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Man Running Coast to Coast Makes Way into Arkansas

A man from Georgia is running coast to coast straight across the country. Jack Fussell is 62 years old and currently making his way through Northwest Arkansas.

A man from Georgia is running coast to coast straight across the country. Jack Fussell is 62 years old and currently making his way through Northwest Arkansas.

Fussell lost his father to Alzheimer's in 2000 and is running to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer’s disease.

"I had five major running goals in my life," said Fussell. "I got through them and found myself without anything and I was honestly getting a little depressed. I started praying and thinking and one night around 9:00 it hit my mind that I was going to run across the United States. I knew it was right because I stood up and my energy came back. I started smiling and calling people to tell them I was going to do it."

The run is also as a celebration of his own life. When he was just three years old,
Fussell was run over by a car and told he might never walk again. Just one year after his
father passed away, he was diagnosed with a bleeding ulcer, his organs were shutting
down, and he was told he might not survive. It was at this time that Fussell decided to
turn his life around, and as a result, he lost over 100 pounds.

After 10 years of training, he is on his way, and has set a personal fundraising goal of $250,000.

Fussell is running day-by-day with the goal of averaging 20 miles a day. He left  Savannah, Georgia on January 12, 2013 and will continue his journey until he reaches Monterey, California. It is an approximate 3,500 mile trip that is estimated to take 8-10 months.

Fussell's only traveling companion is “Wilson,” his personal jogging stroller loaded with all of his supplies and camping gear. Through the kindness of people he has met along his
journey, he has only had to camp one night.

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