ZAGREB, 17 Aug (Hina) - Marko Piliškić, a 27-year-old Croatian from the Swiss city of Lucerne, is planning to run 800 kilometres along the Croatian coastline, from north to south, in just fifteen days.

He will embark on this adventure, which he has named “Project Croatia”, on 22 August.

"I started running recreationally in January, and then it became a regular thing," Piliškić told the portal Hrvati.ch.

At the same time, he was following a Swiss influencer who took part in a 257-kilometre marathon in Morocco.

"I asked myself could I do something like that?" said Piliškić, a sales manager at a construction company. He recently ran a 100-kilometre route near the Swiss capital of Bern, which took him about 10 hours.

It went better than expected, and that sparked a desire to achieve “something bigger.”

"I love Croatia and I love running," he explained when asked why he wants to run along the coast where temperatures this week are reaching 39°C.

Piliškić notes that running gives him a sense of freedom, and this summer he didn’t want to spend his holiday lying on the beach.

"When you're on the trail, you're alone. You can think. You're not on your phone, you're not stressed," he said.

When he first started running, he struggled to cover five kilometres, then ten but once he managed 40, everything became easier.

In Croatia, he will have to run more than 50 kilometres a day if he wants to complete the planned route in fifteen days,  a serious physical and mental challenge. The route, stretching from Istria to Konavle, is mapped out on his Instagram profile.