For Ashton Kutcher’s first marathon—and perhaps his last—there was only one choice: New York City.
Running a marathon was a lifelong goal for Kutcher, and the opportunity presented itself when Thorn, the nonprofit technology company he co-founded in 2012, became a marathon charity partner. “In my mind, running a marathon was always in New York City,” he said in an interview days before the race.
Kutcher, an actor, recalled moving to Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan when he was 19. “I had a hundred dollars and my scout bag and my Swiss army knife,” he said. “I called my dad and said, ‘I’m not coming home.'” From there, the city became a “launch pad” for his life and career.
Decades later, he looks forward to seeing the streets packed with spectators as he joins the tens of thousands of runners for Marathon Sunday. “I think it shows courage and passion,” Kutcher said of the race, because “everyone’s got a thing, everyone’s got something.”
Kutcher, speaking for himself, was motivated by the prospect of raising awareness of Thorn developing technology to help identify child sexual exploitation.
“As long as the internet exists, people will figure out how to put this material online,” he said of the company’s mission to take it down. “The more people we can get to race with us, the more likely we are to be successful.”
His fundraising page has surpassed a goal of $1 million.
As his training began, Kutcher, who does most of his running training on a Peloton treadmill, called the company to suggest the idea of interviewing guests during filmed workouts. Peloton agreed and, as he wished, included a link to Thorn’s fundraisers at the end of each practice as Kutcher’s sole compensation.
“The essential question in the peloton runs was, ‘What’s your why?'” he said of interviewing Kim Kardashian and Natalie Portman. “I think the more we can explore other people’s ‘why’, the more we find out that maybe we have a piece of it in ourselves.”
Speaking of his own “why,” 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 on the other end of that line. Just knowing that I can reach her and we can reach her is quite motivating.”
His other “why” is his own son, who will be cheering him on from the course with Kutcher’s wife Mila Kunis and daughter. “My son told me if I get first, second, or third place, he’ll buy me a puppy,” he said. “I don’t have the heart to tell him there’s no chance of me 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 marathon time of 4:14:54, a number Kutcher has memorized. “I’m going to be devastating this time,” he said confidently.
Will he make marathon running a habit? “Until now absolutely not. For no other reason than the injuries are real,” he said. But knowing his competitive spirit could motivate him to challenge his own time in another race, he said: “I have a lot of people that I’ve asked to recommend that I not do it again.”
