A starter pistol's earsplitting crack will rip through Sunday morning.

Dane Rauschenberg's legs will tell him to go.

His intuition will scream at him to get moving.

A runner's instinct will push him, with immediate force, square in the back.

But his generosity will compel him to stand still.

Rauschenberg, a 32-year-old Titusville native who now lives in Utah, has come up with a novel way to raise money for The Pittsburgh Promise. He will start Sunday's Pittsburgh Marathon dead last -- by design -- and for each person he passes, private entities and businesses have pledged gifts to the organization.

The Pittsburgh Promise is a scholarship program intended to help graduates of the Pittsburgh Public Schools pursue postsecondary education and enhance the development of the region.

So, when that gun goes off and Rauschenberg has to stand there as the horde of people begins its trek toward the finish line, what will he be thinking?

"It is the most counterintuitive thing that you have ever done in your life if you are a runner," Rauschenberg said. "It just doesn't seem right, at all. Your body just feels like it is doing something wrong as you see that mass of people start to move away from you on their journey."

To know Rauschenberg is to understand that while starting last is a unique endeavor, making a 26.2 mile run is commonplace. He pulled off a mind-boggling feat in 2006, running 52 marathons in a year -- one a week. When Rauschenberg runs here Sunday (and he said he should have no problem breaking the 3-hour mark) it will be the fourth of a planned eight consecutive weeks he will run a marathon. The Pittsburgh Marathon will be his seventh this year.

That list of credentials exemplifies the credo of The Pittsburgh Promise: With continual hard work and determination, what some might see as a very tough undertaking can be accomplished.

For those reasons, Saleem Ghubril, executive director of The Pittsburgh Promise scholarship program, views Rauschenberg as a perfect fit for someone helping his organization.

"You don't just go out and run a marathon and do the things this man has done without doing a lot of preparation and making sure that you have dedicated yourself, fully, to completing that task," Ghubril said. "And there is a striking similarity with what he is doing and what our students need to do, in a dedication sense, to complete their goals.

"Graduating high school doesn't begin the second half of your senior year; it begins in kindergarten, and there are benchmarks along the way, much like a marathon. While his pathway is this marathon, our students have a defined pathway as well and can learn from him."

With that said, it works both ways. When Rauschenberg runs marathons, he's often put in contact with a local charity or organization for which he will attempt to raise money. When he was apprised of what The Pittsburgh Promise did, Rauschenberg understood this relationship fit like a snug running shoe.

"I'm happy to help these kids, honestly, I'm more than happy to help them," he said. "Because for them and what they are doing in their lives, it might be more like an ultramarathon. Some of them, because of where they are from, have to make it through some tough times. When I run a marathon, it is 90 percent mental. And when these young people understand they can achieve something, that too is largely mental and an accomplishment that takes a long time."