Runner follows ‘Forrest Gump route,” covers 2,200 miles for charity

A marathon runner from England completed a 2,200-mile run Wednesday, recreating the route made famous by Tom Hanks’ character in the movie “Forrest Gump.”

Rob Pope, who lives in Liverpool, was running to raise money for two charities, The World Wildlife Fund and Peace Direct, and is taking donations through his website. He arrived in California on Wednesday, completing his journey at the Santa Monica Pier, KTLA reported.

Pope has competed in 18 marathons, but this run that began Sept. 15 in Mobile, Alabama, was the equivalent of nearly 84 marathons. Pope, 38, ran 32 miles per day. He told KTLA that he maintained his focus by singing along to songs that fit the theme of his leg, such as "Living on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi at his halfway point in Texas, a state that took him the entire month of October to run through.

“I guess I just felt like running,” Pope wrote on his Twitter profile.
Pope is an emergency veterinarian at night. He won the Australian Marathon Championship in 2015, and was a back-to-back winner in 2015-16 at the Liverpool Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon, according to his website. He said he was inspired by replicating Forrest Gump’s run.

"My mom, just like Forrest’s mom, isn’t around unfortunately anymore. She just said, ‘Make sure you do one thing in your life that makes a difference,’” Pope told KTLA.

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