BILLINGS — Noah Coughlan, 39, started his 3,500-mile journey solo running across the United States in Seattle on Memorial Day, and plans on making it to Miami on Veterans Day.
This is Coughlan's fourth and final run through America. His first three runs were about raising awareness for rare diseases.
“You know, I knew a run across America would be a conversation starter. I wanted to do something big for two girls I knew growing up that had a very rare brain diseases," Coughlan said on Tuesday. "There are 30 million Americans with rare diseases all across our land, so that’s what the first three runs were for.”
During his first three runs, Coughlan met many people, including a lot of American soldiers. That gave him the idea for Run for Revival, a 167-day trek through states honoring military members.
“I just wanted to say thank you to all of them for the freedom I had to run across America. So this one is a tribute. This one is with the same stroller and flag, but it’s a tribute to the American military,” he said. “It’s my way to bring Americans together by honoring the United States military.”
Tuesday afternoon marked day 44 for Coughlan and he stopped in Billings to gather supplies to continue his journey after running 26 miles from Columbus to Laurel on Monday. He will not be running through Billings with his large American flag and instead will depart from Laurel on Wednesday to head toward Wyoming.
“I needed a day off to get another tire to get a few supplies, get a pair of shoes and I’ll be at the Wyoming state line in about three days,” he said. “You go big city to small town to honor active-duty soldiers to veterans of World War II and you’ll find there’s something we all have in common, that is our appreciation for the military.”
