By Ashley Argoon
A REAL-life Forrest Gump staggered across the finish line in Melbourne yesterday, his 52nd marathon in 52 weeks.
Since the start of the year Tristan Miller, 33, has run one marathon a week, across all seven continents.
Mr Miller now has more reason than anyone to put his feet up this Christmas break. After leaving his sales job at Google, Mr Miller decided to leave the rat race, selling everything he had to finance the trip overseas.
“Someone asked me what I was running away from. I was just running away from all the obvious trappings in life,” Mr Miller said. “I had a car, a big mortgage, all those sorts of things, and that wasn’t making me necessarily happy, so I just wanted to go and see the world once again, get some perspective on my life, and see what else is out there.”
After becoming ill in Mongolia and despite wanting to come home, Mr Miller refused to give up.
In his year of marathons, Mr Miller ran 3350km in 42 countries, wore out four pairs of runners, ate 160 packets of energy gel and lost 6kg.
He went to Russia and, Germany and only last week was in Antarctica.
He still has no words to explain the amazing and painful experience of running through snow and ice in one of the most desolate places on earth.
About 400 supporters ran with Mr Miller yesterday, despite most still being full of turkey and Christmas sweets.
Supporter Karen Chan was eagerly awaiting the chance to shake her hero’s hand.
“It was sensational to run with Tristan. I’ve been following his journey since the start of the year,” Ms Chan said.
His girlfriend of two years, Rebecca Sherwill, planned a quiet reunion after not seeing Mr Miller for five months.
“Not many people set such crazy goals, but it’s been an adventure,” Ms Sherwill said.
argoona@heraldsun.com.au
Source: www.hearldsun.com.au
