Er...
...really good points. I would agree with everything you've written. No question that Darren's target audience will believe his coast to coast journey, as he tells it. Today's "bucket list" athlete will most likely love his storytelling and lessons learned from conquering challenges along the way, such as his near disaster running injury on the first day.
I think the rub is with the "traditional runner" that has a competitive background (high school, college, post collegiate, etc.).
Darren's previous results (via athlinks) indicate that he's at best a "bucket list" athlete. He's participated in a collection of marathons and tri's, including a 4 hour marathon (2003) PB and 12:52 IM Florida (2007) PB. These are all solid results and accomplishments for someone staying fit, but hardly the background of someone planning to run 50 miles a day coast to coast.
It simply looks like Darren bit off a lot more than he was prepared for. He made a big media pitch for running across the country, but learned quickly that it's much harder than ever imagined. We saw Darren's post video's of his gym training routine and learned that he believes "ordinary people can do extraordinary things". He mentioned the next chapter following his transcontinental accomplishment...possibly writing a book about the experience, or creating a television show showcasing ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
I believe the biggest issue for Darren was that he actually believed that he was ready to run 50 miles a day for more than 3000 miles. I think this is what struck the standard "letsrun" vertical runner. The fact that Darren made big claims to run across the country, but simply was not close to being ready to go. Where are all the past years of Darren's running background, consistent volume and his specific focused training build to run 50 miles a day?
Instead, Darren got injured on the first day and has been reduced to adjusting his journey (running, to rollerblading to cycling), but also his storyline. "We're propelling our way across the country".
I'm certain that Darren's main fan base will continue to believe in his transcontinental experience and "triumph over adversity". Still, it would be nice to hear Darren admit that he simply "wasn't prepared to run 50 miles a day for 3 consecutive months...that his gym routine and mileage build up were not specific to the kind of volume and impact someone needed to repeat 50 mile days for 3000 miles".
Darren might not have been prepared for the actual run, but seems to be more than ready for the PR, social media and post accomplishment accolades.