Jamie McDonald, a 27 year-old British man from Gloucester, has just completed his run across Canada. It took him 275 days to run from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast. The total distance was over 5,000 miles. He ran the whole way dressed comic book superhero The Flash.
He said: “I just can’t believe it’s over. I have worked for so long and given this run everything I have, physically and mentally, that to finally dip my hand into the Pacific Ocean eleven months and more than 200 marathons after doing the same thing in the Atlantic Ocean is just incredible.”
At the end of the run he ran up what is know as the Highway to Hell in to the Rocky Mountains. As he reached the peak he started saying to himself, in celebration:
“Who is the daddy? I’ll tell you who the daddy is! I am the daddy! I am the daddy! Uuurgh, I got salt in my mouth. I’m the daddy. I’m the daddy.”
Jamie has raised over £120,000 for children’s charities. He was mugged and robbed along the way, but says he had just one negative experience in a 10,000 mile run across Canada.
No preparation
He decided not to prepare for the run as there was nothing he could have done to prepare himself mentally or physically for the hardship. When asked before the run how he had prepared he said: “I answered truthfully and said that I wouldn’t – no amount of training or planning could have prepared me for this journey.”
The run was not without physical hardship. Jamie developed severe tendinitis but kept on running. The result is what he described as a slightly distorted foot that may be a permanent reminder of his adventure.
This was the first solo run across Canada. He is certainly “the daddy”!