Ultra Motivated 

The idea of running from Buc-ee’s in Hillsboro to Buc-ee’s in Temple — 75 miles — isn’t one that crosses most people’s minds. It’s certainly not a goal most people will ever aspire to or accomplish. For Baylor University senior Carson Sheldon, the feat marked the culmination of his goal to run eight ultramarathon distances in eight months.

The task, which he called Project Ultra, sounds wildly ambitious. But 22-year-old Sheldon considered is just another way to enjoy running as a passion, identity, and future career.

>>>> But Baylor University senior Carson Sheldon not only ran that distance last month, it was the culmination of his goal to run eight ultramarathon distances—further than 26.2 miles—in eight months. If this sounds wildly ambitious, it is. But for 22-year-old Sheldon, it was just another way to enjoy running as a passion, identity, and future career.

Strapping on the shoes

When Sheldon was a senior in high school, he found himself in an emotional crisis and spiraled, losing his sense of self.

“Running started as an emotional outlet to have some aspect of control in my life when all the pillars of my identity were kind of dissolving away,” Sheldon said. “I used to put a lot of my identity in relationships, friends, materialistic things. And once all those were stripped away from me, I realized that my identity was not necessarily my relationships and materialistic things, but the impact I leave on this planet.”

He decided to pick up running as way to move himself in a positive direction and as his endurance built over the miles, so did his wellbeing.

“I think there’s two different types of runners in the world,” Sheldon said. “There are the runners that run for working out, and then there are runners who do it for a bigger reason, the sense of escaping something. And for me, while I was escaping the craziness of my issues, I was also figuring out who I was in the process.”

At Baylor, Sheldon continued to run regularly. His sophomore year, he trained for and ran the Bearathon, Baylor’s half-marathon, and completed it in an hour and a half. His junior year, he trained hard for four months, hoping for an improved and competitive time at the race. But his results were disappointing.

“I absolutely bombed,” Sheldon said. “It was an epic failure — everything that could go wrong did go wrong, like shoes untied, weather was terrible, top three most times I’ve ever sweat in my life. I ended up missing my goal by five minutes, which was so far from what I wanted.”

Upping the miles

Shaking off the loss, Sheldon talked to his running coach Carter Bitticks and reoriented his mindset. Two weeks later, on April 13, 2025, Sheldon ran his first ultramarathon distance, a 38-mile journey from Waco to the Buc-ee’s travel center in Temple. 

“I did a lot of reflecting on why I wanted to run to Buc-ee’s, and I settled on the idea of not wanting to be labeled by worldly things,” Sheldon said. “Don’t be labeled by a finish line. Don’t be labeled by the people around you. You’re a child of God before you’re a child of people’s opinions. I really just did it to prove to myself that my potential didn’t lie in what the previous finish line was.”

His endeavor quickly captured the attention of the Waco-area media channels. He became known as “The Buc-ee’s Runner” on campus.

“People that I had never met had sent me messages saying, ‘Hey, I just want you to know you really inspire me to get on my run today or you really helped me push through,’” Sheldon said.

Everything Sheldon does is influenced by his faith in Jesus, and he sees his endeavors as a gift that he should use to glorify God.

“I’m a big believer that if God gave you a gift, it’s your obligation to use it for the betterment of other people,” Sheldon said. “But I don’t necessarily believe running is my gift. I would say it’s more discipline.”

Project Ultra

This past fall, Sheldon set a new goal he called Project Ultra, which included running eight ultramarathon distances (anything over 26.2 miles) in eight months. Sheldon’s distances ranged from 31 miles to 75 miles. He did this intentionally to show how anyone can achieve greatness over a sustained period, instead of a shorter window of time.

“I wanted to show people that you could choose greatness and you could choose your potential as long as you wanted to,” Sheldon said. “Training for these ultras, there’s no way you can slack off. It’s a magnifying glass of who you really are because training for 75 miles, you can’t just go out and run 20 miles and say, ‘Oh, I hope it’ll work out.’”

With a combination of solo runs and scheduled events, Sheldon ran 10 times, the distance of 31, 31, 42, 55, 65, 31, 40, and 75 miles. In a year and a half, he’s run 12 ultramarathon distances.

And remember the Bearathon? Sheldon also ran that half marathon this spring, but this time, for fun. And this time, with different results. Coach Bitticks said he set a personal record with his time.

“He was training for something completely different where he would have to run super slow, but switched his mindset and was able to run the fastest he’d ever run,” Bitticks said.

Buc-ee’s to Buc-ee’s

The final race was April 18, but Sheldon almost didn’t make the run. The week leading up to his event, he was extremely ill with a sinus infection, and the challenge seemed daunting. He felt the pressure of people who were showing up to support him. But that only fueled his determination.

Starting at the Hillsboro Buc-ee’s, Sheldon traversed 75 miles over 15 hours, but while he wasn’t participating in an official race with other runners, he was far from alone. He had a crew to help, a police escort, photographers, a friend flying over with a helicopter, and friends and family at mile markers along the way.

“My friends ran with me the last mile, and when I sprinted to the end, I touched the bronze statue of Buc-ee,” Sheldon said, “My first thought was ‘On to the next.’ I am so thankful that I was able to accomplish that, and be able to inspire people to seek more of their potential, but when a chapter ends, it’s proof that a story is being written, so I’m going to keep pushing and advancing in this sport until God himself tells me to stop.”

Stay Different

Sheldon describes himself as truth-seeking and entrepreneurial, highly driven to change things. He’s overcome struggles with dyslexia and attention-deficit hyperactive disorder, calling them “learning capabilities.”

“I want to seek truth at its ultimate form of pain and resilience,” Sheldon said. “My tagline for this whole thing has been ‘stay different,’ meaning the ordinary is overcrowded, stay different.”

Running fits Sheldon’s need for movement and self-competition, while helping him center his mind. While training, Sheldon runs about 60-80 miles a week, six days a week, which adds up to around 15 hours runtime. He often runs both in the morning and the evening, starting as early as 3:30 a.m. when needed to fit everything into his schedule.

Bitticks has known Sheldon since their freshman year, and says he’s highly motivated.

“He’s just really driven to do things, and he does things 100 percent all the way,” Bitticks said. “He wants to know everything. He’s constantly asking me for advice; he’s just trying to pull any sort of information he can get so he can do the best that he can at whatever he’s doing.”

Keeping it Moving

Sheldon’s shoe brand of choice is Mount to Coast, which is designed for running extreme distances.

“Normal running shoes last up to 350 miles, but Mount to Coast shoes last up to 1,000 miles,” Sheldon said.

Otherwise, his gear is minimal: Mount to Coast shirts, Party Shirt International shirts, Lululemon shorts, Nike ACG half tights, Solomon Advanced Skin 5 Vest, and wired Apple earbuds. 

When asked what he listens to during those many hours of running, he says he’ll listen to music like jazz, Fleetwood Mac or indie bands, audiobooks such as Tim Grover’s Relentless, and books by David Groggins; and most of all, the sound of silence.

“Music helps you peak during running, but for me, for these ultras, it’s not that big of a deal,” Sheldon said. “When you’re going into uncharted territories, of longer distances, there is so much to learn and that pain of continuing on; and why would I want to take away from all that by listening to a rock song, an audiobook when I could just listen to who I am under an insane amount of pressure?”

Recovery after ultramarathons includes light movement such as hiking, stretching, elevating his legs and intensively refueling after expending 11,000 calories over 140,000 steps.

“I’m very food-motivated,” Sheldon joked. “I would just go to Olive Garden and eat so much chicken alfredo. My whole life is a carbo load.”

The Next Mile

After graduating this May with a degree in communications, Sheldon plans to pursue professional ultrarunning. He also wants to work for a running-focused company in growth and marketing.

Sheldon just announced he’ll be launching Project Fate in June, running four 100-mile distances in six months. In the meantime, he’ll be lacing up his shoes and hitting the pavement for his next long run, destination unknown.