Man running 100 marathons in 100 days runs through Morris

Daren Wendell jogged into the McDonald's on Route 46 in Rockaway at about 11 a.m. Thursday to load up on calories for the second half of his marathon, his 99th in as many days.

It was the longest break of his day and he was happy to fill up on French fries and snack wraps.

"People assume I eat really healthy, but I don't," Wendell said. "This morning I had three bowls of Froot Loops and yesterday's breakfast was 15 strips of bacon in maple syrup."

Wendell, 33, Canton, Ohio, consumes 6 to 7,000 calories per day to maintain his energy, stopping as much as three times during each daily run to eat in order to accomplish his goal of running 100 marathons in 100 days to raise more than $100,000 for clean water.

Technically he's running more than a marathon, at an average of 29.5 miles per day, and with one day to go the finish line is almost in sight.

Wendell travels with a small entourage who follow him in an RV. His wife, Danielle, is along for the ride and joins him for a few runs per week. They also picked up Ryan Beerwinkle in Amarillo, Texas, who now handles the driving. Beerwinkle did his own endurance challenge, a walk through Australia in 2009, to raise money for the same charity.

They slept in the RV almost exclusively the first 60 days, but recently people have been offering up free rooms and credit card points to put the group up in hotels.

Wendell said New Mexico was the toughest few days of the journey both due to the terrain and because his running wasn't well-received by locals.

"There weren't roads to run on at times, and when I was on a main road I got yelled at by a woman who said I was scaring her cows," Wendell said. "I'm a Midwest guy, I like trees. And I like water. And I don't like sharp things like goathead (weeds) stabbing me as I'm running."

Luckily, each day has been better than the last.

"Right now this is the best moment. And when I start running again that will be the best moment, because each moment I'm closer to the end," Wendell said. "I did enjoy going through Indiana though. I had 60 runners join me for that leg."

Wendell said he's had about 200 people join him overall.

His body has held up well through the thousands of miles.

"It's part luck, part prayer, and a lot of training," Wendell said. "But that's not to say I'm not in pain."

Wendell has lost most of his toe nails during the run, and has battled hip flexor pain since running through New Mexico two months ago.

"But I'm running through the pain. No breaks," Wendell said. "Thank you, Advil."

Wendell has run through 30 pairs of shoes since he began training, and 10 since his cross country journey began. He usually switches shoes every 300 miles.

Wendell has been using Karhu brand running shoes, a Finnish company that donated dozens of shoes for his run.

Wendell has a history of completing endurance challenges. He's biked 4,400 miles cross country, walked 3,400 miles cross county, swam more than 50 miles across Lake Michigan, hiked the Appalachian Trail, completed an Iron Man competition, and ran nearly two dozen half and full marathons.

"This was the next step for me," Wendell said. "I continued to push the envelope over the years."

Wendell is running to raise money for clean water in Ethiopia through the nonprofit Active Water, which he co-founded in 2009 and is now the athletic branch of the Christian nonprofit Lifewater.

"Faith is important to me. I believe I was given this athletic gift and I should use it for good," Wendell said. "I won't run these endurance challenges without a cause. Sacrifice inspires. People see the commitment level, what I'm willing to give to raise money."

The goal was to raise $100,000 for clean water, which is enough to provide a lifetime of clean water to 2,500 people. Wendell reached that number in 72 days.

"It's incredible," Wendell said. "The most I'd ever raised before this was $14,000 for swimming Lake Michigan."

Wendell began the run Jan. 1 and will finish his cross country journey in Times Square Friday afternoon.

"I thought New Year's Day was a good starting point," he said. "And I'd rather run in the cold then through 100 degree days. But we've battled winds and negative degrees some days."

Wendell also said the first quarter of the year sees the fewest contributions for nonprofits, so he wanted to do his part to prop up Active Water.

Wendell's journey had raised nearly $130,000 by Thursday, and he hopes to hit $140,000 by the time he coasts into Time Square.

"I'm so close to the end, which is great, but we already did what we set out to do. The rest is just icing on the cake," Wendell said. "This is a lifetime achievement for me, but raising the money feels the best. If I got to the end but only raised $74,000, it wouldn't feel the same."

On Thursday, Wendell ran from Long Valley to Fairfield, joined by Guillermo Gonzales of Jersey City who linked up for this leg of the run.

After lunch in Rockaway, they got right back on the road, heading to the Comfort Inn in Fairfield, where Wendell planned to get a good night's sleep before his final run.

"When I get into the city, I plan to celebrate with family and friends at happy hour at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.," Wendell said. "Then I plan to head to a rooftop deck for a celebration. I'll probably fall asleep by 7:30 p.m."

Wendell will also be joined by employees of Stryker, the medical technology company that supplied him with a T2 tibia nail - a rod in his leg which he's used to run nearly 30 miles per day for the past three-plus months.

Wendell has stayed regimented for 100 days, waking at 6 a.m., running until about 3 p.m., and falling asleep by 7:30 p.m.

"Once I'm done I plan to eat the same amount of food without running at all, catch up on all the movies I missed, and sleep," Wendell said. "I've also got a 100 day 'Forrest Gump' beard going that my wife wants me to shave Saturday morning."

Wendell and company also have about a week's worth of trips to make, dropping and picking up vehicles in Michigan and Maine, and picking up belongings in West Virginia.

Then it's back to Canton, where he plans to purchase a home and start a family.

While he's not counting out another endurance challenge, Wendell said the thought is so far in back of his head it's not worth considering at the moment.

For the record, his wife said she thinks he'll start getting restless in about a week.

Anyone looking to support clean water through athletic endeavors, from cross country trips to 5K walks, to reach out to Active Water on activewater.com for help.

Go to rundarenrun.com to learn more about Wendell's journey and to donate.

Staff Writer Michael Izzo: 973-428-6636; mizzo@dailyrecord.com