The book is based on Nick Baldock’s commitment in 1998 to raise money for the Josie Russell Trust. It is a diary-based first hand account of what it is like to run across America: a foot-slogging feat achieved by very few people.

Running across America is a story of endurance, pain, glory and joy. Though offering the reader insights into the many places visited, it is primarily an account of how three people, previously unknown to each other, existed for over four months in a confined environment under intense stress.

As the project moved, agonizingly slowly, across small town America, in one of the hottest summers the country had experienced in the 20th Century, Nick recorded the emotional tensions that served as a backdrop to the immense physical effort of running across a continent.

But this is not just an account of one man’s determination to complete the awesome challenge he had set himself. Because it was a run for Josie, this is also a great human interest story. Everything that was endured was done so for Josie Russell.

Josie’s plight is well documented, and etched into the hearts of people in Britain and throughout the world. Running across America reflects the decision of a small team to support her after her mother and sister were murdered in front of her.