lockdown and restrictions. People were saying it wasted years of their life. I decided, how do I take this opportunity to reflect and change some of the things I was unhappy with,” said Campanella, who works in the advertising department at the South China Morning Post.
Campanella stopped drinking for six months, aside from one night out where a hangover reaffirmed his commitment to quitting. He started a 75-day challenge, which required him to do two 45 minute sessions a day for 75 days. One of the sessions was a 45 minute walk.
During his walks he added in press-ups at various intervals. He started with just 10, but after three weeks he could do 210 over his 45 minute walk. Then he managed 350. He added a weight vest and dropped back to 210 pounds.
