In a quest to complete a 4,000-mile run, setting another world record, Helene Neville has run through Kentucky from June 26 through July 4, north to south along highway 41, on her unprecedented solo run covering all 48 states in the continental United States.
Neville entering Kentucky
Completing her trek through Kentucky, Neville will participate in the City of Fort Mitchell parade at 12:30 p.m. today before she heads to West Virginia. Neville is a five-time cancer survivor, nurse, grandmother, inspirational speaker and author.
Neville entered Kentucky, her 40th state on June 26. She has run 9,713 solo miles around the 36 perimeter states of the USA. For 7,173 of those miles, she carried a 22-pound urn filled with the ashes of her brother who passed away just before the start of her 2013 run. She is 800 miles into this segment of the journey.
“We are honored to have Helene Neville visit Northern Kentucky and run in the Fort Mitchell parade on Tuesday,” said Mayor Jude Hehman. “Her journey is an inspiration not only to those touched by cancer, but to all those that she has inspired along the way. We are proud to welcome Helene.”
On May 1, 2017, Evanston, Wyoming Mayor, Kent Williams, started Helene Neville off on her solo 4,000-mile run.
Helene will run through the 12 states of Middle America (Wyoming, Nebraska, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginal, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada). When she crosses the finish line in Las Vegas in late September 2017, in the Westgate Resort & Casino parking lot, she will become the only woman and only the second person on the planet to have ever run across every state in the continental United States.
Her run is more than a story of athletic achievement, it is a reflection of the human spirit. Helene runs to inspire others to realize their dreams. She runs to promote health, hope, and unity in America, and encourages all people to Rethink Impossible, one state, one mile, one person at a time. She runs not to see what is wrong with America, but to expose what it right with America.
What she discovered, when she looked deeply, was that the world she was living in has more right than she ever imagined.
