The idea of running the length of Long Island was percolating in Jeff Benaim’s mind for years.
An Army National Guard veteran who spent five years in New York’s “Fighting 69th” Infantry Regiment, Benaim founded Project Patriot 22 in 2020 to promote physical fitness in veterans and first responders. While working as correctional officer, his partner committed suicide, and it became clear to him that the stigma around asking for help with mental health was toxic within his community.
“I just wanted to change the culture,” he said. “It was very, very personal.”
Benaim has done extreme running events before — in May of 2023 he ran five marathons in five days to raise awareness for mental health. But running 133 miles in one stretch was a new high. He trained for months ahead of time.
“A lot of miles, a lot of back-to-back long runs, getting used to sleep deprivation,” he explained. “Being in the military, you learn to work under little to no sleep.”
He took his first strides in Montauk at 7 a.m. on June 27, and he was still running 38 hours later when he arrived in Times Square.
A crew in a rented van accompanied him, the panels of the van emblazoned with the logos of local businesses that sponsored the run.
“Every three miles or so, I would stop and grab something really quickly, just eat and then go,” he said.
In true military style, he made sure to change his socks twice, at the 50- and 100-mile markers.
The best part about the run was that he didn’t do it alone.
“I probably ran about 90 miles with somebody else, even just random people that I didn’t know from the community,” Benaim said. “People would track me through my GPS, and then as I’m running, there’s entire families out on different areas of the route. They had signs, cheering us on. They would hop in for miles with me. Everybody I spoke to had their own story about how they’ve been personally impacted.”
The family of Suffolk County Police Lt. Richard Grice, who died by suicide this past May, were among those who made a point to support him along the route.
“His parents were at one spot, his sisters were at another spot,” he said. “They had signs. So I stopped for a few minutes and talked with them.”
Benaim ran nonstop through overnight rain, and in the evening on June 28th he crossed the Queensborough Bridge into Manhattan. A police escort from the NYPD Highway Unit cleared the way to Times Square, where about a dozen people were waiting to congratulate him.
Project Patriot 22 will continue its efforts to support struggling veterans and first responders through its program that sponsors memberships to local gyms and wellness providers in Suffolk County. Benaim has learned through ultramarathon running that the mind/body connection is clear and real, and he is passionate in his quest to spread that message.
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