We’ll get this out of the way first: Braden Roggow didn’t run 26.2 miles around a McDonald’s parking lot in Colorado Springs on July 28 to call attention to America’s obesity epidemic, or to protest the country’s agro-industrial complex.
“I actually love McDonald’s food,” Roggow, 31, told me recently on a phone call. “A lot of people think I’m joking when I say that.”
Roggow’s intentions behind the bizarre challenge, which he has labeled a “McMarathon,” are far less idealistic, but also more relatable. He thought it would be funny. He wondered if he could circle the same 740-foot loop without spiraling to insanity. He predicted that his YouTube followers would get a kick out of the stunt.
And Roggow, a sales director from Colorado Springs, just really wanted to do it. Once the idea came to him—during a run, of course—he couldn’t get it out of his head.
“I’m an all-or-nothing type of person,” Roggow said. “When I get an idea for something, I kind of just have to do it.”
Prior to the McMarathon, which he completed at a franchise near his home, Roggow set out some basic parameters. He’d need to circle his loop 187 times to achieve 26.2 miles. He’d break the marathon up into 47-lap increments—after each leg, he would switch directions in the parking lot. He’d also order and eat at least one item from the menu.
“You get the carbs. It’s salty. It’s delicious,” he told me. “I see McDonald’s as the perfect running food—that’s just me, though.”
Roggow followed his guidelines, and over the course of 26.2 miles he downed three hash browns, a medium iced coffee, a cup of Powerade, a medium hot coffee, and a sausage and egg McMuffin. He also maintained an impressive seven-minute pace for most of the challenge—his final running time for the marathon was 3:07. This duration did not include stoppage time to use the bathroom or wolf down hash browns.
“I never got bored,” Roggow said. “Running is my form of meditation. It’s my time to zone out and think about nothing and everything all at the same time.”
And, of course, he recorded the ordeal and . Roggow started operating his own YouTube channel two years ago as a way to chronicle a life-changing decision. A passionate runner, Roggow set out in 2022 to run at least ten miles a day, every day, for as long as possible. It’s been 730 days since he made that pledge, and Roggow is still ticking off the miles and uploading videos.
While watching Roggow’s McMarathon video, I was reminded of our culture’s morbid fascination with stunts, pranks, and dares that take place under the golden arches. In the two decades since filmmaker committed himself to a McDonald’s-only diet for the Supersize Me, a seemingly endless number of people, representing oh so many groups and subcultures, have sought out Micky D’s-themed personal challenges. And, of course, many of them have ended up on the Internet.
I did some light Googling on the subject and unearthed a menagerie of crazy footage: boosting his female teammates into the air in the lobby; a teenager on a Razr scooter ; multiple gone wrong. You can even watch multiple people and cheeseburgers.
Why does McDonald’s continually capture the imagination of stuntmen and ad-hoc filmmakers? I have several theories. The restaurant is ubiquitous and familiar to millions, so saying you’ve backflipped off the ordering counter or jogged 187 laps around the parking lot involves dimensions and distances that many will recognize. McDonald’s is synonyms with the American experiment—it’s corporate, efficient, and mass-produced—so or eating can simultaneously represent an act of patriotism or political dissent.
And of course then there’s the greasy, fatty food. Gobbling a Big Mac while simultaneously undertaking a grueling athletic feat is simply too paradoxical and silly to ignore—just ask runner Joe D’Amico, who in 2011 while training for the Los Angeles Marathon. D’Amico clocked a 2:36 finishing time, and afterward media outlets labeled him the “McRunner.”
I mentioned these points to Roggow, and asked if the McMarathon actually had its roots in his subconscious desire to express feelings about American cuisine, corporate overreach, geopolitics, or some other high concept. Roggow got quiet. Then, he mentioned some additional nuggets of his own personal history with the restaurant. He had actually worked for the chain when he was a teenager, and he reeled off some funny anecdotes from his time behind the register.
Once, when a coworker threatened to quit, the manager came up with highly improvised incentive program to keep the guy on staff. “He gave him a bag of weed,” Roggow said. On another occasion, Roggow’s then-girlfriend, who was also a coworker, dumped him for another employee “That’s why I ended up quitting,” he said.
In his twenties, Roggow’s relationship with his now-wife blossomed during hours-long hangout sessions at a McDonald’s in Denver. And, when Roggow became a diehard runner, he continued to eat cheeseburgers and McMuffins as a way to validate his active lifestyle. You can still treat yourself to fast food when you run 100 miles a week, he told me.
“If I really think about it, I’ve fit McDonald’s into my whole life story,” he said. “Even this new version of me, who is obsessed with running, I still go there.”
We ended our call, and Roggow got back to his daily run. A few moments later, he texted me news of his forthcoming challenge.
Forgot to tell you: I plan to run 50 miles around a McDonald’s. The idea is I eat 1 McNugget for every mile.
Yep, he’s already planning a McUltramarathon.