On September 9, Tellman Knudson left New York City’s Battery Park to run 3,200 miles across America. Others have run across America. However, the thing that sets his quest apart from similar journeys is the fact that he will be doing it barefoot! If successful, Knudson will be the first person to run barefoot across America.

His goal is to raise awareness and money ($100 million) for homeless and at-risk youth. According to statistics on teenage homelessness, over 2 million youth (between the ages of 12-24) will experience one episode of homelessness each year and over 100,000 youth sleep on the street for 6 months or more.Knudson has set this monetary goal to help create programs to reduce those risks, help get them off the streets and rebuild their lives.

From Battery Park in NYC, Knudson’s route will for the most part follow historic Route 66 with stops in Pittsburgh (our town), Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Phoenix and finishing on the Santa Monica Pier in California. He will be running the equivalent of one marathon a day and he hopes to complete the journey by mid-winter.

Tellman Knudson, 32, overcame femoral antiversion (a debilitating leg condition) to compete on his high school cross country team where he set several school records and competed in the New Hampshire state championship. He currently resides in Vermont with his wife and son.

Good luck Tellman…we look forward to following your progress and keeping our readers informed.