23-Year-Old Goes Coast-to-Coast in Forrest Gump-Inspired Run
Barclay Oudersluys ran 30-plus miles a day for more than three months.
“On that day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run.”
So started an iconic scene from the 1994 Academy Award-winning film Forrest Gump, where the main character (played by Tom Hanks) runs from coast to coast just because he felt like it. The film shows Forrest first reaching the Pacific Ocean at the Santa Monica Pier in Southern California. Later, he had reached a lighthouse in Maine overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
Recently, a 23-year-old from Michigan did the same thing. Barclay Oudersluys started at the Santa Monica Pier and ran all the way to Port Clyde, Maine, finishing the 3,200-mile journey this past weekend after 99 days of running. Ourdersluys called the run “Project Gump.” He typically ran between 30 and 35 miles a day.
“It was tough. I don’t think I was quite ready for how long and monotonous it was, which is just something that you can’t really imagine until you do it,” Oudersluys told The Ann Arbor News.
The Ann Arbor News reported that Oudersluys ran at about a 9:00/mile pace and went through six pairs of running shoes on his journey. He said there were no major problems but “a lot of minor ones” like blisters, chafing, tendinitis, GI distress and more.
In the process, Oudersluys raised close to $11,000 for the Hall STEPS Foundation, started by elite runners Ryan and Sara Hall, which works to improve health care for those living in poverty around the world.
MORE: Ann Arbor News