A young man who is set to study a master’s degree at Oxford University will have been spotted by many motorists as he ran hundreds of miles along a busy A-road.
Viet-Anh Tran, 22, rarely exercised before he moved to the UK to study computer science at the University of Bristol but he found running really helped his mental health.
During Mr Tran’s university degree, he ran 2,000 miles along a single A-road and during an ultra-marathon, which took over 16 hours, he said he “recognised every single pebble”.
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The marathon took place along the Portway in Bristol from Harbourside to Sea Mills station and he ran nine laps in total.
As part of his training towards the marathon, Mr Tran was running the route for up to three hours each evening.
He said: “Running was completely new to me at the beginning, and I was really terribly slow.
“Doing something unusual and unfamiliar helped me believe that there’s more to me than I thought.
“It started to really help my mental health, so I just kept going.”
Mr Tran grew up in a Vietnamese expat family in Romania.
Initially, Mr Tran was predicted poor grades so he was rejected from every university he applied for.
Instead, he spent six months hitchhiking 3,000 miles from Amsterdam to Armenia – living cheap, sleeping rough and learning from the hundreds of people he met.
After achieving top grades, he applied to the University of Bristol after hearing about it from fellow travellers in Turkey.
He did his ultramarathon as part of the Bristol Run Series – virtual running events organised by the university that anyone can take part in.
On the day of the ultramarathon, he began running at 6am and did not stop until 10pm, burning nearly 10,000 calories along the way.
He said: “When I finished, I was in disbelief and very proud of myself.
“Initially my body felt ok, and then every step started hurting.
“My friend came to join me at the finish, so I used their electric scooter to get around.
“Running really changed my life.
"Out there I had to be alone with my thoughts, I had to face things head on – and I learned to love myself.”
Matt Birch, director of sport, exercise and health at Bristol University, said: “Viet-Anh’s journey from a non-runner to an ultra marathon finisher is massively impressive, and it’s fantastic to see what an impact it’s had on his mental health."
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