British lad goes viral running mile every day for mental health

British teenager Marcus Skeet is taking social media by storm for running a mile each day in support of mental health awareness.

16-year-old Marcus Skeet has raised over £3,036 ($3802.29) for Mind (NAMH), a nonprofit organization based in London that focuses on mental health.

Skeet, known online as ‘thehullboy,’ started his campaign in April 2024, running a mile every day to “spread awareness and try [to] raise money for mental health.”

As told by the description on his GoFundMe page, Skeet claims that he’s lost friends due to their struggles with mental health and has even had family members experience difficulties, as well as undergoing his own battle with depression.

“It’s always been a mission of mine to spread as much awareness for mental health as possible and try [to] help others out,” he said.

Over the last month, Skeet has gone viral across Twitter/X thanks to posting his daily runs on the social media platform, racking up millions of views and tens of thousands of likes per post.

At the end of April, Skeet linked up with English endurance athlete ‘The Hardest Geezer’ Russ Cook, a man famous for running across the entire length of Africa to raise £1,000,000 ($1,252,400) for nonprofit orgs The Running Charity and Sandblast.

Day 30 and the last day Completed of a mile run every day this month for mental health. Thank you so much @hardestgeezer for the amazing day, run and meal! The best day of my life, truly what a legend

There are still good people in this world. You are not alone. You are loved ❤️ pic.twitter.com/wfYgQ5adpB

— Thehullboy (@Thehullboy1) April 30, 2024

However, Skeet isn’t done with his daily running — not by a long shot. On May 1, the lad made another post on X, saying he’s now going to run five kilometers (a little over three miles) every day in honor of Mental Health Awareness month.

“It’s going to be a tough month physically, but the mental health battle is tougher and NEEDS to be spoken about more!” he wrote. “Remember you are loved and you’re amazing.”

Skeet tracks his runs using the Goals-Fitness app, which shows off how many calories he’s burned, how many steps he’s taken during his run, and even tracks his route on Maps.

That’s not all; Skeet also has plans to run a marathon in October alongside Cook in Yorkshire, using his daily goals as training for the fall race.

Skeet’s progress has been capturing the attention of the internet, garnering positive responses from users online who are watching his journey every day as he undertakes his new challenge for another 31 days.