Don Muchow was determined nothing would stop his 2,761-mile cross-country run from Disneyland to Walt Disney World — not the blisters on his feet, his Type 1 diabetes or the once-in-a-century COVID-19 pandemic.
Muchow will complete his Mouse-to-Mouse run on Monday, April 5 at the Magic Kingdom in Florida — barring any other cataclysmic world-changing events.
“I never considered quitting even once,” said Muchow, 59, of Plano, Texas. “COVID didn’t change my mission: I want every single person with Type 1 diabetes to see that we can still dream big, despite the very real 24/7 challenges and risks involved in balancing insulin, blood glucose, food and activity.”
Muchow began his ultra run by dipping his toe in the Pacific Ocean in Newport Beach on Feb. 1, 2020 and ran 14 miles to Disneyland with plans of reaching Disney World in a little over three months on May 4. Much like the rest of us, his plans were abruptly interrupted in March 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic.
The pre-pandemic plan was to complete the Mouse-to-Mouse run in 98 days — with just under 90 days of running after accounting for daylong breaks along the route. Muchow will still complete the Disneyland to Disney World run in about 90 days, but the full cross-country journey will have taken him just over 14 months. Blame coronavirus for the lengthy delay.
The Mouse-to-Mouse run within a run is part of Muchow’s larger Run Across America intended to empower people with Type 1 diabetes to walk, run or ride. The healthcare marketer-turned-ultra runner has completed Ironman events, quadruple marathons and cross-state mega-runs.
SEE ALSO: Read all about Don Muchow’s preparations for his Mouse-to-Mouse run
The latest nomadic cross-country run isolated Muchow and his crew chief, support van driver and wife Leslie Nolen from much of the outside world — with their focus on the miles ahead, Muchow’s next insulin shot and the supplies and gear needed for the epic trek.
Muchow and Nolen first realized something big was happening when they went to a Costco in Carlsbad, New Mexico to restock the van. The store was packed with shoppers and completely sold out of bottled water. A day later they passed another Costco where a massive line of shoppers was waiting to get in the store.
“That’s when we started connecting the dots and realized people were panic-buying because of the pandemic,” Muchow said in an email interview.
At the time, the headlines were getting increasingly alarming, with the NBA canceling its season and Disneyland and Disney World closing due to pandemic concerns.
“That made us think hard about the wisdom of being out here at all,” Muchow said via email.
They started watching COVID-19 case rates and hospitalizations closely.
“We didn’t want to give or get COVID, especially because folks with Type 1 have a greater risk of developing severe COVID,” Muchow said via email. “I also thought it would be selfish to risk an injury that might require medical care when our healthcare folks and hospitals were so overwhelmed by life-and-death situations.”
They pressed pause on the coast-to-coast and Mouse-to-Mouse runs in March 2020 at the 1,260-mile mark in Tarzan, Texas. They loaded up the van with groceries and headed home to Plano to wait out the pandemic. The cross-country run briefly resumed in October before pausing again at the Texas/Arkansas border when COVID-19 cases cases and hospitalizations spiked again nationwide.
True to character, Muchow never stopped running during the twin breaks — running 1,200 additional miles during the pauses.
“I stayed on top of my conditioning because I wanted to be ready to start whenever the time was right,” Muchow said via email.
Muchow decided the time was right on March 2 — nearly a year since the initial pause in his Run Across America.
A month later, Muchow is now just a few hundred miles from Disney World and dipping his toe in the Atlantic Ocean.
Is he excited to be nearing the finish line?
“To be honest, not yet,” Muchow said via email. “I’m 100% focused on running each day’s miles as safely as I can, and getting up and doing it all over again the next day. My feet are holding up, no major blisters, and the days go by even faster when folks from the Type 1 diabetic community come out and say hi or run a segment with me.”
SEE ALSO: Disneyland could be forced to close or modify Rise of the Resistance under state guidelines
His original plan was to spend a day at the Magic Kingdom at the end of the Mouse-to-Mouse run before finishing the coast-to-coast run — but that will have to wait. Muchow will briefly stop at Disney World and keep running to Melbourne, Florida, where his transcontinental crossing will come to an end on April 7 — if everything goes according to plan.
“After that, I want to plan a more relaxed trip to the Magic Kingdom,” Muchow said via email. “We always ride It’s A Small World and we’re looking forward to that.”
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