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. “What a great idea!” he thought. “But instead of a bike, I’ll use my sneakers!”
Thus begins the funny, touching, true story of McGillivray’s 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’t 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 “pulled over” by a State Trooper, McGillivray relies on good friends, family, a sense of humor, and sheer determination to fulfill a dream—and to help kids who can’t run.