Saturday, September 19, 2009 By Craig Sterrett
Reza Baluchi, a former bicycle racer, mechanic and cook, gets ready to run another 80 miles in a day carrying a U.S. flag on his Liberty Run for Unicef, with help from a camera crew following his journey.
A 36-year-old adventurer stays a step ahead, actually miles and days ahead, of all the other transcontinental travelers who pass through the Illinois Valley each summer.
Reza Baluchi, a former bicycle racer, is running, wearing out shoes and pressing on despite painful foot blisters and scabbed toenails in an effort to break a 30-year-old record for running from coast to coast.
Waiting to start his day and waiting for his support team and film crew to deliver a 1,000-calorie, green, vegetable-and-vitamin-energy-drink breakfast, Baluchi visited with coffee drinkers and this reporter Friday morning before starting an 80-mile leg from the Shell station in Utica to Chicago.
“We’re amazed at him every day,” said Jasmin Doma, a photographer following the Boulder, Colo., man and shooting still images while traveling with a support team and Castleland Productions video crew on his trek.
In addition to his ability to run 80 miles in a day, amazing facts about Baluchi include his resting heart rate of 38 beats per minute. He says he has completed the most difficult parts of his trek, including mountains of the West and horribly hot pavement in Arizona and Nevada that caused blisters on the tops of his feet (his calluses protect the bottoms of his feet).
He said his 15,000-calorie diet full of pasta, beans, eggs, fruits and vegetables (“Meat makes you tired.”) helps fuel him, but that’s not all that energizes him. He said he will resume eating meat when he concludes the journey, to help restore tissues.
“Eighty-five percent is your mind,” says Baluchi, a U.S. citizen who was born in Iran.
Also compelling him to run nearly three marathons per day is his charity drive for the Unicef United States Fund. He is trying to raise $1 million this year while also working to break the record of 46 days for the journey. On Friday, he felt like he might be able to make it to New York City in 43 days, but he’d settle for 45 and a chance to meet President Barack Obama.
Since the other record has been tough to beat, he guesses if he sets his record, “Nobody can do it. I’m sometimes running all night,” he said.
He is sponsored by , and he’s doing them proud — even if he does immediately cut a hole in each new left shoe to ease pressure on his left, little toe. He runs against traffic and has discovered the crown of the highways puts extra weight on his left foot. When he cuts the hole, it eases strain on his knee.
“You run enough, you try things,” he said.
He’s getting support from several parties, including a doctor in the Non-Profit Chiropractic Organization who pays for food, fuel for a recreational vehicle and truck and more. He also benefits from occasional chiropractic adjustments and massages daily.
He said he has enjoyed meeting people and seeing the country while carrying a U.S. flag as well as toting a folded flag protected in a plastic case for delivery to New York.
He also has enjoyed some company on the trek. Friday, Davenport, Iowa chiropractic student Gabe Ellis ran along with him to experience part of the journey on U.S. 6, then north to U.S. 52 in Waltham Township and over to Chicago. And previously, a lost or stray dog that startled him, gnawed on his arm and leapt on his back later accompanied him for two days and a night before someone retrieved the retriever.
Next year he plans to start a five-year journey around the world, through 90 countries, raising funds for a charity in each nation. He said a crew for Discovery Channel will follow the journey, including his crossing of oceans in a pedal-powered watercraft he designed.
Reza Baluchi, a former bicycle racer, mechanic and cook, gets ready to run another 80 miles in a day carrying a U.S. flag on his Liberty Run for Unicef, with help from a camera crew following his journey.
A 36-year-old adventurer stays a step ahead, actually miles and days ahead, of all the other transcontinental travelers who pass through the Illinois Valley each summer.
Reza Baluchi, a former bicycle racer, is running, wearing out shoes and pressing on despite painful foot blisters and scabbed toenails in an effort to break a 30-year-old record for running from coast to coast.
Waiting to start his day and waiting for his support team and film crew to deliver a 1,000-calorie, green, vegetable-and-vitamin-energy-drink breakfast, Baluchi visited with coffee drinkers and this reporter Friday morning before starting an 80-mile leg from the Shell station in Utica to Chicago.
“We’re amazed at him every day,” said Jasmin Doma, a photographer following the Boulder, Colo., man and shooting still images while traveling with a support team and Castleland Productions video crew on his trek.
In addition to his ability to run 80 miles in a day, amazing facts about Baluchi include his resting heart rate of 38 beats per minute. He says he has completed the most difficult parts of his trek, including mountains of the West and horribly hot pavement in Arizona and Nevada that caused blisters on the tops of his feet (his calluses protect the bottoms of his feet).
He said his 15,000-calorie diet full of pasta, beans, eggs, fruits and vegetables (“Meat makes you tired.”) helps fuel him, but that’s not all that energizes him. He said he will resume eating meat when he concludes the journey, to help restore tissues.
“Eighty-five percent is your mind,” says Baluchi, a U.S. citizen who was born in Iran.
Also compelling him to run nearly three marathons per day is his charity drive for the Unicef United States Fund. He is trying to raise $1 million this year while also working to break the record of 46 days for the journey. On Friday, he felt like he might be able to make it to New York City in 43 days, but he’d settle for 45 and a chance to meet President Barack Obama.
Since the other record has been tough to beat, he guesses if he sets his record, “Nobody can do it. I’m sometimes running all night,” he said.
He is sponsored by , and he’s doing them proud — even if he does immediately cut a hole in each new left shoe to ease pressure on his left, little toe. He runs against traffic and has discovered the crown of the highways puts extra weight on his left foot. When he cuts the hole, it eases strain on his knee.
“You run enough, you try things,” he said.
He’s getting support from several parties, including a doctor in the Non-Profit Chiropractic Organization who pays for food, fuel for a recreational vehicle and truck and more. He also benefits from occasional chiropractic adjustments and massages daily.
He said he has enjoyed meeting people and seeing the country while carrying a U.S. flag as well as toting a folded flag protected in a plastic case for delivery to New York.
He also has enjoyed some company on the trek. Friday, Davenport, Iowa chiropractic student Gabe Ellis ran along with him to experience part of the journey on U.S. 6, then north to U.S. 52 in Waltham Township and over to Chicago. And previously, a lost or stray dog that startled him, gnawed on his arm and leapt on his back later accompanied him for two days and a night before someone retrieved the retriever.
Next year he plans to start a five-year journey around the world, through 90 countries, raising funds for a charity in each nation. He said a crew for Discovery Channel will follow the journey, including his crossing of oceans in a pedal-powered watercraft he designed.
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