A British man is days away from completing his goal of running a marathon every day for an entire year

• Gary McKee, from Cumbria, England, runs a marathon every day for 365 days or 9,563 miles in a single year.
• The 53-year-old started the challenge on January 1, 2022, to raise money for a cancer charity.

A British man is days away from completing his goal of running a marathon every day for an entire year.

Gary McKee, 53, from Cumbria in northwest England, has been running a marathon, which is a total of 26.2 miles, every day since January 1, 2022, he told The Guardian in an interview published Thursday.

He will have run the equivalent of 9,563 miles in a single year when he completes his goal on December 31.

The father-of-three wakes up at 5 a.m. and heads out on his run in the Cumbrian countryside before starting his work shift at a nearby nuclear plant at 2 p.m., he said. He gets a lie-in on his days off work and starts running at 8 a.m.

He said that apart from five organized marathons, he follows the same route in the countryside and has seen the seasons change.

"I've seen lambs being born, I've seen chicks on the path, I've seen the geese come and go. Over the past few days, there's been snow and frost on the trees; it has been like a winter wonderland. It's beautiful," McKee told The Guardian.

On his runs, McKee is often greeted by locals who cheer him on and provide him with water and snacks. Others have also accompanied him on some of his runs.

"You do have to be committed," McKee added. "But then it's no good telling people you're going to do something and then finding an excuse not to do it."

McKee is running in the name of charity, raising more than £400,000 ($482,000) for Macmillan Cancer Support and Hospice in West Cumbria.

He has supported the charity for years since his father's cancer diagnosis in 1997. His father fully recovered but died in 2005 from an unrelated illness.

McKee told The Guardian that after his challenge, he is looking forward to going on holiday with his family after they weren't able to this year.

"I am looking forward to a beer on New Year's Eve, and I'm looking forward to a cooked breakfast," he said.