The Tulsa World caught up with ultramarathoner Phil Rosenstein during his quest to run east across the country, much of it on old Route 66. It’s a fundraiser for the Mario Lemieux Foundation.
Rosenstein said he logs about 35 miles every day toting his supplies — including peanut butter and instant mashed potatoes for a boost of energy — in a baby stroller built for joggers. Along the way he promotes the charity and gives people information about its programs, he said. […]
Several years of extreme distance training and “ultrarunning” helped prepare Rosenstein for the journey, but a stretch of Arizona’s desolate Mojave Desert was almost overwhelming, he said.
Rosenstein said he battled severe dehydration and heat exhaustion as he trudged along nearly 60 miles of blacktop in 125-degree heat.
“I spent a lot of time there thinking to myself ‘What are you doing, Phil?’ ” he said. “At one point I spent three hours not being able to prove people existed. No buildings, no cars, no planes flying overhead.”
Thirty-five miles a day sounds like a lot, until you realize that Bunion Derby winner Andy Payne in 1928 averaged over 40 miles a day in arguably worse conditions.
Rosenstein’s Run Phil Run blog can be found here, although it is updated only sporadically.