Alex Barbas does not consider himself a runner, which is a strange position for a man who has run from Sydney to Perth… and back.

Alex set off from Sydney on 1 September 2025 and finished in early December, 98 days later, having covered 7,665km from Sydney to Perth and back, the equivalent of 182 marathons, averaging close to 78km a day. He ran through freezing rain, 44-degree heat, long stretches of isolation and the kind of broken sleep that makes ordinary life feel like a luxury resort.

He also burned up to 7,500 calories a day, took somewhere in the neighbourhood of 10 million steps, and wore through three pairs of shoes.

As Barbas told Mazda before the run, “I don’t consider myself a runner.” Which is a fairly wild statement.

Because it all comes down to this. It’s not about the distance. It’s not even about the running, per se. It’s about the mental machinery required to keep starting again every morning when your legs hurt, your sleep is wrecked, the horizon refuses to move, and the task ahead is still stupidly large.

For Barbas, the answer was not motivational theatre. It was not chest-beating, slogan-shouting or pretending every day felt heroic. It was much simpler.

He broke the impossible into something smaller.

“I never focused on the full 80km for the day. That’s too overwhelming,” he says. “I broke it down into smaller targets. Just get to the next aid station. That mindset made it manageable.”

That line might be the most useful thing in the whole story, especially for men who are trying to rebuild fitness, lose weight, get their head right, or simply drag themselves out of a long rut.

Big goals are seductive. They look good on paper. Run a marathon. Lose 20kg. Change your life. Become unrecognisable by Christmas. Lovely stuff. Then Monday arrives, your knees hurt, work is chaos, and the grand vision collapses under the weight of its own drama.

Barbas’ approach was different. Don’t stare at Perth or Sydney, or even the next 98 days. Get to the next point. Then the next. Then the next. That is not just endurance running. That is most of adult life if you’re being honest about it.

The run was completed to raise funds and awareness for Starlight Children’s Foundation, a charity Barbas has volunteered with since 2016. That purpose mattered. When the physical side became brutal, it gave the discomfort a frame.

“You’re choosing to do something hard, and you’re doing it for people who are in a much tougher position,” he says. “That perspective helps you push through when things get uncomfortable, not just on the road, but in life.”

There is a useful distinction there. This was not suffering for the sake of suffering. It was voluntary hardship attached to meaning. That is why challenges like this resonate with men, even those who will never run further than the fridge during a cricket ad break.

The point is not that everyone should run across Australia. Most people should probably start with walking more, lifting twice a week, sleeping properly and not treating a ham and cheese croissant as a recovery protocol.

The point is that hard physical challenges can change the way a man sees himself. Barbas says the short-term effect was exactly what you would expect: soreness, exhaustion and mental fatigue. But the long-term result was different.

“You build this belief that if you truly commit to something, you can push yourself far beyond what you thought was possible,” he says. “That stays with you.”

That’s resilience. And that belief is earned. You do not get it from reading quotes over stock footage of mountains. You get it by keeping promises to yourself, repeatedly, when the novelty has worn off.

Barbas is now encouraging Australians to take part in Starlight’s Super Steps challenge throughout May, walking or running 10,000 steps a day to help support seriously ill children and their families.

His advice for anyone starting is almost annoyingly simple.

“Don’t overcomplicate it. Start slow, find your rhythm and keep showing up,” he says. “Some days will feel easy, some won’t, but every step adds up.”