Liverpool veterinarian recreates Forrest Gump's run
Rob Pope is recreating Forrest Gump's iconic run to raise money for charity. Pope ran Going-to-the-Sun Road Aug. 22. (Nadine Strawbridge photo)
Rob Pope is recreating Forrest Gump's iconic run to raise money for charity. Pope ran Going-to-the-Sun Road Aug. 22. (Nadine Strawbridge photo)
Rob Pope – pictured in Washington D.C. with the stroller he pushed before his girlfriend joined him by car – is recreating Forrest Gump's iconic journey across the United States to raise money for charity. (Boston Globe photo)
It’s safe to say that English veterinarian Rob Pope just felt like running.
Pope, 39, a Liverpool native, embarked on a cross-country run that has him retracing the path taken by Forrest Gump in the 1994 movie. Pope started in Mobile, Alabama Sept. 15, 2016, ran to Santa Monica, California and then to Maine, and is now en route to Oregon and San Francisco. He aims for 40 miles each day, broken into 4 or 5 runs, and will have worn out 19 pairs of shoes by the time he gets to San Francisco.
Pope did some running in high school and then played soccer in college, he said, but he’s never done anything like this before. He estimates he’s run over 8,000 miles so far, raising money towards a goal of $1 million for World Wildlife Fund and Peace Direct.
Pope and his friend Nadine Strawbridge have even recreated some iconic scenes from Forrest Gump, including one on the bridge over the St. Mary River. They shoot scenes several times to get them just right.
“Whenever you’re hungry, you eat. Whenever you’re tired, you sleep,” he joked, echoing Gump’s line from the film.
And music helps him get through the day.
“I have a rule I’m not allowed to walk when AC/DC is on,” he said.
He listened to Led Zeppelin all day Aug. 22 while running Going-to-the-Sun Road, and “Stairway to Heaven” came through his earbuds just as he neared Heaven’s Peak.
“I always have a song of the day,” Pope explained. “Monday was Total Eclipse of the Heart, of course. When I was in Joshua Tree National Park I listened to the U2 album Joshua Tree eight times.”
He’s been thrilled about running through Glacier and shooting the St. Mary scenes.
“Glacier’s brilliant,” he remarked. “The national parks are all just really special and a great resource.”
The most surprising thing about this adventure, to Pope, “is that I’m currently still able to do it.”
Some days, every step is painful, he noted. But after making it to Columbia Falls, he was particularly excited to get to the Blue Moon and watch a Liverpool soccer game.
When Pope is finished, he’ll try to keep promoting the charities, and he’s scheduled to run a race in the Sahara Desert not long after.
He’s had about nine days off since last September, having had to return to the United Kingdom a couple times to work, and hopes to complete the Gump-inspired trek in March 2018 – but, as he’s self-funded, he thinks he’ll be “broke” by the time he hits San Francisco. Pope has a GoFundMe page as well as a website, and donations to his cause can be made at the latter: http://www.goingthedistancerun.com/home/. Pope is also on social media as Run Robla Run.