The Interview: Liverpool’s ‘Forrest Gump’ on his record-breaking running challenge

Interview with Rob Pope

Croxteth vet Rob Pope has smashed records and raised thousands for charities in a mammoth adventure partly inspired by Forrest Gump.

The ambitious runner made big sacrifices and tested his fitness to cross America five times before declaring himself, in the words of the film character, “pretty tired”.

As Rob continues his mission to reach a fundraising total as gigantic as his achievement, he shares his biggest struggles, special moments and future challenges.

Interview by Natasha Young

 

How did you come up with the idea to follow in the footsteps of Forrest Gump?

It had been developing over a long period of time. I’d wanted to run across America for ages so it was basically me wanting to make a difference that made it get a lot bigger.

You’ve been raising money for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Peace Direct. why did you choose those charities?

The WWF is [close to my heart because of my work as a vet], but I chose both because Forrest is asked in the film whether he’s running for women’s rights, world peace, the homeless, the environment and animals, and between those two charities they cover everything.

Were you a big fan of ‘Forrest Gump’ or did it just work for the challenge?

It’s a good film but it definitely wasn’t in my top five favourite films beforehand. I’ve watched the running scene hundreds of times now but only because I needed to do the research to make sure things were right.

You want people to engage with it but I’m not walking around now in Nike Cortez trainers and a cap asking people to listen to me!

What was the total mileage once you’d completed the fifth and final leg?

The final figure was 15,607 in 422 days of running, which is an average of 37 miles a day.

You’d previously run marathons but how did you prepare for something as big as this?

I just went! You didn’t see Forrest in the gym for weeks before, doing his press-ups. You can’t prepare for something like this, it takes too long. If you’re devoting 10 hours a day to training, you may as well just be making progress and start off down the road.

So did you allocate a set amount of time to complete each leg or was it a case of finishing when you finish?

With the first one I just had an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation) and 90 days to do it so it was very much constrained by that.

Then there was a delay while waiting for my proper Visa. I went back out in the January for almost six months which is the maximum you can spend.

I also wanted to finish at a cool place and I could have gone on a bit further and ended up in the middle of Minnesota but I thought it’d be good to end up in Chicago at the end of that leg – I wanted to see U2 there on 4 June. It was Nick Cave in Detroit on 3 June and U2 in Chicago on the 4 June so that was cool.

 

 

What was the toughest element of the challenge?

Just the low level stress because I was self-funding it.

We didn’t want to self-fund it, we didn’t intend to set it out as this big noble gesture but it was the fact that sponsors never came in and I was determined to finish for the charities, so I was basically wondering how to make ends meet, both in America and at home.

Also, it was where I was going to stay that night when I was on my own, what I was going to be eating, and waking up that next day knowing I had a load of miles to do but nothing was certain. That was probably the hardest bit.

How did you juggle it with your everyday life and work as a vet?

I jacked the job in, and for a good chunk of the first half my girlfriend had been out with me.

For the other half I was on my own. It was a case of having to keep in touch whenever, and then [my girlfriend] was pregnant for the last bit of the challenge so I was a bit stressed that she was coping, but she did OK.

What was the reaction like in America, and how aware were people of what you were doing?

It built and I’d get decent local media coverage. In the lesser populated states the press would generally be more interested because you were more of a novelty.

The press in San Francisco didn’t care and I didn’t get a sniff off anyone there which was really disappointing – that was the point where I was out of money completely and thought surely if any sponsors are going to happen it’s going to be in San Francisco because it’s a really healthy, outward-looking town.

A GoFundMe page was set up after the three legs but I didn’t have any sponsors who backed the run, it was me.

You ran this year’s London Marathon too. How did this factor into your challenge?

I did Manchester, Brighton and London in three weeks. It was about keeping up the profile because I came back for the baby being born but I didn’t want to go off the radar for three weeks.

I’m glad I did the London marathon because it got a lot of good exposure and that helps the charities.

Didn’t you break a record for the fastest runner in a film costume too?

That’s the one, and WWF said its website traffic pretty much doubled that weekend.

 

 

Is the fundraising still continuing now that you’ve completed the run?

Yes, this is what I’m doing now. We’re doing the ‘Gump Challenge’, which is like the ice bucket challenge, so the thing is to do a line or scene from the film and then donate and nominate two more people to do it. We’ve got a Facebook page for people to post videos.

How have you been readjusting to life now the challenge is over?

I landed on the Monday and I worked on the Tuesday. I just get on with things. I miss bits.

Because of having the baby and becoming engaged recently, people are being nice and still talking about the run so I don’t think I’ve got that degree of separation yet.

It might be when life’s a bit rubbish that I start going ‘oh I wish I was running again’, but if I never do anything like that again I don’t think I’ll have any regrets of how I should have gone further or anything like that.

Will you continue running marathons?

I’ve got Berlin in September so I want to train properly for that, and I’m also running the Marathon Des Sables race in the Sahara Desert. They call it the world’s toughest foot race but in reality it’s probably not.

The world’s biggest tough foot race is probably a better way to describe it, but I’m quite happy that if they call it the world’s toughest foot race then I can call it that and everyone can go ‘oh my god, he did the hardest race in the world!’.

I’m going to have that as a mini focus.

What’s your highlight of running across America?

I always go back to running through Joshua Tree National Park – that was incredible, listening to U2’s ‘Joshua Tree’ the whole way. I ran to Death Valley, where the Joshua Tree from the album cover is, and I don’t think anybody’s done that journey on foot before.

It was a really good pilgrimage and then seeing [the band] in Chicago was a nice story within a story. Reaching the oceans was always pretty special, especially the second which was probably my favourite.

They were all pretty different and for the first in Santa Monica, my girlfriend Nadine was there along with a big solid group of mates and it was a pretty fun night afterwards.

For the second I just had one mate there who’d ridden the last five days with me on his bike, and a couple of locals. That was a nice quiet night but really emotional, having completed that leg on my own and getting to the end.

The third one was just me and my girlfriend in Oregon at the beach and we went back to the town the next day where I ran the Oregon State 10K Championships and won it.

I don’t include that run and the Boston Marathon in the official 15,607-mile total, but if I were to count those and the three marathons here it actually makes 600 marathons.

I reached the fourth ocean on my own, on sunset, on the last day before I flew home so it was a pretty satisfactory outcome, and then the final finish wasn’t an ocean but that was incredible.

There were about 30 people running that final bit with me, and probably another 100 at the finish watching or cheering along the way. I proposed to my girlfriend as well so I’ll never forget that moment.

For more information about Rob’s challenge and how to donate, visit: www.goingthedistancerun.com.