Run4Revival honors Veterans and military

By Editor | November 15, 2023 |

By Carmen Ensinger

Carmen Ensigner/Jersey County Journal
Noah Coughlan recently made a 167-day, 3,500-mile solo run across the United States from ocean to ocean as a tribute to American soldiers, making stops in Jersey and neighboring counties.

Noah Coughlan isn’t a military veteran, but he does hold the utmost regard for those who have served and continue to serve their country.

As a way to honor the American veteran and the United States military, the Napa, California native is doing a 167-day, 3,500-mile solo run across the United States from ocean to ocean as a tribute to the American soldier.

His journey began on Memorial Day, May 29 in Seattle, Wash. and ended on Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11 in Miami, Fla. His journey will have taken him across the United States including a stop in Greene and Jersey County in early September during his journey .

Coughlan travels alone, racking up between 20 to 40 miles per day pushing a jogging stroller that carries all his essentials – food, water, clothing, etcetera.

Attached to the jogging stroller is a huge American flag, but its not an ordinary flag. This flag was given to him by the United States Air Force and was flown on a KC-10 Extender by the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron in April 2023 from Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.

This is Coughlan’s fourth run across America. The first three were to bring awareness to rare diseases in 2011, 2013 and 2015. He also did a run across Ireland in 2020.

“I figured I would do this fourth run as my farewell run just because it is time to hang it up – it is just too hard on the body to do these long runs,” Coughlan said. “There are a lot of challenges in the world today and in our country. I wanted to do one more run, but not to raise awareness for anything – this run is more of a thank you to the American soldier and to the American military as a whole. Because when it all comes down to it, we are not a free country without the generations of sacrifice from our veterans.”

Coughlan said his goal is to go from town to town and lift the spirits of everyone and say thank you to all of the veterans who have served and continue to serve.

“I consider myself no different than a musician who sings songs about American and the military, like Lee Greenwood,” he said. “I’m not comparing myself to him – I’m just saying I’m doing what I can in my own way, as an athlete.”

Of course not everyone can run across America to thank the veterans, but Coughlan hopes what he is doing will encourage others to realize the sacrifice veterans have made for their country and continue to make every day and perhaps encourage them to make the world a little bit better place to live along the way.

“So, I’m going throughout the country trying to encourage people to contribute to their country in whatever capacity they can and to celebrate the fact that we are a free people,” Coughlan said. “We are the 99 percent who haven’t served and we should be thanking the one percent who have served. So, I just wanted to make this statement over the course of almost five-and-a-half months going from ocean to ocean to remind people what the American flag is all about. There is no other agenda to it. This is a farewell run.”

Coughlan said there are many things he could have advocated for regarding military issues, but that would have just clouded his real reason for the journey.

“I didn’t want to advocate for things I don’t understand – like the broken Veteran’s Administration or the soldiers who are going through the many challenges they may suffer after coming home, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,” he said. “I will stand shoulder to shoulder with them and support them, but for me to come out and try and raise awareness – I chose not to do that. This run is more for the fundamentals of America itself and just to say thank you. As a whole, I’m running to support the military – to encourage them, because they need to know that there is a grateful nation out there.”