And now there is one.

Dane Rauschenberg will spend his New Year's Eve at the Run for the Ranch Marathon in Springfield, Mo. What began in sunshine Jan. 8 at the Walt Disney World Marathon in Orlando will finish in relative cold and darkness, but Rauschenberg expects his spirits to be at full wattage.

"I look forward to not knowing what I'm going to be doing [each weekend] for the first time in a year and a half," said Rauschenberg, 30, a Penn State grad and Titusville native who deals in patent law in Washington, D.C.

What a very long, strange journey it has been. About 18 months ago, Rauschenberg, who describes himself as just an average runner, had competed in five marathons in his career. He plotted a course to run 52 certified marathons -- one each calender weekend -- through 2006, and has raised at least $32,000 for L'Arche Mobile, the Alabama branch of an international organization that helps assimilate the mentally disabled into everyday society.

Despite the rigors of racing and travel each weekend -- he averaged 3 hours, 6 minutes per race in October, 3:09 in November -- Rauschenberg has stayed relatively healthy. The hardest part, he discovered, was putting together the schedule.

That's how he came up with the Drake Well Marathon last Saturday (Dec. 23) in his hometown. Last summer, he concluded there were no Christmas weekend marathons scheduled in North America. The inaugural Drake Well event, held at his old Titusville High School track, consisted of 105.5 laps, 21 runners, absurdly good weather and homemade goodie boxes assembled by Rauschenberg's mother.

"I could not have hoped for a better race," he said. "It was basically run by my aunt and my mother while I was running in the race, and with some help from my uncle.

"My mom laughed at me: While I'm running, I'm still directing things -- 'We need water over here! Put some tables over there!' "

His father hand-carved finishers' medals that resemble the Drake Well, and a runner he had met months earlier at another race put on an impromptu pre-race dinner.

Concerned that crowding along the lanes would be a problem, he limited the field to 25 runners, although Rauschenberg figures the track could easily have held twice the number.

Next year, he said, perhaps they'll hold the second annual Drake Well Marathon, off-track.

Entry fees of $100 apiece went straight to L'Arche Mobile, and anyone else interested in running a few laps or a few miles could donate $20.

"Of the 21 [entries who actually ran], nine different states were represented, as far away as Vermont and Colorado," Rauschenberg, 30, said. "I had listed the race on a couple of Web sites and it got attention. I really don't think it was any of that 'He's famous' thing. Most had never even heard of me."

Although there were several sub-3-hour runners in the field, Rauschenberg won in 3:07.38, his first victory.

"Honestly, I didn't want to win," he said. "I didn't want it to look like I put together this marathon so I could win."

He admits the lack of elevation helped; the race's entry page describes the course as "Impossible to get any flatter. It's a track, for goodness sake."

When he wasn't directing traffic and focussing on the running, Rauschenberg passed some laps talking to Brent Henderson, his former high school coach who helped organize the race.

Each week as the marathon of marathons unfolded this year, Rauschenberg posted lengthy race recaps to his Web site (www.fiddy2.org) that described everything from the towns he visited and the people he met, to missed airline connections and sore legs. Sometimes, strangers or friends of friends gave him a place to stay, or a meal.

For every page of race recaps, he said, he has 10 more notebook jottings from his experience.

"I want to write a book about the whole experience, not a rehash of the recaps," he said. "I don't even know how to go about doing that, but I didn't know how to run 52 marathons, either."

He said he learned a great deal about runners and running, but more about the people along the miles.

"You will be constantly surprised by people, positively and negatively, and the positive far outweighs the negative.

"Runners are great people. I don't know if you become a nice person when you run, or if running just attracts nice people."