250 Marathons in 1 Calendar Year

Sound crazy? Yeah, it sure is!

Martin is 3 Marathons away from completing this crazy task. He has battled bad weather, angry dogs, and injuries, as well as his own thoughts of “maybe I am crazy”, but he is right now 3 days away from completing his quest.

Here is Martin and his DW Sue at the Last Chance Half on Nov 14th. Marathon 216. He ran 7k before the race, then ran the race, then came in and ate a HUGE plate of pancakes and all the sides, then went back out and ran another 14kms…

The quest is actually called Marathon Quest 250. He ran all these runs for the kids. It’s true. Right to Play is the benefactor of all Martins Craziness. Every $50.00 he raises allows a kid somewhere in the world to be involved in organized sports programs for 1 year.

What’s Martin like you ask? Maybe he is a crazy ‘A’ type guy that is looking for the spotlight, or he is actually crazy and can’t help himself, but neither describe him very well. Here is my take on the guy:

• He is a family man. (in August, he had to schedule 5 marathons while on the road to his Daughters Wedding in Ontario).
• He is an Athlete (He has an impressive resume of running and endurance achievement prior to embarking on this quest and he re-qualified for Boston in the 2010 Victoria Marathon back on October 10th, his 188th Marathon run of the year).
• He is a philanthropist (he took off an entire year of work for this quest).
• He is a comedian (spend some time going back through his daily blog and you’ll see what I mean).
• He is a down to earth nice guy (I can personally vouch for this. I have enjoyed meeting him, and the fact that he always has a smile and a compliment for every person you meet just goes to prove that he is one of those people you want to chat with whenever he is in the same room with you).
• He is perseverant. (He ran at one school this year where the route that he had to use was a 100 meter strip of pavement. Imagine 422 trips up and down the same 100meter track for 5-6 hours).

Martin ran Marathon 84 with our group back in May. I was very lucky to be able to run 18 awesome Kms with him on this day. 

 

On Friday December 31st he is running his final marathon in Cochrane Alberta Canada. I am going to be there! I will run some loops with him, as he has selected a 3.2km loop so that anyone can join in at anytime and witness history being made. I have no idea how much I will run but there is one thing for sure: I will have my little green camera with me.

Here are all the details you need to know about the event on Friday…

Here is Martin’s Facebook page …

Here is the link to my blog post from marathon #84 that he ran with us back in May.

Here is the link to Right to Play, the incredible organization that is the benefactor of Martins Quest.

Retweet this:

RT @MQ250 Martin Parnell Runs His FINAL Marathon of 2010 - Number 250 - http://eepurl.com/b6pcD

And most importantly here is where to donate. If you don’t have the means, please forward this on to your friends, families, colleagues', your HR and Executives of your employers and bosses…

 

Now, you wanna hear something cool?

Martin has granted me an ‘On the run’ interview. I get to quiz him about all things running, endurance and whatever else comes up, and I get to produce a video so you can find out more of this crazy and amazing man! You may get to play too! Please go look around Martin’s site, then come back here and submit a question that you would like Martin to answer. I may use your question in the interview.

Just to whet your appetite and peak your curiosity: He has ran 10,423.4km (6,471.4ml) and has ate 2,172,000 calories to sustain himself during this quest. (avg 6000/day). He has used up 25 pairs of shoes. He qualified for Boston in one of his ‘official’ races. He tested all 60 flavours of Ice Cream in his Quest within a Quest at Famous McKays Ice Cream in Cochrane. He ran at 60 Schools to raise awareness for the Kids that benefit from Right to Play, to the kids of Calgary and area.

What do you think? It sounds like he’ll be on CNN on Friday, and all sorts of other media, so keep your eyes and ears open for the guy named Martin the Marathon Man. Kinda makes Dean Karnazes seem like a regular runner, doesn’t it? (No offense Dean, I am a fan)

Seeyou on Friday in Cochrane!