Stephen Meyers

stephenmeyers@coloradoan.com

Ultramarathoner Jessica Goldman, pushing her three-wheeled jogging stroller that says "CA to NY," ran along North College Avenue Monday afternoon, finally finishing the day's 42-mile run at a motel north of the Poudre River in Old Town Fort Collins.

Goldman, 41, started her run Monday morning in Rustic, up the Poudre Canyon, on day 34 of her 3,000-mile solo trek from San Francisco to New York City.

The ultramarathoner from New Hampshire is running about 50 miles a day — self-supported — raising awareness and money for the Brain Injury Association of America. Her goal is to raise $5 per mile.

She started her 3,197-mile journey April 16 from San Francisco. Since then, she's run through the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, through Nevada and Utah and into Colorado. Goldman encountered serious weather along the way, including snow and sleet in Winnemucca, Nevada, and 40 mile-per-hour winds in Utah. On the second day of her run, she was hit by a powerful dust devil, which swept away her navigation device.

"I think the hard states are over, right?" Goldman quipped Monday afternoon. "I went over the Rockies and now I should be able to coast down into the plains."

Goldman tackled 10,276-foot Cameron Pass over the weekend and ran down the Poudre Canyon on Colorado Highway 14 Monday before jumping on U.S. Highway 287 at Ted's Place. There, Matty Ferus, a runner and cyclist from Loveland, met Goldman and rode his bike with her to Fort Collins. He booked her a room at America's Best Value Inn, 1809 N. College Ave. and said he was going to take her out for a nice dinner Monday night.

"Matty was a lifesaver today. He made the last few miles go so quickly," said Goldman, who eats a plant-based diet and makes many pit stops along the way. "I'm so excited. There's actually food here. I've done most of my eating at gas stations. This definitely beats stopping at a Loaf 'N Jug."

Goldman's jogging stroller weighs about 90 pounds, she said, stocked with several gallons of water — she drinks about 2 gallons a day — food, clothes and other items.

She posts status updates along the run, interacting with dedicated followers on her Facebook page, which had attracted 2,036 "likes" by Monday afternoon. After her lodging plans for her overnight stay in Fort Collins fell through, she posted an update on Facebook asking for leads to lodging to which Ferus quickly responded saying he'd get set her up in a hotel room for the night.

"What she is doing is so inspiring. I have several friends who have suffered head injuries. She is doing a great thing," Ferus said. "I'd love to do something like this."

Only about 20 women have crossed the United States by foot, Goldman said, and though the inclement weather wiped out her chance of setting a new transcontinental record (held by South African Mavis Hutchinson, who crossed the United States in 1978 in 69 days), she's proud to be running for a cause she has a passion for.

"A few years ago, I was a passenger in a taxi that hit someone who suffered a brain injury. That really shook me up and since then, I've been trying to make peace with it," said Goldman, who also made a solo bike trip across America in 1999. "The more I get into this, pretty much everybody that I meet knows somebody who has experienced a brain injury."

Tuesday, Goldman heads east toward Nebraska.

Supporters can track Goldman's progress on her Facebook page www.facebook.com/JessicaGoldmanForwardMotion; Twitter account @JGForwardMotion or blog; www.goldmangoesforit.wordpress.com, where donations are accepted.

Supporters can also find her current location here: bit.ly/QdkaWl.

Xplore reporter Stephen Meyers covers the outdoors and recreation for the Coloradoan. Follow him on Twitter @stemeyer or Facebook.com/meyersreports.