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Man running 50K a day for 50 days in 50 states stops in Charlotte

McDonald and community runners prep at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Clara Ottati
/
WFAE
McDonald and community runners prep at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

A Florida man is trying to run a 50K every day for 50 consecutive days in all 50 states, and on Monday, he ran in Charlotte.

The Charlotte Motor Speedway is typically pretty empty at 8:30 on a Monday morning, but Brady McDonald has already been there for two hours. It is day 3 of his 50-state ultramarathon mission to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. McDonald will run a 50K every day for 50 days.

That’s 31 miles a day.

McDonald has been running ultramarathons for three years. After running a 300-mile race and raising $300,000 for Make-A-Wish earlier this year, he decided to raise the stakes.

“Because my purpose was to raise $300,000 for these children, I didn’t quit. And I would’ve if it was just for myself,” McDonald said. “So I learned that if my purpose is bigger, or if our purpose is bigger than ourselves, we’re able to accomplish so much more.”

McDonald’s goal for his 50-state mission is to raise $1 million. That would cover 100 wishes for children facing critical illnesses.

“We’ve all [had] the worst moments of our lives. And somebody helped us get out of that.

“Our goal is to be that random stranger that helps facilitate that wish through Make-A-Wish, so we could give hope while people are living in fear. That’s really what this is about.”

McDonald has 47 states to go. Up next is Georgia.

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Clara Ottati is a summer reporting intern at WFAE and student at Davidson College studying English and History. She served as staff writer and section editor at Davidson’s weekly newspaper, The Davidsonian.