About
This summer, I'm running America. For 45 days, I'll Be circumnavigating the country. each day, I'll find a trail AND run it. The only prerequisite: each run must be epic.
I depart Baltimore on August 28, 2015. I'll kick things off with the Twisted Branch Trail Run--a 100-kilometer race in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. After a day of rest (and wine), I'll make a beeline to the Badlands of the Dakotas, where I'll run wild like (and with) the bison. I'll enter Wyoming and Idaho, summitting mountain peaks along the way, before reaching the Wonderland Trail, which encircles Mount Rainier. From that northwestern-most point, I'll shoot through the forests of Oregon, onto California's Highway 1, and then onto a ferry to the Channel Islands off of L.A. I'll then bid farewell to the Pacific, and enter the desert mesas of the Southwest. The pinnacle run will be the Grand Canyon: I'll run from the South Rim, down to the Colorado River, and back up to the North Rim. I'll continue east, through petrified forests, and over white sands. I'll reach as far south as Big Bend on the Mexican border, before crossing back through the heart of the Deep South. I finish in Washington, D.C. on October 11, 2015.
I have A number of goals for this trip.
- Visit every state I have yet to visit.
- See as many national parks as possible.
- Run epic runs--every day.
- Document every step of the journey.
- Learn to solo-camp in the wild.
- Educate myself about our national parks.
- Be humbled by Nature.
- Read, write, and reflect.
- Discover something new.
- Challenge myself.
- Have fun.
- Return home safely.
Some things This is not.
- A McCandless-esque rejection of society.
- A spur-of-the-moment endeavor.
- An extreme way to diet.
- A walk in the park.
- A fundraiser.
- The end.