ROCKLAND, Maine — An Army veteran who pounded the pavement from coast to coast to honor the nation’s fallen troops finished his grueling journey in rain and high winds Friday in Maine.
Mike Ehredt of Hope, Idaho, placed a flag in the ground every mile along the way to honor military personnel killed in Iraq. On Friday, the final flag honored Marine Maj. Jay Aubin, a pilot from Waterville who died when his CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter went down near the Iraq border.
The 49-year-old extreme runner kicked off his journey May 1 in Astoria, Ore., averaged about 29 miles a day and took only four days off. All told, he ran 4,425 miles.
“Who needs blue skies and sun when it can be like this in Maine?” he joked as he was surrounded by supporters.
Along the way, Ehredt went through 19 pairs of trail-running shoes, drank 40 gallons of chocolate milk (1 quart a day) and consumed 668 Aleve (two each morning and night).
Though he didn’t personally know any military personnel killed in Iraq, Ehredt said he felt a kinship that all former service members feel.
Ehredt is no stranger to pushing his body to its limits. He got the running bug at a young age, and as a soldier in Germany he won the Army Cross Country Championships. Later, he took up trail running in Colorado and Idaho.
