Philly Runners Want to Organize Rocky 50K Race Following Route in Rocky II

Our site went down a few times yesterday as traffic poured in for a post on our sister site, the Philly Post, which painstakingly determined the actual distance of Rocky Balboa’s epic run through Philly in Rocky II. Writer Dan McQuade pieced together the landmarks that appear in the montage to figure out how far Rocky actually ran in the movie. The post got picked up by Deadspin then Runner’s World then USA Today and so on, because, apparently, everyone’s been secretly wondering about Rocky’s total mileage (30.61 miles, by the way) for the past 34 years.

And I knew, as soon as I read the article, that someone, somewhere in Philly would get the bright idea to organize a race retracing the real route of the Rocky run—and sure enough, that’s just what happened. A new Facebook group, called the Rocky 50K Fatass Race, just cropped up “for people interested in a fatass-style race covering Rocky’s footsteps,” according to organizer Rebecca Schaefer in a post on the page.

She continues:

I’m in the process of acquiring details about organizing a fatass race in the city of Philadelphia, but if you’re interested in finding out more details once they arrive, this is the group for you!

For those curious: “FAT ASS is the name given to a series of low key runs that are frequented by experienced runners & walkers and characterised by the phrase “No Fees, No Awards, No Aid, No Wimps”. Yes, the runs are totally free to enter and are put on by passionate runners who are also running.”

The aim of this race would be to make it free, but if people are interested in having things like shirts, medals, etc., smaller fees may arise.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

As of this writing, the group has 49 members. You can join the fun right here.