A Purdue professor has returned from a more than 3,000-mile trek across the United States.
Bryce Carlson says the Race Across USA involved running a marathon a day for nearly five months, along a course from Huntington, California to Washington, D.C.
He was one of a group of 12 core runners who took part in the challenge, which was designed in part to gather research on how the body reacts to extreme exercise.
Carlson says as hard as running a marathon a day was on participants, they learned quickly how to make adjustments to lessen the impact.
“A lot of the roads we were running on had a very significant camber, meaning there was a crown in the center of the road where it was slightly raised and then it sloped off to the sides," says Carlson. "And that added up to a lot of problems for almost all of us. After a period of time when we realized that was causing the problems, runners started switching sides, going back and forth so you experience that angle on both sides and even out that stress.”
Carlson says he also learned a lot about the effects of a positive attitude.
He says while running through the Mojave Desert the landscape looked either beautiful or desolate depending on his mood— and the daily run was easier when he had a positive outlook.
“And so I realized this landscape is just a reflection of my inner state," says Carlson. "And I realized every day I have an opportunity to make the day what I will. If I can start each day with a positive attitude and maintain that positive attitude, most days are pretty amazing.”
Carlson says it will be months before all of the data gathered during the race is analyzed.
He says the race was also intended to raise awareness about childhood obesity and money for an organization that helps fight it, The 100 Mile Club.
The non-profit provides incentives to children in more than 900 schools across the country to run or walk 100 miles during their school year.
Carlson says race participants made stops at roughly a dozen elementary schools along their route to encourage regular physical activity.
