Photos courtesy of Run with Reza.
“I want to be the first person to run on the moon.”
This is the mentality of 41-year-old Reza Baluchi, an athlete who has been training in Death Valley for two years for what he hopes to be his greatest athletic accomplishment yet: running from the coast of California to Hawaii in a bubble-contraption that he engineered himself.
Of course, Reza understands that baby steps are required, which is why this Saturday, he’ll attempt to run from the shore of Long Beach to Catalina Island, a trip he estimates will take about 10 hours.
Reza’s athletic accomplishments supersede even the most competitive of sportsters. He’s run the entirety of the U.S. perimeter—some 11,000 miles—during a 50-mile-a-day journey that put him in the Guinness Book of World Records for world’s longest solo run. He has run from Los Angeles to New York—twice. He spent seven years on his bicycle, pedaling across 55 different countries and racking up 49,700 miles (unbelievable as it may be, that number is not a typo).
Beyond the sheer athleticism of his endeavors, the most fascinating part about Reza is what he has run away from, and what he is running toward.
Reza, an Iranian native, knows first hand the inherent problems that come when a government overrules its people. Imprisoned and tortured for 45 days for eating during the month of Ramadan, Reza decided to escape on none other than his bicycle.
“I run for peace,” Reza said. “Because every day they tortured me. So I decided to escape and never go back.”
His journey finally led him to receive political asylum in the U.S. in 2001, the first year he ran LA-to-NYC following 9/11 in an effort to show Americans that one ideology doesn’t fit the entirety of any given population.
This will not be Reza’s first attempt at trying to run from Long Beach to Catalina. In May of this year, he was forced to cancel a planned practice run due to a lack of oxygen running through his bubble contraption—dubbed the Hydro Pod Bubble Runner—which resembles a floating hamster wheel of sorts.
“I had to reconstruct it with two doors,” Reza said. “To get oxygen to flow better so I can keep going.”
The trip is expected to take somewhere between 10 and 12 hours by Reza’s estimates; he’ll be guarded and accompanied by Long Beach nautical guru Rob Webb on his journey. Reza’s main endeavor, California to Hawaii, is expected to take somewhere between 46 and 50 days.
“You have the power to teach kids that if you have a dream, you can achieve it,” Reza said. “You can do anything—no matter what’s in the way. And with this run, I want to show how you can do anything.
Reza will begin his practice journey on Saturday, September 28 at the Gondola Getaway at Alamitos Bay at 8AM. The public is open and free to attend his launch into the waters of the Pacific.