Newark, N.Y. - In any given week, Sean Edmunds runs more than most of us will run in an entire lifetime.
"When I come out and run it's that time when I can just relax, think about what I'm doing and plan for the future," says the 30-year-old father of four.
"I've been averaging probably about 80 - 90 miles a week," he adds.
Out here on the open roads of Wayne County, Sean has found himself and his way.
"It's been a lot of fun trying to fit training into my family life," he says.
It was 2005 when Sean first said to himself, why not? Why not run across the entire country in just 80 days.
"I started planning it before I was deployed to Iraq, I was gonna run home from Alaska to New York," he adds.
But in February of 2007, an improvised explosive device on the side of the road changed the direction of Sean's path.
"The round came up and hit me in the head, went through my helmet, I had shrapnel through my face and arms, a fractures jaw, traumatic brain injury and I lost hearing in both ears," Sean recalls.
He was awarded a purple heart, dozens of other medals and eventually he started to recover. And yet what he still so desperately wanted was to run again.
"I get severe headaches and quite a lot of neck pain from the force of the injury," Sean says.
It took five years but Sean finally found himself on the open road again. Finding his way home with short term memory loss though, was a different story.
"He'd go out on these long runs and get lost and he couldn't remember his way back home, so we got him a GPS watch," his wife Donna recalls.
Sean has found his feet and his way and now the 30-year-old will be running from Oregon to Delaware to help raise money for Oasis Adaptive Sports and Vacations For Veterans, two organizations that helped him recover.
"There are times (when I want to quit) but everything I've been through just helps me know that I can keep going."
He knows the road ahead is a long one, but he's already come so far.
"I've learned to challenge myself and push myself a little bit more and I think I'm prepared for anything after being in the army."
