Forget a marathon, Sunderland supporter Eric Keeler is going above and beyond.
One of our own, 30-year-old Eric is currently running across America from East to West to raise funds for Spinal Research.
The colossal fundraising-effort is well underway, and he’s already clocked up an incredible 2,800 miles in just 142 days.
After starting on 29 April in Lubec, Maine on the Canadian border, Eric has been running past world-famous landmarks from Niagara Falls to the Great Lakes, as he travelled through Denver, Chicago and the Rockies en route to the Colorado-New Mexico border.
He hopes to complete his 4,000-mile journey in San Diego in early December, before returning to the north east to cheer on Jack Ross’ side with his father, Ken, who has followed the club for 49 years.
Eric, who covers around 50km every single day, attended his first match in February 1998 – a blizzard-stricken midweek fixture against Ipswich Town under the Wearside lights – and, like so many of us, he instantly fell in love with the Lads.
And he continues to keep up to date with the goals as they go in, following all the action on social media as he runs from state to state.
You can keep up with his astonishing efforts via his website, cornertocorner.run, and also support him in the best way possible by donating, no matter how small.
Every year, 1,000 people in the UK and Ireland are paralysed following an injury to their spinal cord, but thanks to such innovative research, paralysis can now be treated.
The charity receives no government funding, and this can only be achieved by donations, so people like Eric are going a long way – quite literally – to changing lives.
You can also keep up with Eric via his twitter, @C2C_USA.