BEIRUT: Ali Wehbe, better known as the Lebanese Desert Runner for running in the harshest conditions across the globe, began his latest challenge last week: to run 12 marathons in 12 days.

Wehbe is the very first Arab runner to join the private 4 Deserts Club, a race series founded in February 2002 in Hong Kong and considered the world’s leading footrace.

He received a Lebanese Order of Merit medal in 2007 by then president Emile Lahoud, and was awarded the National Order of the Cedar by President Michel Sleiman in 2012.

Wehbe, who works as an ICT consultant in Lebanon and holds French citizenship, will be running a total of 700 kilometers and is expected to arrive at Zeitouneh Bay, also his point of departure, at approximately 4 p.m. Sunday April 13.

Wehbe runs an average of 40-50 kilometers per day, but will sometimes run more depending on the terrain he is covering.

The race is just one part of a much larger five-year project targeting the entire Arab world, where children, Wehbe says, are growing increasingly obese as they spend more time indoors on their computers and do little or no exercise.