How do you run 50 marathons in 24 days?

Will Goodge is an ultra-endurance athlete who has spent the last decade taking on some extraordinary challenges. He crossed Australia on foot in just over 35 days — 2,361 miles — and ran 3,011 miles from Los Angeles to New York in 55 days.

But there’s a reason behind all of it. Will began running after losing his mom, Amanda, to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2018. Since then, every major project has also been a fundraiser in her memory.

An attempt like this takes much more than an extraordinary runner. Will can cover the miles, but getting him through 50 marathons in 50 states in 24 days requires aviation, ground transport, recovery, timing and logistics to work together incredibly precisely.

That’s where Goodwin comes in. Mission America is the first project in the Goodwin Endurance Series, which brings athletes and operational teams together to take on challenges that haven’t been done before. Will was a natural choice to lead the first one.

It actually started on a run.

Will and Goodwin’s founder were talking about what Will wanted to take on next. Will said his dream was to set a world record by running a marathon in all 50 states faster than anyone had done it before.

The obvious challenge was getting him from state to state quickly enough. Goodwin’s founder joked that he had access to “time machines” — airplanes. From there, the idea started turning into a real plan.

Yes — and we hope people will.

At every stop, runners will have the opportunity to join Will for the first 5K. With 50 states on the schedule, there’s a good chance he’ll be running somewhere near you.

You can come on your own, bring a friend or sign up with your run club. It’s a chance to experience a small piece of the attempt from inside it rather than just following along.

Mostly on the move.

Will will eat, sleep and recover in the RV, in transit and wherever the schedule gives him an opportunity. His nutrition, hydration, bodywork and sleep are all being planned around each marathon and the transfer that follows.

There isn’t much downtime built into 50 marathons in 24 days, so making the most of those recovery windows is a huge part of the challenge.

Planes, an RV, commercial flights — and a lot of planning.

Goodwin is coordinating the route between all 50 states, including private aviation where it makes sense, commercial flights where needed, and the RV for ground transfers.

Every travel decision affects what comes next. An extra hour getting to the next state is an hour Will isn’t sleeping, eating or recovering, so the logistics are almost as much of a race against the clock as the marathons themselves.

Running 50 marathons isn’t enough. Every one has to count.

The attempt will be documented through route data, timestamps, tracking, media and crew records, with the evidence submitted for official verification after the challenge is complete.

You don’t train for one marathon 50 times.

Will has been building toward this kind of workload for years. There’s obviously a huge aerobic base involved, but the bigger question is what happens after marathon 12. Or 27. Or 43.

He has to be able to run 26.2 miles, get in a vehicle or on a plane, recover as much as possible and then get up and do it again. There really isn’t a normal “race day” in this attempt.

The marathon ends. The clock doesn’t.

As soon as Will finishes, the focus shifts to getting calories and fluids back in, bodywork, mobility, sleep if there’s time, and getting everyone to the next state.

Sometimes that means the RV. Sometimes it means getting on a plane. Often, several of those things are happening at once.

The running is obviously demanding. Figuring out how to recover enough to keep running is another challenge entirely.

Every mile of Mission America carries the purpose that has driven Will’s running from the beginning: honoring his mom, Amanda, and supporting people affected by cancer.

You can support the mission and follow the fundraising effort here.