That's So Raven
A local runner logs his 100,000th mile after 34 years
By JESSICA SICK
Updated 4:00 PM EST, Sun, Mar 29, 2009
Robert "Raven" Kraft will put your training-for a-half-marathon goal to shame.
That's because 34 years ago Kraft decided he was going to run eight miles a day until he reached 100,000. He reached that goal today.
The journey started in 1974, after a mission at the age of 17 to find his father in L.A. (his mom was a cashier at Miami's Fifth Street Gym, where a young Muhammad Ali was known to work out).
Stints in Nashville and Alabama followed before Kraft returned home and started to run on the beach with a group of boxers. He eventually started to run solo, but over the years, more than 700 people have joined him in his run, which starts every day at the 5th Street lifeguard stand.
''I remember one time, there were these thunderstorms,'' Raven told the Miami Herald. ''I came out and still, someone from England was waiting for me. . . And I knew, I almost had a cult-like following.''
Kraft doesn't know if he'll continue past his goal, though. ''I've been doing this for a while and I never had a family, never had a chance for financial security. I think this milestone could give me a second chance in life.''
First Published: Mar 29, 2009 2:51 PM EST
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