Cleveland's Run Now Relay Runs 1,000 Miles
(post from www.timesfreepress.com)
Forrest Gump spent three years, two months, 14 days and 16 hours running back and forth across the United States "for no particular reason."
A group of about 30 runners from Cleveland, Tenn., plans to spend eight days in April running for roughly 1,000 miles to reach the Boston Marathon. They'll take turns pounding the pavement in an around-the-clock slog through seven states while passenger vans haul resting teammates.
They've got a reason: To raise at least $50,000 for two nonprofit groups, Boston-based Dream Big, which buys sports equipment for inner-city girls, and the One Step Ahead Foundation, a New York State-based group that provides prosthetic limbs to children.
The Cleveland group expects other runners along the way to join in, including elected officials who'll take a lap around the National Mall -- just as Gump, the fictional gardener from Greenbow, Ala., had runners tag along on his epic run.
"We want to get the Forrest Gump effect going for us," said Fred Garmon, one of the organizers of Cleveland's Run Now Relay.
Learn more about Run Now Relay @ www.runnowrelay.org