Nicholas Brady is running 40 kilometres a day for 40 days to raise money for John Hunter Children's Hospital - and fried chicken is helping to sustain him.
He initially considered running 40 kilometres to mark his 40th birthday, but he'd done that before.
"I thought 'that's not really that badass'," he said.
So he embarked on the 40-day challenge, with the aim of running close to a marathon a day and raising $40,000 for the hospital.
"There's obviously something wrong with me," he quipped.
When he first had the "crazy, hare-brained idea to do the run, I pitched it to a couple of friends".
They suggested he raise money for a charity, given the monumental nature of the challenge.
His friends felt people would get behind it, but he wasn't sure what to raise money for.
"I'm blessed that I've never been adversely affected by anything," he said.
And none of his family had health issues that would have steered him towards a particular cause.
"So I thought about it. My two kids are the most important things in my life. I thought, 'what if they were terminal and in John Hunter?'
"My wife is also a midwife. She works in the John Hunter's NICU [neonatal intensive care unit]."
He sees how hard she and others work at the hospital, so he chose this as his cause.
Having started the run on April 8, he had planned to finish on his birthday on Thursday.
But injuries caused him a small delay, so he now plans to finish on Saturday.
"My physio was worried I had some sort of stress fracture in my shin," he said.
"I had an MRI, but it came back clear."
He's also battled pain in his leg bones and tendons, which have required cortisone injections.
"I stopped doing so many hills," he said.
He's raised about $13,700 so far, but is competitive and wants to hit his target.
"It would have been smarter to go for a more achievable target, but I shoot for the stars," he said.
Despite the extraordinary nature of the challenge, Mr Brady said "I'm not a runner".
However, he noted that "when you're boxing you tend to do a lot of running".
He started boxing eight years ago, after quitting drinking.
"I swapped one habit for another," he said.
A number of people are expected to run with him on Saturday.
He plans to end the run at Newcastle Hotel, in Islington, where he is general manager, and do a 40-kilometre treadmill run there on Friday night.
He also owns the Newy Fried Chicken business inside the pub, which he has used to keep his calories up. As well as the fried chicken, burgers, tenders and potato and gravy have been nourishing him.
"There's been a lot of guilt-free gorging happening after the runs, I'll tell you that much," he said.
"At the end of runs, I'm just trying to get calories in. I've been having 3500 to 4000 calories a day, maybe more.
"I've lost about five kilograms through the campaign."
To see more stories and read today's paper download the Newcastle Herald news app here.
