If I Can, I Will: William Goodge On Running 50 Marathons In 50 States In 24 Days

What It Covers

Ultra-endurance athlete William Goodge details his plan to run 50 marathons across all 50 U.S. states in 24 days, starting October 9 in Hawaii and finishing at the New York City Marathon. He covers the military-grade logistics, heat training protocols, recovery strategies, grief-driven motivation, and the mental framework that makes extreme multi-day endurance challenges survivable and meaningful.

Key Questions Answered

• •Logistical Buffer Strategy: When planning multi-stage endurance events with hard deadlines, build a minimum 20% time buffer into the schedule. Goodge's 24-day window accommodates what could theoretically be completed in 20 days, absorbing commercial flight delays, vehicle breakdowns, and cascading schedule failures. With 49 transfers across commercial flights, private jets, and driving, each delay creates a domino effect — the buffer protects the entire operation from a single point of failure.
• •Heat Adaptation Protocol: To improve performance in variable temperatures, Goodge follows a structured heat training block: two to three active sessions weekly wearing a full-body heat suit over a hoodie for 50 minutes, preceded by five to six miles of easy running to pre-raise core temperature, plus two passive sauna sessions weekly. This protocol increases blood plasma volume, teaches the body to regulate core temperature faster, and accelerates post-session recovery — benefits that apply even in cool race conditions.
• •Ultra-Marathon Fueling Math: On days involving two or three back-to-back marathons, Goodge estimates burning 6,000 to 9,000 calories daily. His strategy prioritizes whole foods over gels, citing gut shelf-life limitations with processed products during multi-day efforts. Crew support arrives every seven miles with meal-density nutrition. Calories consumed during transit between states are treated as fuel deposits for the next marathon, not recovery for the one just completed — a forward-looking fueling mindset.
• •Strength Training Periodization for Ultra-Runners: Goodge maintains one strength session weekly during high-mileage training blocks exceeding 100 miles per week, focusing on core work, farmers carries, and joint-stability movements while eliminating upper body training entirely. In the two-week taper period, he reverses this ratio to two or three strength sessions weekly while reducing run volume. This approach preserves functional strength without adding metabolically expensive muscle mass that demands resources during multi-day efforts.
• •Speed Work Within Ultra Training: Even when race pace will never exceed 10 to 12 minutes per mile, Goodge includes weekly tempo and speed sessions in his training block. The rationale is neuromuscular turnover — when legs are severely fatigued on day 14 of a 24-day effort, the body still needs to generate forward movement efficiently. High-mileage athletes who train exclusively at slow paces lose the neuromuscular capacity to run when tired, making speed work a durability tool rather than a performance one.
• •Micro-Decision Mental Framework: Goodge uses a single-question protocol to manage the psychological weight of extreme endurance: "Can I take another step?" The answer is structurally always yes unless catastrophic injury occurs. This eliminates future-projection anxiety — there is no need to mentally process the New York City Marathon finish while running in Ohio. Applied broadly, this framework addresses procrastination and fear-based inaction by collapsing the decision horizon to the immediate present moment, making any large goal approachable through sequential micro-commitments.
• •Gamified Fundraising Architecture: The Mission America campaign integrates GoFundMe with a live leaderboard system tracking top-donating states and top individual donors, linked to a Strava challenge where participants run 50 miles or run daily across the 24-day window. A $100 donation tier unlocks a state-specific tour t-shirt, with $10 per shirt sale directed to Stand Up To Cancer. This layered participation model converts passive spectators into active fundraisers with personal stakes in the campaign's outcome.