![\"Run,](\"https:\/\/missionvalleynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/DSC_0430.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cI signed up for the marathon way too late and was looking through the chart of charities to run for, and Spinal Research was the only one I was connected to,\u201d he said. \u201cI have friends who have broken their backs from accidents, so at the time I had a connection to the charity. The more I\u2019ve learned about them, the more I wanted to fundraise for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seven months ago, Keeler quit his job and began his run in Lubec, Maine.<\/p>\n
His run lasted 188 days and covered 16 states including New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Illinois, Colorado, New Mexico and others. Keeler ran for eight hours straight during the day, pushing his cart with his personal belongings, food, water and tent. At night, he would eat, explore and camp out.<\/p>\n
Keeler\u2019s run was remarkably smooth, and he shared pictures and memories eating chicken wings in Saratoga Springs, New York; enjoying a beer in Battleboro, Vermont; eating a lobster in Lubec, Maine for his birthday; buying sneakers in Phoenix, Arizona; and other memories on his blog.<\/p>\n
Things took a tumultuous turn, however, in Iowa when he was run off the road by a large truck.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe driver was on his mobile [phone], drifting over onto my narrow hard shoulder. I moved as far as I could off the road when I saw him coming,\u201d he said. \u201cThankfully, there was a huge, deep ditch running alongside the highway. He didn\u2019t see me, not at all, and he could have finished me off there and then.\u201d<\/p>\n After that incident, Keeler decided to take a day off to \u201ccatch his breath\u201d and stayed at a hotel. He planned to run another eight hours that day and camp out at night.<\/p>\n \u201cWhilst holed up in my motel, I got a phone call from the receptionist saying, \u2018Look out of your window, but stay inside!\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThere were two tornadoes in the far distance in just about the same place where that evening\u2019s campsite would be. This [his time in Iowa] gave me the conviction that I could pretty much make it through anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n On Monday, Dec. 3, at 11:55 a.m., Keeler reached the finish line at Mission Beach, running under a Spinal Research banner into the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you for coming out,\u201d Keeler said after he got out of the water. \u201cThis trip was 3,800 miles, 7.2 million steps, 16 states, eight pairs of shoes, 50 pounds and two oceans.\u201d<\/p>\n Keeler was greeted by his brother, sister, mother and father; Thomas Curran, a San Diegan who is walking across America later this year to fundraise for children\u2019s cancer research; a couple of passersby\u2019s and a young man who heard word of Keeler\u2019s trek from a Facebook video posted on the page \u201cYes Theory Fam.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI saw something from the Yes Theory Fam Facebook page and was like, \u2018Wow, this guy is doing an amazing journey,\u2019\u201d Tyler Henson said. \u201cI woke up today and checked my Facebook feed and I saw that [Keeler] was finishing here and I was like wow. So, I canceled everything I had planned today, like work and school, and I was like alright, I\u2019m coming down here.\u201d<\/p>\n Keeler isn\u2019t sure what his next endeavor will be but said he will be returning to the U.K. for the holidays.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I started, I thought I had seven months to figure it out what to do next, but now I\u2019m not sure,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve become a lot more content with what\u2019s going through my head and what\u2019s going on. Before, I was always worried about what I was gonna do next, what job I had or if I would get to go on holiday next year, all the stuff that clouds your brain. Now I\u2019m like, let\u2019s see what happens. I\u2019ve become a lot more content with being in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n In total, Keeler has raised $13,957.48 for Spinal Research.<\/p>\n To learn more about Eric Keeler, visit cornertocorner.run<\/a>. For more information about Spinal Research, visit spinal-research.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/a>