By Alex Murashko

Like most people around the holidays, Malachi O’Brien is tending to his to-do list. On this particular day-before Thanksgiving, he’s picking up his daughter at the airport, getting a hard drive at Walmart, and doing that one more thing.

An out-of-the-ordinary one more thing.

O’Brien, who considers ultramarathon running as one of his biggest passions, plans to run his 48th consecutive daily ultramarathon Wednesday (11/23/22). An ultramarathon is any distance over 26.2 miles. He’s run that required distance and more every day for the last 47 days. 

His latest run will bring his running distance tally close to 1,300 miles over those days that began on October 7.

The obvious question: Why is he doing this?

His first, above the surface answer, is that he wants to break the Guinness World Record for men of consecutive days of ultramarathons, which is 60 days. But that’s not the only reason, O’Brien told Think Eternity.

“I feel called to do it by the Lord for Him. I want to raise awareness and highlight initiatives around two major causes,” he said. One of the causes is foster care and adoption. The other cause is youth mental health. 

O’Brien and his wife adopted a child last year that was in the foster care system his whole life.

“We saw firsthand what the toll was on a child and we saw how overwhelmed the system is,” he said. “We could end the adoption crisis in America from the foster side of things. There’s multiple ways to adopt children.

“This is something the church needs to do. The church has been called to care for the widows and orphans.”

O’Brien said that the biggest reason he desires to bring awareness to adoption and foster care is because of what he experienced as an adopted youth. “My birth mom died when I was 12 and I was adopted because my birth parents [suffered from] drugs and alcohol.”

He adds, “If the world saw the compassion that the church had towards children I definitely think that we can have a greater impact on the abortion situation. The impact would occur if people just saw that there are people ready to love at a greater level.”

The cause for helping youth in the area of mental health is also a personal one for the O’Brien family because one year ago, a daughter, who was 17 at the time, attempted to take her own life. “It opened our eyes drastically to the crisis, which is youth mental health. 

“I don’t think people fully realize the degree of the level of anxiety the next generation faces or the trauma that some of the next generation has gone through,” O’Brien said. 

There is a GoFundMe page associated with O’Brien’s journey towards the Guinness World Record and the associated causes. He states on the page: “My dad, who adopted me, passed away during the Covid Epidemic. He was always a huge encouragement and supporter of my dreams. I run every year in honor of him.”

When asked by Think Eternity about what his prayer times are like while running, he chuckled, “Dear Lord, help me for the next half mile.”

On the subject of gratitude (expressed during prayer), he quoted motivational speaker Tony Robbins:

“When you can change your expectations for appreciation, your world changes in a moment.”

O’Brien explains, “When I’m out there running and it’s hard, I just change [my outlook] and say, ‘Wow, Lord! Thank you that I get to do this. Thank you that I have a family to support me in this. Thank you for my team of supporters and so many people reaching out to me. Gratitude is everything.”

During his runs he says he likes to “get in my (his) thoughts” and listen to some podcasts.  Thanksgiving will be no different.

“I’m going to focus in on praying for my friends and send out a bunch of texts in the morning. People need to find ways to be grateful for who they are and what they’ve been given in their own individuality.”

He said, “I’m grateful for what God’s made me to be like. I’m grateful that I actually want to run today.”

UPDATE ON GUINNESS WORLD RECORD PURSUIT FOR CONSECUTIVE ULTRAMARATHONS

Alex Murashko leads the Thinke Writing Team and blogs at Media on Mission. Find him on various social media sites (@alexmurashko). GETTR username @MediaOnMission.