Running Across America
by Dave Whatever and Nancy Feehrer (MEdu'92)
(Nomad Press, 32 pages; 2019)
As a teenager, Boston Marathon Race Director Dave McGillivray heard a news story about a person biking across the United States. 鈥淲hat a great idea!鈥 he thought. 鈥淏ut instead of a bike, I鈥檒l use my sneakers!鈥
Thus begins the funny, touching, true story of McGillivray鈥檚 80-day, 3452-mile run from Medford, Oregon, to his hometown of Medford, Massachusetts, in 1978. In Running Across America: A True Story of Dreams, Determination, and Heading for Home, McGillivray tells the tale of how he braved the Sierra and Rocky Mountains, millions of grasshoppers in Nebraska, days of pouring rain in Ohio, the occasional rattlesnake, and persistent sore knees.
And McGillivray isn鈥檛 running just to chase his own dream. By making the run a fundraiser for the Jimmy Fund, McGillivray joins his favorite baseball team, the Red Sox, in making lives better for kids battling cancer.
Through 13 states, blistering heat, and being 鈥減ulled over鈥 by a State Trooper, McGillivray relies on good friends, family, a sense of humor, and sheer determination to fulfill a dream鈥攁nd to help kids who can鈥檛 run.