All roads lead to the USA – Ben Smith

In 2015 Ben Smith embarked on a challenge, running 401 marathons in 401 days, to raise incredible sums of money for anti-bullying charities. Ben caught up with Ultrarunner Magazine ahead of his next challenge, running and cycling 14,000-miles across 50 states in the USA, to talk about the message behind the miles.

Having been raised within a supportive and loving environment, Ben was living an exciting life, traveling the world with his family on one big adventure, before having it all taken away at the age of ten. Alone in a UK boarding school Ben would face some of his most difficult years before the age of 18, leading to an attempt on his own life. Hiding his true self from the world, out of fear, his mental health deteriorated, and his lifestyle choices lead to a Transient ischaemic attack (TIA) at 29. Through running, Ben found a new bravery to live life on his own terms and determined to use his experiences to help other people, the 401 foundation was born!

“Growing up in a military family, life was pretty exciting! I was travelling around the globe, visiting different countries and immersing myself in culture, learning new languages and meeting new people. Along with my parents and my brother, I spent the first ten years of my life exploring the world as part of one big family adventure. Unfortunately, as I turned ten years old, all of that changed when I had to leave my family behind in Germany and go to a school in Nottingham, UK.”

At that time, in 1992, I had no idea what to expect. I did not know what a boarding school was (Harry Potter wasn’t a ‘thing’ back then) and I walked in without any real idea of what I was to expect. It turned out to be a completely different reality from anything that I had ever experienced in my life up to that point.

On arrival, while we all spoke English, we may as well have been speaking different languages. I had not come from a particularly materialistic family, and when I got to the school and met the kids, I found that all they really cared about were the cars that their dads drove, the money that their families had, the clothes that they wore and all the other things that I had never thought about. There was a real barrier between us, and it was not long until they picked up on that.