The Mission

In early 2027, I will begin a solo run across the full breadth of China, from the Pacific coast to the Central Asian frontier, tracing one of humanity's oldest trade corridors: the Northern Silk Road.

For more than two thousand years, the Silk Road carried merchants, monks, soldiers, and storytellers across the vast interior of China toward the markets and civilizations of Central Asia and beyond. It was not a single road but a living network, sustained by human curiosity and driven by the need to connect.

This project follows that same corridor on foot. Starting at the East China Sea in Shanghai and finishing at Khorgos on the Kyrgyzstan border, the route crosses the Yangtze Delta, the imperial heartland, the Hexi Corridor between mountains and desert, and the oasis cities of Xinjiang before reaching the Tian Shan and the gateway to Central Asia.

I won't be running alone. I met 雷燏 Vivian Lei at the Mt. Gaoligong Ultra in March and discovered someone who shares my belief that the best way to understand a place is to move through it slowly, on foot, with nowhere to be but present. She will be crossing China with me.

Our mission is to journey across one of the oldest roads on earth, to explore the people, places, food, history, and culture along the way, and to bring what we discover to the world.