June 12, 2026
Bud Wilson/Facebook
Ultramarathon runner Bud Wilson, 58, of Philadelphia, is running across Pennsylvania starting Sunday. He's aiming to complete the 361-mile route from outside Pittsburgh to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in a record six days.
A Philadelphia man is embarking on a 361-mile ultramarathon Sunday that begins at the eastern edge of West Virginia, continues across the length of Pennsylvania and ends at the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.
Bud Wilson, 58, of Wynnefield, said he's aiming to complete the arduous trek in six days to capture a record for the route. Wilson plans to run 18 to 20 hours per day to get back to Philly by Friday or Saturday.
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"I'm the kind of person that wants to do some epic s---," Wilson said Friday as he prepared for his journey. "I want to live what they call 'a good story.'"
Wilson is no stranger to ultramarathons, which in recent decades have become Herculean benchmarks for extreme endurance runners worldwide. Wilson, a Michigan native, moved to the Philly area 30 years ago and started running about a decade ago to help his daughter train for track meets when she was in high school. He moved on to 5Ks, half-marathons and obstacle course races before completing his first Philadelphia Marathon in 2017.
"I've always been kind of one of those extreme people," Wilson said. "When I do something, I go all in, and I go really hard at it."
A few years ago, Wilson ran an 8-hour circuit of about 50 miles around the Cooper River in New Jersey. Then he did the 100-mile Eastern States ultramarathon, a rugged trek through the Pine Creek watershed in north-central Pennsylvania. In September, Wilson ran the length of New Jersey from the Cape May Lighthouse north to High Point State Park in about 2 days and 9 hours. That set a south-to-north record for the 196-mile route on Fastest Known Time, an online platform that documents ultramarathon routes and record times.
For the New Jersey run, Wilson raised about $2,500 for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. He plans to give St. Jude's a portion of the proceeds for his Pennsylvania run. He has pledged to donate half of what he gets until his expenses are covered and then the rest will go to the hospital.
"Anything that I can raise and give back to charity, I'm going to feel good about," Wilson said.
The run across Pennsylvania starts in Colliers, West Virginia, just south of Lake Pittsburgh, where Wilson and a support team are driving this weekend in a converted van. The route, shown on FKA, mostly covers the lower third of Pennsylvania along Route 30. Wilson will enter Philadelphia from the Main Line, cut through Fairmount Park and cross Center City to get to the Ben Franklin Bridge.
"It's mostly roadways," WIlson said. "Some is on paved trails, maybe bike paths and stuff like that. I'm going to have turn-by-turn directions on my watch, so I don't really have to worry."
The current record for the route, held by Cain Leathers, is about 9 days and 23 hours.
Wilson's support van will follow behind him with food and other supplies. He'll be able to take naps in the van — rarely more than a few hours — and will have water with him to drink from a hydration vest. Sometimes, he'll just rest on the roadside if need be.
"In ultramarathons, there's something known as a dirt nap, where basically you just lay down on the side of the trail and take a 5 or 10 minute nap just to revive you," Wilson said.
Throughout the trek, Wilson plans to post progress updates on Instagram and Facebook.
The Philadelphia region has been mired in hot, humid weather with highs above 90 degrees and a heat health emergency that continues until 8 p.m. Friday. Wilson said most of the hot weather has already passed through the Pittsburgh area, so he'll be able to get off to a temperate start Sunday with highs in the low- to mid-80s. He's not intimidated by the forecast and plans to do a lot of his running at night.
"I'm pretty good at running in extremes, because I do it all the time," Wilson said. "If it's raining out, as long as there's not lightning, if it's pouring down, those are the times that I actually like lacing up my shoes and going out there. That's just going to make me more mentally tough."
