NYC Marathon: Live Race Updates

Kutcher, the actor, remembers moving to Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan at age 19. “I had a hundred dollars and a Boy Scout duffle bag and a Swiss Army knife,” he said. “I called my dad and said, ‘I’m not going home.’ From there, the city became a ‘stepping stone’ for his life and career.

Decades later, he was excited to see the streets lined with spectators as he joined tens of thousands of runners in the marathon on Sunday. “I think boldness and passion are apparent,” Kutcher said of racing, because “everyone has a cause, and everyone has something.”

Speaking for himself, Kutcher was driven to raise awareness of Thorn, which builds technology to help identify child sexual exploitation.

He said of the company’s mission: “As long as the Internet is around people will learn how to put this material online.” “The more people we can run this race with us, the more likely we are to succeed.”

for him fundraising page The million dollar goal has been exceeded.

As his training began, Kutcher, who has done the bulk of the run on the Peloton treadmill, contacted the company to suggest the idea of ​​interviewing guests during the video workouts. Peloton agreed and, as requested, included a link to Thorne’s fundraising efforts at the end of each exercise as Kutcher’s only compensation.

He said of interviews that included Kim Kardashian and Natalie Portman, “The main question on the Peloton tours was, ‘What’s your reason? “I think the more we can explore the ‘whys’ of others, the more we discover that we may have a part of that within ourselves.”

Of his ’cause’, Kutcher said, “I keep putting the faces of these kids that I’ve seen over the past 10 years of cases we’ve worked on at the other end of that line. Just knowing I can reach them, we can reach them, that’s very motivating.”

The other “why” is his son, who will cheer him off the course with Kutcher’s wife, Mila Kunis, and daughter. “My son told me that if I got first, second or third place, he would buy me a puppy,” he said. “I don’t have the heart to tell him there’s no chance of winning this thing, so I’m going out there to win it.”

Perhaps more realistically, Kutcher hopes to beat his friend Sean “Diddy Combs” 2003’s marathon time of 4:14:54, a number Kutcher saved. “I’ll be devastated then,” he said confidently.

Will he make the marathon a habit? “So far, not at all. Not for any reason but the injuries are real. But knowing that his competitive spirit might motivate him to challenge his time in another race, I have a group of people who have asked to recommend me never to do it again.”