The story: Running a marathon is challenging enough, but Joe D'Amico is adding what some would consider a fast-food handicap. The suburban Chicagoan, 36, has pledged to eat only McDonald's for 30 days before he runs the Los Angeles Marathon on March 20. Unlike Super Size Me filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, D'Amico is staying away from large fries and Big Macs — favoring Egg McMuffins, grilled chicken sandwiches, and regular hamburgers and fries. The only other things the self-annointed "McRunner" will ingest are a daily multivitamin, tap water, and an energy gel he uses while running his 100 miles a week in training. "I love McDonald's and I love running, and this was a great way to combine the two," D'Amico says, as quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times. He says he'll use his fast food quest to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House, and other charities.
The reaction: D'Amico's wife told him he's crazy, and "we'd be inclined to agree," says Chuck Sudo at Chicagoist. This "diet might make even the most iron-stomached runner queasy," says Nina Mandell at the New York Daily News. Indeed, it sounds "more like a recipe for getting the runs than running fast," says Kim Janssen at the Chicago Sun-Times.