Over the years people have chosen to walk, bicycle, and even run, from coast to coast across the United States. In the 1950s a woman who called herself Peace Pilgrim ushered in a new era of social activism as a motivation for these journeys. A 12-year-old from Florida used his journey as a platform to talk about homelessness, and there are countless others.
One athlete with a heart of gold passed through Mansfield this weekend on her second coast-to-coast journey. Jessica Goldman, a runner from New Hampshire, began her trans-American run in San Francisco, CA, on April 16. She plans to end in New York, NY. Goldman is raising funds and awareness for the Brain Injury Association of America. In 1999 she did a trans-American cycling trip to raise funds for the American Cancer Society.
While she is at it this time she also hopes to break the current world record for women’s trans-American runs, and not to be outdone by others, she’s doing all of this fueled by an entirely plant-based diet. To eat enough calories to nourish and sustain herself she needs to consume about 10,000 calories a day.
A typical day begins at sunrise, and after running approximately 50 miles she has to eat, post to social media, hand wash her clothes, socialize with her hosts, attend to the press, and get eight hours of sleep before she gets up and starts again. At this point in her quest she has gone through six pairs of shoes, had five run-ins with the police, and been through more towns than she can count.
Her adventure has taken considerably longer than she had planned. She’d actually hoped to be home by now, but severe weather has plagued most of her journey. She’s encountered snow, golf ball-sized hail, severe thunderstorms, and nearly every other sort of weather phenomenon thus far. She’s survived a severe allergic reaction to buffalo gnats, which caused large painful welts, and other trials and tribulations along the way.
What is particularly remarkable is that she is embarking on this journey effectively alone. Technically she is a “self-supported runner,” meaning she does not have someone tracing her steps in a vehicle to provide support along the way. Instead Goldman runs with a modified three-wheel running cart that carries all her gear.
Depending on how much water she has left in the cart it weighs 30 to 90 pounds at any time and contains food, water, clothing, sunscreen, solar panel, and even camping gear. She calls it “Thingamabob,” or “Bob,” for short.
It isn’t really accurate to say that she is running unsupported though. In most of the towns she passes through people do emerge to support her efforts. For example, in Mansfield she stayed with the Cobb family. Goldman and Mary Cobb served in the Peace Corps together and so Mary’s parents opened their home to her as she was passing through.
The following morning a couple of members of the Mansfield YMCA Running Club, Mike Burroughs and Matthew Smith, joined Goldman for the beginning of her day’s run. This isn’t an entirely unusual phenomenon, it seems runners across the country want to join in, even if for just a few miles.
Along the way people have paid for hotel rooms, hosted her in their homes, brought food and water. Over and over people show up to be the support she needs as she travels from town to town, and of course people have donated money to her cause as well.
Her goal is to raise $15,750, or $5 per mile, and she is nearly halfway to that benchmark. She can be supported by visiting http://biausa.donorpages.com/ForwardMotion/JessicaGoldman/.
If you would like to follow Jessica for the remainder of her journey she regularly posts to her Facebook page.
