NEW PALESTINE, Ind. — For Chuck Myers, running has always been his passion.
"It's something you can do your entire life," said Myers. "No matter how young, old, you can run at some level. You don't have to be the fastest person. You don't have to go win races."
But now, running is his purpose. The 49-year-old former track and cross-country coach of New Palestine High School is halfway through a challenging goal of running the six biggest marathons in the world in one year, known as the "Six Abbott World Marathons."
"The six are Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York," said Myers.
(UPDATE: Myers completed his challenge on Nov. 3, finishing the New York City Marathon. He said he raised $60,000 during his journey.)
He has the bibs, medals and pins from the first three.
"Tokyo was fantastic. Went really well. Did the pace I was expecting to do," said Myers. "Boston was a disaster. About two miles in I had a back spasm and that led to a hamstring tightening as well. London was six days later."
Myers is now training for the Berlin marathon on Sept. 29 followed by marathons in Chicago and New York City. Only 102 people have ever run the world's six biggest marathons in one year.
Myers is doing it to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in memory of his brother-in-law Marc Baum who died from gastric cancer in 2018 and longtime friend Matt Griffin who died from Lymphoma.
"Matt was a great guy. I've known him since junior high. We ran together in high school. Ran track and cross country in high school and at Ball State. We ran track at Ball State," said Myers.
Every step he will run is in memory of Matt and Marc. Myers is hoping others will donate to his cause so the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society can find cures and ensure access to treatments for blood cancer patents.
On his fundraising page, chuckruns.com, Myers explained why he chose the goal.
"Since my goal of running is large I figured I should make a fundraising goal that was equal to the challenge, so my goal is $156,000. You might say, "that is an odd goal" and my response is, yeah that is a weird number but it is $1,000 for each mile of the 6 marathons (26x6x$1,000=$156,000). Then some of you might say, "Well, the marathon is actually 26.2 so you are going to be a little short." Well, I have thought about that as well, so for each of the .1 of the .2 I will give $1,000 myself (2x6x$1,000=$12,000).
Chuck runs, not for himself. But for others. That's a journey that's Inspiring Indiana.