Politicians are used to running, but only for office during an election campaign
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The same cannot be said for Pat Farmer.
In the time since the former Liberal MP left parliament in 2010, Mr Farmer has been able to concentrate on his love of ultra-marathon running.
"I've run across the Americas from the North Pole to the South Pole via 14 different countries, and I've run the length of Vietnam, Lebanon and Israel," he said.
"Each time I've run, it's been to highlight a cause and create a greater relationship between Australia and that country. It's basically diplomacy at its best."
Mr Farmer's most recent run took place over 64 days in 2016, where he ran the length of India from south to north, averaging 85 kilometres a day.
Unlike his other runs, however, he was accompanied on this one by a film crew documenting the experience.
The end result is the documentary The Run, which is having its premiere at Parliament House on Wednesday.
Mr Farmer said while the run itself was a difficult feat to accomplish, the documentary crew also had a challenging time.
"It was very difficult for my crew because they had to keep up with me and the run wasn't going to stop," he said.
"They had to stay quite active and had to work long hours to keep up right from the start."
As well as running the equivalent of two marathons every day, Mr Farmer said some of the greatest challenges were the weather conditions he had to endure.
"Trying to settle in with the humidity of southern India, is quite crushing on the body, and I ended up becoming dehydrated," he said.
"The other extremes in some cases were the smog, which made it really hard to breathe. In other sections there were landslides and mudslides up in the far-north, and several roads were cut off and I had to make several detours."
As well showcasing the run across the country, Mr Farmer said the film also shows India's many landscapes and people.
He said he hopes to try and change Australian's perceptions about India.
"We're trying to show the world that there's more to India than just cricket and curry," he said.
"There's so much variance in the culture from one end of the country to the other. It's important for us to reach out to more populated areas like India and understand them more."
Following its red-carpet launch in Canberra this week, The Run is set to be seen around Australia, as well as internationally.
