ST. CHARLES – To say St. Charles resident Steve Spear is doing a lot of running these days is an understatement.

Spear will mark his 49th birthday Dec. 31 by running 130 miles that week. He is in training for an even bigger run. In April, he will embark on a 3,200-mile run across the country to raise $1.5 million to build a clean water and sanitation system for 30,000 people in Kenya.

“It’s more of a litmus test,” Spear said. “Who knows what we’ll will encounter and my body will encounter. But at least we are trying to do everything we can to properly train and get a proper gauge without overusing my body in the training.”