26-year-old running across Canada makes it past southeast Manitoba

A young man is running all the way across Canada raising money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, and is currently in Manitoba.  

The run will take him 99 days to complete, and he is running 75 km every single day. 

He started the run in St. John's, NL, on April 1, and will be finishing in Victoria, BC, on July 7. 

26-year-old Ryan Keeping shares why he started this run across Canada.

“Obviously, it was inspired by Terry Fox. I believe he's the greatest Canadian of all time. What I always like to say in life is, it doesn't really matter how long you live, but you can make a huge impact if you live true to your heart, and you get out there, and you do what you know you got to do. And he's a great example of just determination and guts.” 

Keeping adds that the cause also hits close to home. 

“Multiple members of my family have heart disease, so I thought it was a fitting cause. We've been having fun, these are long days, but we really enjoy it.” 

He says the people he has met on his journey from province to province have been super supportive. 

“It's been absolutely incredible, it feels like the whole country is behind me. I'm getting so many messages, and even right now, we're running into Winnipeg and I probably have ten people out here running with me. I can't thank people enough for the support.” 

The run takes up Keeping’s entire day, every day. 

He wakes up around 5am to eat breakfast, starts running at 6am, and then breaks up the run by doing three 25km runs each day. 

Normally his day ends between 8pm-9pm.  

“They're really busy days, they're full, but we love doing it.” 

Originally, Keeping’s fundraising goal was $100,000, but it’s already been hit, so he has updated the goal to $250,000 on GoFundMe.

As for his plans after this run, Keeping plans to keep the momentum going. 

“I like to say the journey's never done, especially now that I have an audience on social media. I know this is my life now and I'm going to be continuing to do really hard runs like this, and just trying to motivate and inspire people, meet as many people as I possibly can.” 

Throughout this journey, Keeping has adopted the catchphrase, “flip the switch”. 

“Flip the switch is just a mindset. Say you're tired and you gotta go do something, flip the switch, go into a different mindset and go do whatever you know you gotta do.” 

He encourages people to get active, flip the switch, and take part in physical activity. 

“I believe you get out for a run, a bike ride, a swim, a walk, anything, it will make you a better person. It’s good for your mental health also. Flip the switch and get out and do some sort of physical activity, and really, just be kind and be nice to people, it’s so easy.” 

 

With files from Corny Rempel