Running Man : A Memoir (9781476785806) by Engle Charlie

Author:Engle, Charlie [Engle, Charlie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.

—TRUMAN CAPOTE

After I recovered from the Sahara run, I started thinking of what to do next. I decided that I wanted to see my own country—all of it—in that same intimate way.

I would not be the first person to run coast-to-coast across America. Athletes had been making the journey since the 1920s, when runners competed for prize money. Recently, it had become a way to raise awareness and money for a cause. I definitely wanted to connect my transcontinental run with a charity—but I also wanted to try to do it faster than it had ever been done. The record was set in 1980 by Frank Giannino, who ran from San Francisco to New York City in forty-six days, eight hours, and thirty-six minutes, averaging nearly sixty-seven miles a day. Giannino had done it at the age of twenty-­eight; I was pushing forty-five. The odds were not on my side, but just because it seemed almost impossible didn’t mean I shouldn’t try.

My friend and teammate Marshall Ulrich—one of the most accomplished endurance athletes in the world—was also contemplating a cross-country run. He was facing even longer odds. Not only was he past his running prime at age fifty-eight, he also had no idea how to finance the attempt. He contacted me about partnering with him, and we decided to do the run together—not as rivals, but as compatriots spurring each other on.

My plan was to use the same model I had used for the Sahara—find a film production company, bring in sponsors and investors, run across a giant landmass, then market the film about the adventure. After Running the Sahara, I received many invitations to do speaking gigs. I hoped that after another successful expedition, even more doors would open.

I spent most of the next year making calls, giving presentations, negotiating deals, calculating budgets, and planning the complex logistics for the cross-country run. It had been hard enough to line up financing with Matt Damon on board; without his star power, it was even more difficult. I finally found a production company that was interested in making a documentary about the run—and they shared my vision that the film could be about much more than running. We also wanted to explore how Americans were feeling about their country in the turbulent fall of 2008. As we traveled through their small towns and big cities, we would ask them their views on the wars we were fighting, the floundering economy, the housing-market crash, and the impending presidential election, which would take place about a week after we arrived, if all went well, in New York City. Then we would weave their stories into our own.

I lined up investors and sponsors, including Super 8 Motels, where we would stay as we moved east. I teamed up with United Way’s Live United campaign for youth fitness. I also asked News-2-You, a newspaper for special-needs students that had covered my Sahara adventure, for help in coordinating visits to schools along the route.

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