{"id":31341,"date":"2025-11-11T19:29:35","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T19:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/31341\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T19:29:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T19:29:35","slug":"berks-runner-takes-on-341-mile-run-across-pa-to-advocate-for-mental-health-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/31341\/","title":{"rendered":"Berks runner takes on 341-mile run across PA to advocate for mental health"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Brendan Morgan, moving forward means everything.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a physical exercise to which he\u2019s devoted years of training, breaking down and rebuilding his body until he could weather running ultramarathons of dozens to hundreds of miles.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a mental exercise, through which he\u2019s spurred himself to dispel addiction and suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s an exercise in connection, of using his life and example to spread a simple message: With effort, extreme pain can be overcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to do something that I hated doing every single day like I love it,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cJust to push past the barrier of always falling back into old habits. I started running because I hated it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Morgan\u2019s relationship with running has evolved dramatically.<\/p>\n

\u201cRunning has made me a better person,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t see myself not being able to run.\u201d<\/p>\n

In two years, the 27-year-old Wyomissing native went from the gym treadmill to ultramarathons of dizzying distance.<\/p>\n

And on Nov. 8, Morgan embarked on his greatest challenge yet \u2014 a 341-mile-long run across the entirety of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

\"BrendanBrendan Morgan is raising funds for the nonprofit National Alliance on Mental Illness with his latest ultramarathon. (Courtesy of Brendan Morgan)<\/p>\n

\u201c(It\u2019s the longest I\u2019ve ever run) by far,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cThe highest mileage I did in a week (before) was 120.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Morgan\u2019s pace is set to 60 miles per day as he makes the trip from outside of Pittsburgh to Washington Crossing, Bucks County.<\/p>\n

The goal, Morgan said, is mental health advocacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want people to take a step and know that it\u2019s going to be scary, it\u2019s going to be uncomfortable, but we all go through it, and they\u2019re not alone,\u201d Morgan said.<\/p>\n

Morgan encouraged those interested to come out and run with him, which is possible thanks to a online GPS tracker<\/a> that allows viewers to follow his journey in real time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might look like I\u2019m alone, but I\u2019m not alone,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cI\u2019d be nothing without my crew and my support team. That\u2019s kind of the point I want to get across to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The run also serves as a fundraiser for the National Alliance of Mental Illness<\/a>, a nonprofit that offers education, support and resources through mental health initiatives across the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to help out as many people (as possible), however I can,\u201d Morgan said.<\/p>\n

Coping with loss<\/p>\n

Morgan\u2019s struggles started at a young age. He lost his father and brother to suicide, when he was 8 and 13, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hear my mom on the phone with 911, saying he (my brother) overdosed,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cI walk upstairs and he\u2019s laying in his bed with a pool of foam around his mouth. A bottle of sleeping pills was open next to him. Finishing that year of middle school was rough.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said his brother became his role model after his father died, and Morgan turned to drugs like Adderall, cocaine and alcohol to numb the trauma.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a sophomore, I tried to take my own life,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cLuckily, it failed. That was my lowest point.\u201d<\/p>\n

That moment was enough to turn Morgan away from the drugs. He transitioned away from drinking too, only to replace it with another vice \u2014 food.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used food to cope with the issues I refused to deal with,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cI went from 160 pounds to 218 in the span of a year and a half. I didn\u2019t want to look myself in the mirror.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new direction<\/p>\n

Morgan\u2019s journey in a new direction started in 2021, when he finally faced his reflection.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy friends would make fun of me,\u201d he said. \u201cOne day, I was like, \u2018They\u2019re right, I am fat, and I\u2019m just not doing anything that makes me happy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he bought home workout equipment out of anxiety over the reception he would get at a public gym, but that eventually changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first year and a half (of working out) I did it all in my mom\u2019s basement,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cI finally went one day with a coworker. It was nothing like I pictured it. The community was loving and accepting, and I fell in love with going to the gym.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morgan\u2019s gym community encouraged him to get into running. He embraced the sport in 2023, despite some initial apprehension.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started running because I hated it,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cI was never an athlete. I started on the treadmill. The second month, I made it a goal to hit 100 miles of running. That\u2019s when I started to get more interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

Running miles at time encouraged him to push his body further, and Morgan soon found himself signing up for the Philadelphia Marathon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went from my couch to a marathon as my first-ever race,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cMan, it\u2019s been a crazy three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

To prepare for the 341-mile journey across Pennsylvania, Morgan undertook a 16-week, 1,400-mile training block.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was averaging about 87 miles per week,\u201d Morgan said.<\/p>\n

He said the impacts of long-distance running on the body can vary.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou kind of have to ride the ups and downs,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cThere might be a point where you feel like you can\u2019t even walk. Thirty minutes later, you\u2019ll be cruising like nothing happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

The longer runs are interspersed with breaks for refueling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI eat like a horse (when I rest),\u201d Morgan said. \u201cThe goal for ultrarunning is you want to eat as much as possible as soon as possible. I try to maintain like 500 calories an hour from solids and liquids.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the strain on the body during an ultramarathon happens more gradually, as opposed to shorter marathons.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not running as hard so you\u2019re not exerting as much,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cIt\u2019s a slow decrease in energy, but if you don\u2019t keep up with it, it will bite you in the worst way.\u201d<\/p>\n

By midafternoon Tuesday, Morgan was more than 200 miles into his run, moving at a steady pace east of Carlisle, Cumberland County, according to his GPS tracker.<\/p>\n

He said his run will likely take him down Penn Avenue in West Reading, likely on Nov. 12, and continuing through Berks and Montgomery counties to his destination.<\/p>\n

He said he hopes his run inspires people to pursue what they love in life, even if it makes them uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m no different than anybody else, I\u2019ve been through it all,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cIt\u2019s uncomfortable to admit you\u2019re struggling and not OK. We\u2019re all humans and we have the same struggles. The end goal is just to try to help as many people as I can. I think running is a great tool to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BrendanBrendan Morgan and his wife, Dalanya Morgan. (Courtesy of Brendan Morgan)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Brendan Morgan, moving forward means everything. It\u2019s a physical exercise to which he\u2019s devoted years of training,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,182,139,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":{"0":"post-31341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-berks-county","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-reading-city","13":"tag-reading-city-headlines","14":"tag-reading-city-news","15":"tag-top-stories-reg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}