Ten toes to the road: Runner plans to cross U.S. for charity

Robert Harridge swears he isn't crazy.

His T-shirt declares it, in fact.

"I'm not crazy," it says. "I'm just tough."

He'd better be. Harridge is going to run from Los Angeles to Florida. He's going to do this in about 100 days.

He's going to do it barefoot. Without shoes. Shoeless. In his bare feet. Wearing no shoes.

He is going to do it for charity.

"He told us of his very, very amazing plan, and we all said, 'That's kind of crazy,'" said Karen Iglesias, president of the local Make-A-Wish Foundation. She joined Harridge at Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman's weekly news conference Thursday.

Let us back up a bit.

Harridge is 30 years old. He has a 4-year-old son, Chance. Harridge is a college graduate. He has a good job. He drives a regular car and lives in a regular house.

He joined the Marines not long after high school. He served as a sniper. He is tough.

He got into running a few years ago. He saw a Kenyan guy running barefoot in his first marathon. He liked the idea.

He started out slowly, running a bit here and there without shoes. He liked it. He was actually good at it.

So, this past summer, he ran a whole marathon sans shoes. He did it again. And again. He became good at this running barefoot thing.

He noticed when he was doing it, that the feat, so to speak, caught people's attention.

Hmm, he pondered. How can I use this power for the good of mankind?

He wanted to do something cool, something that would benefit Make-A-Wish, which a friend does volunteer work for. But what?

Dude, said his friend, Troy Kirkpatrick, a local schoolteacher, who texted him this very idea, you should run across America!

"I played football at UNLV," said Kirkpatrick, who is very large and appears very tough, "and I can't keep up with this guy."

And so, an idea was born.

Harridge began to practice. He began to contact potential corporate sponsors. He created a Web site, put together a business plan, wrote celebrities and athletes looking for help and publicity.

He got exactly one positive response, from Mayor Goodman.

So Goodman, a sucker for a positive story, issued a proclamation on Thursday. He declared the date, 12/11/08, Barefoot Across America Day.

"I wish you well on your run," the mayor told him.

So now it's for real.

Harridge had wanted to get running this coming spring, but sponsorships are slow in coming. He blames the lousy economy. So he's going to keep on practicing, setting his goal for the spring of 2010.

He wants to raise $1 million, with all but his expenses going to Make-A-Wish. He's hoping for corporate sponsors to pony up cash to match donations from regular folks dollar-for-dollar.

He figures they will because it would be good publicity. He wants to do interviews in every city he passes through. He wants the money split among the local Make-A-Wish chapters along the way.

And there is more. This is not just about money. Harridge sees a dual purpose here. He'll also be able to inspire sick children, the kind that Make-A-Wish helps.

He'll set an example for them, show them that endurance is possible through the toughest of conditions, a goal Iglesias, the local Make-A-Wish president, endorsed.

Harridge has the mayor's support. He has the charity's support. He has his big, tough friend's support.

All he needs now is everyone else.

Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.