Montgomery family hosts pair en route to Oregon … for no apparent reason.
By: Paul Sisolak
MONTGOMERY Two guys are running coast-to-coast across the country with no money, no support vehicle and for no apparent reason only that they want to.
And thanks to the hospitality of a Montgomery family, one of the first days of their westward trek came to a close with a warm greeting and a warm place to sleep after a sub-freezing dash through central New Jersey.
By the time anyone is reading this, Dave Bronfenbrenner and Scott Sehon should be well on their way into Pennsylvania. The two friends and running partners embarked on their transcontinental run Sunday and are wasting no time. They started in Sea Bright; they expect to finish in Oregon sometime in July.
While many athletes have subjected themselves to marathon displays of physical prowess, there has usually been an underlying cause financial sponsorship, or raising money for a charity. Mr. Bronfenbrenner and Mr. Sehon are determined to shed those extras and be as minimalist as possible. The are bringing only a cell phone, sleeping bags, the clothes on their back and some pocket change for food but not for lodging.
They say their goal is to fulfill a need for adventure and thrill while they are still young enough to pull it off, and to try and seek out traditional American hospitality. They are not looking to set or break any records.
"We’re looking to do this from the goodness of the American people," said Mr. Bronfenbrenner.
Mr. Sehon, 25, and Mr. Bronfenbrenner, 24, became friends while attending Bucknell University, where they both ran on the cross-country team. It was in 1996 that the idea of a trans-America run was hatched.
Last year, the plan finally came together. They took out a map, drew a line across the country and plotted out 150 towns at which to stop along the way. They trained at the 2002 Las Vegas Marathon to build their endurance, and gave themselves a goal of 20 miles a day.
"If we can do seven days at 20 miles a day," said Mr. Sehon, "we can get one day off."
Even though Mr. Sehon calls it a "no-strings" type of experience, the two runners undertook a few major sacrifices to make it happen. Mr. Sehon quit his job to make the run and Mr. Bronfenbrenner intends to return just in time for graduate school studies in September. They are also leaving their friends and family.
They developed a Web site www.runtheusa.com to document the entire marathon. The most important part of the site, they said, is a message board where people can volunteer a place for them to spend the night. The site is updated daily through correspondence with the Web master from their cell phone.
The Web site, they noted, has already gained enough attention that it has been temporarily shut down a few times in the past week because of the volume of visitors. The message board is also full of people sending good luck wishes and questioning their sanity, the pair said.
"A lot of people doubt we’re going to make it," Mr. Sehon said, hoping that the running community’s ears will be perked up in anticipation of the run’s completion.
The two hope to finish in late July but have left the month of August open in case they become sidetracked along the way.
On Tuesday, they found themselves in Montgomery after arrangements in neighboring Millstone fell through.
"I found out two days before," said Jeff Boudreau of Belle Mead, who let Mr. Sehon and Mr. Bronfenbrenner spend the night with his family. They ran four extra miles to reach Mr. Boudreau’s house.
"They’re pretty much taken care of through Pennsylvania," said Mr. Boudreau, an acquaintance of a friend of Mr. Sehon, who asked him to provide arrangements for the runners.
The men both hail from Pennsylvania, and will be provided with accommodations from friends and family there. But according to their Web site, no sleeping arrangements have been made through much of Illinois, Missouri and Nebraska. Their final stop in Florence, Ore., will end with a rendezvous of family members flying in to see them.
The two see their first week as a trial-and-error period. As the days continue, they said, their bodies will tell them how much punishment they can sustain.
"When we’re finished," laughed Mr. Bronfenbrenner, "we’ll be in the best shape or completely destroyed."
For now, they’re just taking the run day by day looking forward only to what tomorrow may bring.
"I’ll be looking forward to going to bed tonight," said Mr. Sehon. "That’s what I’m looking forward to."

