50 Marathons... In 50 States... In 50 Days?

50 Marathons... In 50 States... In 50 Days?

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Story Published: Jul 9, 2006 at 3:24 PM PDT

Story Updated: Aug 31, 2006 at 8:31 AM PDT

By Molly Shen

BELLEVUE - Finishing a marathon is quite an achievement.

It is exhilarating and exhausting. The toll it can take on a body might make you wonder about Sam Thompson.

"I'm running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days," he said at the finish line of Sunday's SEAFAIR marathon in Bellevue.

Sam's motivation is the Gulf Coast. He moved there the day after Hurricane Katrina to start a relief organization that rebuilds homes. The need is still great.

"People tend to forget and assume, well 10 months later everything's fixed," he says. "Surely it can't take much longer than that to fix devastation. But the reality is there are still people who are not in homes, in FEMA trailers if they're lucky."

So Sam decided to bring focus back to Katrina ravaged towns by running a marathon everyday - for 50 days straight.

"Logistics is a big challenge, just physically getting from state to state each day," he says. "It's hard to keep track of even where we are sometimes."

He knows it's Bellevue today. "Yesterday I was in Cordova, Alaska and tomorrow I'll be in Boise, Idaho."

He's not so sure about other things.

"I actually don't know," he laughs when asked about the total mileage. "Someone announced it I think at the marathon yesterday. It was 13 hundred something."

It's 1,310 miles.

That's a physical feat few people could do to help fix devastation few people can imagine.

You can follow Sam's progress on his website, www.50in50in50.com

You'll find information on how to donate to his relief organization, or he says he hopes people will simply be motivated to make a donation to any charity of their choosing that's helping in the Katrina relief effort.

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