Alvaro Nuñez On The Mindset Behind Running Marathons On All 7 Continents In 7 Days

When thinking about taking running to an extreme level, it is hard to keep Alvaro Nuñez out of the conversation. In the quest to become an ultra-endurance athlete, the Spain-born businessman, filled with tremendous inspiration and a strong purpose, has achieved multiple feats that are seemingly inconceivable for the average person. So far, he has completed the Ultraman—a race that doubles the distance of an Ironman, placed first in a 100-mile ultramarathon, and taken on several more remarkable quests in his life, including climbing Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in South America.

In 2024, Alvaro, who is always chasing bigger dreams, participated in the Great World Race, an event in which runners run marathons on all seven continents in seven days. Despite facing many injuries, he completed the race, finishing in fourth place overall in the men’s category. With this achievement, Alvaro became the first male Spaniard to complete the Great World Race.

He has also completed the Marathon des Sables, the toughest footrace on Earth, with six running stages across the Sahara Desert. While reaching yet another remarkable achievement, Alvaro also boosted mental health awareness by carrying 35 pounds of symbolic “depression” through the Sahara during the marathon. Following these achievements, Alvaro candidly spoke to me about his mindset going into the Great World Race. He also spoke about his journey of completing the Marathon des Sables, promoting a powerful statement.

Full Interview With Alvaro Nuñez

Paras: You achieved a lifetime goal of completing the Great World Race, running 7 marathons on each of the 7 continents, in a week. Can you walk me through that experience? And how much time did it take you to get here?

Alvaro: Yes, I will say that everything that we did for the Great World Race seemed to be very distant from what the regular person would think is possible, but I do believe that it all comes down to the same thing: how can I dream bigger, and how can I get myself to accomplish those big dreams? And we all start the same way, with one step, right? You don’t get one day and say, Oh, I’m going to run seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. I never even felt that it even existed, so for me, it was more about the journey that I’ve been on, that I’ve stayed consistent on, and it compounds, right? A lot of people start their journey for health and fitness, and they sign up for a challenge with the list that has a marathon or a half marathon and then a half Ironman, and if you stay consistent in that journey, you’ll be surprised how much you can accomplish.

I always say that a lot of people think of the compound as something that applies only to your investments, but the investment in yourself, in the training and the routines or everything that you do on a daily basis, matters. So for me, the journey that I started three or four years ago when I started the Ironman slowly transitioned into something bigger and bigger, so when I was thinking about the epitome of challenges, I saw this challenge of the Great World Race: 7 marathons in 7 continents in 7 days.

It is one of those things that I realize is not only pushing myself as an individual but also inspiring others to have that spark inside of them to go and do something extraordinary for themselves.

Paras: When taking on marathons in different regions, like Antarctica, Australia, or Miami, there are always variations in the climate and the terrain, and the change in environment doesn’t just take a physical but a mental toll on a person as well. How did you feel you achieved this level of resilience to take part in something like this?

Alvaro: I think that everything goes out into your mindset; if you believe that you can do it, then you will definitely make it happen. Everything happens twice, first in your mind and then in reality, so I already envisioned myself doing this challenge, and I just picture myself in Antarctica going through this frozen terrain and then transitioning into Africa and then Australia, Asia, and Europe. I started to visualize, so I think that also plays a huge role when it comes to the outcome of anything that you do in life. If you visualize it, then you believe in it, and you back it up with a strong purpose.

For me, yes, I trained physically in order to get myself in shape to be doing something like this, but at some point you’re going to find certain obstacles that you’re going to have to deal with when it’s a little injury or feeling the exhaustion or not being able to recover because you are not sleeping enough because you are literally just running and jumping on a plane and eating and sleeping as much as you can in there, so what I would say is that what gets you going more than your physical capabilities is your mind, and sometimes finding a why, that purpose of why you’re doing this challenge, is what’s going to give you the strength. For me it was a campaign that I started, which was Race for Unity. It was this flag that I had signed from people from all around the world with a positive word in their native language to unify the world because we were going through so many different wars and a situation of being so divided. This was just a way to unite everyone around the world. So I always find something that can be attached to these big challenges to give the strength to keep going well.

Paras: Did you encounter any failures before or during the Great World Race that helped you get tougher so you could face future circumstances in a better way?

Alvaro: Oh yeah, 100%. Just three weeks before the race, I fractured one of my ribs, so the doctor said that I would not be able to compete. They said that I was going to be unable to bear the pain of just having a fractured rib, but I also really committed to it, so I went regardless. I found the strength to keep going because I found myself surrounded by such world-class individuals, Olympians, and world champions-just world-class people who have been doing incredible things in the world. Their stories were so empowering that just to see myself around all these people made me realize that I’m a very lucky man to be in that environment, and I get to do this, so just being grateful gave me the strength, regardless of having that initial fractured rib.

As I started the race, I found myself enjoying the process of going through the pain, and it’s about embracing the pain. I think that pressure is a privilege, and the pressure of having to compete and being with all these individuals and wanting to do it well despite the broken rib eventually started to translate into lots of great things, and the outcomes that started to happen over the races were phenomenal.

I found myself doing my best times ever competing against some of the most incredible individuals. I’m always finishing at the top, whatever it was, second, third or fourth, like it was always at the top of the scoreboard, and I thought, oh my God, I’m competing against some of the best people in the world, and I get to do this. So yes, I encountered a lot of pain, like my knees were destroyed; everything was really bad, but you find the strength through gratitude and through having that mindset of I can do it.

Paras: You are the first male Spaniard to complete the Great World Race. What does that accomplishment mean to you?

Alvaro: It is always that pride of doing something for the first time when it comes to your native country, and I love Spain. That’s my country; that’s where I was born; that’s where I was raised; and that’s where all my family lives. To see that you are able to do something that seems to be this incredible feat and be the first one in your country is actually something that is very emotional, but it’s also very inspiring for other people as well. So, I think that those back home that see someone doing these things realize, like, oh my God, I can also dream bigger because the reality is that I’m not doing this for the ego at all but to set up an example of what you’re able to do. This is just the reality of things. I don’t think that people sometimes think big enough that they find themselves in this situation where they do want to accomplish something big, but they cannot for some reason.

When you have options in front of you, choose what is uncomfortable. Choose what you’re afraid of because life begins on the other side of fear, and for me, it was something scary to choose to want to enter into this race and train for it and do it all, but I chose that, and some people have also choices in front of them, but they often go into what’s comfortable, and that’s not where you grow.

Paras: While all the athletes across the world have their own different training regimens, all of them give a very high importance to recovery. However, you were able to run seven marathons across seven continents in seven days. How did you manage to recover your body so quickly and keep going for the next big thing?

Alvaro: Yeah, well, the same thing applies here, the compound effect for recovery. When I used to start running, I remember going for six miles, and the next day I was so sore, and when I did a marathon, I couldn’t walk for the next few days, so that body throughout the years and throughout time, learns how to recover faster. You also get to understand your body; you have to start to adjust in the way that you do things, so for me, it’s been an ongoing process of staying in the game. I don’t just train for a challenge and then stop; I just keep going consistently.

One of the key factors in how to stay consistent is not just in the training but also in the recovery to avoid the major injuries or certain things that will take me back in these races. So when you’re time-constrained like this, where you’re back-to-back, it’s very important that you take the time after each marathon to take care of yourself. I know you’re tired and know that is the last thing that you want to do, but taking the time to roll on your muscles and stretch, hydrate properly and try to eat as quickly as possible so you get the protein intake and everything that you need to recover your system-that is fundamental.

Paras: You also took on the Marathon des Sables, carrying 35 pounds of symbolic weight representing depression. The statement of carrying this symbolic weight through the toughest footrace on Earth through the Sahara Desert was certainly a powerful one. What gave you the idea of carrying this out?

Alvaro: Marathon des Sables was definitely a very interesting challenge because I was not an ultra runner; I was barely starting my journey towards becoming an ultra-endurance athlete, and I wanted to find out which one was the toughest foot race in the world, and I saw that it was Marathon des Sables, six marathons in six days across the Sahara Desert carrying all of your food as supplies, so when you sign up for a challenge like this, you want to make sure you have a strong purpose. So for me, I’ve found that purpose through something that was very close to me, which was that people were struggling with depression. I’m a big advocate for mental health, and there were some family members and friends that committed suicide due to depression.

I wanted to do something to raise awareness and to make sure that people that are currently going through depression or mental health issues will feel comfortable enough to share how they’re feeling, and I did this campaign called The Weight of Depression, which is a symbolic campaign where I will be carrying a weight on top of what I was already carrying throughout the Sahara Desert, carrying all the names and stories of all these people, so by the end of the race, I will bury that weight and leave all the struggles behind. It became a very powerful campaign that we took on TV; we took on many podcasts and social media; we had hundreds of people sharing in the story.

It was very powerful, and when you end up facing something like this, you now have a stronger reason why you are going to continue in this race. So on the second day of that marathon, I remember I was already destroyed; I had kidney failure, and I had blood on my shoulders to my hips from carrying so much weight. The skin of my feet came out because of the amount of heat that the sand was generating, and I saw some of the professional athletes that I followed on social media just dropping out of the race, but for me it was something like, Okay, if these guys cannot continue, who am I to even keep on going?
In that moment I was so weak that I took my backpack out, and I was going to call the helicopter to pick me up, and that’s when I saw the weight of the depression that I was carrying as a reminder of why I am doing this race. So, that was so strong that it made me put the backpack on and keep on going, and after that second day, I found the strength to, no matter what, keep on going in this endurance mindset that as long as you have a strong purpose attached to it, it’s going to make you do the impossible, and I ended up not just completing the race but finishing among the first few people on the last day.