At each mile marker he crossed on his 2,146-mile trip from Minnesota to
Texas, Mike Ehredt stopped running for a moment to plant a flag
representing a fallen American soldier.
On his journey, Project America Run, he has jogged 26 miles a day across the country to memorialize soldiers who died in the Afghanistan war. In 2010 he ran from Oregon to Maine to honor those who died in Iraq.
"It's to honor and say thank you to those that died in Iraq and
Afghanistan," he said. "I stop each mile, put a flag down that bears the
name, rank, and hometown, in the numerical order of their deaths, and
it creates an invisible wall across the country. I just wanted to do
something for them, something genuine and pure that no one would
replicate."
Ehredt, a 51-year-old Army veteran from Idaho, will be joined by
hundreds of marathoners Sunday in Galveston, Texas for the last leg of
his run to the Gulf, which began back in August. The marathoners will
accompany Ehredt for the last 10 miles through the city, and then Ehredt
will run the last mile alone, as he has many of the 2,000 before, and
will plant his last flag at the edge of the water.
"There's a lot of satisfaction in that. Just being able to create that
wall (of flags) from north to south and touch the water of the Gulf, you
can't really explain it," he said.
Ehredt will speak at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston about his
experiences later in the day, as well, as part of Veterans Day weekend.
Ehredt said he's sure he'll field many questions about how a 51-year-old
man's body can withstand 26 miles of running each day for 81 straight
days.
"I never looked at the big picture," he said. "Never looked at the Gulf
or the Atlantic. I just knew I could go out and move forward for five,
six, eight hours. Like going to work."
A grandfather of three with a fourth grandchild on the way, Ehredt said
he is more enthusiastic about Project America Run than he ever was
during his working years.
"I can honestly say if I was this enthused about my work when I was
working for the post office as much as I was enthused about this I would
never have retired. I'm enthused about getting up every day," he said.
Part of his joy, he said, is knowing that he is remembering the fallen
soldiers who fought overseas, soldiers whose families hear about his
project and are grateful their son's or daughter's life is being
remembered."
"I stayed with a family who had lost their son, and I had a mother meet
me where her son's flag was being placed," he said. "There was even a
lady from the Houston paper who did five miles with me, and I put flag
in her hand, with the name on it, and it kind of gets them. It's
powerful."
The trip from Minnesota to Galveston, Texas was meticulously plotted so
that the number of miles would match the number of soldiers who died in
Afghanistan. In each city, a host family, arranged ahead of time, has
housed him and fed him.
Ehredt said that the 67 families, many of whom are associated with the
American Legion or veterans' groups, were his favorite part of his days
on the road.
"Sometimes they will think you want peace and quiet after your day, and
put you up in a hotel and take you to dinner, but I prefer to stay at
the homes because there's a community, and you learn from them, and
learn about the area. I've been talking to myself all day. I'd prefer to
talk to other people."
He also said the encounters he's had on the long stretches of road,
especially through the scenic highways of Tennessee, southern
Mississippi and Louisiana, have been highlights.
Ehredt's family, including his grown children who live on the East Coast
and his partner who lives in Idaho, checked in periodically as he made
his way south. His partner will join him in Galveston for the grand
finale, he said.
When he is finished, he said, he will head home with her and get started
on "a honey-do list a mile long" before running another marathon in
three weeks.
"In a way it's bittersweet," he said. "I've been fortunate to see the
country on foot from Oregon to Maine, and then to do it again to see
even the Deep South now. It's sad that it all comes to an end and I'll
never experience America like this again."
Copyright 2012 ABC News
