Harrison walked 50 miles to raise awareness and funds for safe streets
We’ve been reeling from the recent surge of pedestrian deaths, and know that many of you share our feelings of heartbreak and despair.
Harrison Anderson is one of those people.
“When I read about the little girl and her mom hit in the crosswalk, I couldn’t stop thinking about how easily it could have been my four-year-old son and I,” Harrison said. “I walk so much with my son. We’re always cautious and aware, but even so I can’t count how many times a car has come flying around the corner while we’re already in a crosswalk.”
Anderson wanted a way to express his heartbreak, raise awareness about these tragedies, and take action.
He had walked the new 38-mile Roundabout trail in 12 hours one day in January and was surprised how many people were interested in hearing about my experience (you can read about it here).
Harrison thought that if he pushed himself to attempt an even more extreme length of walk in just one day, it could help bring attention to the urgent need for streets and Walk SF’s work to win them. Did it ever!
Last Saturday, I met Harrison at 7:00 AM at Ina Coolbrith Park in North Beach for one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever witnessed in San Francisco. Harrison was cool, collected, and totally committed. He had packed gels, some electrolyte mix, a banana, and some mandarin oranges, which seemed totally inadequate to me (I later learned Harrison practices intermittent fasting, but still!).
Check out the video of Harrison right before he headed out. All day, I kept thinking what I suspect everyone who heard about this was: “FIFTY MILES IN ONE DAY?!?!”
And a lot of people heard about Harrison’s incredible challenge. We’d worked together to get a media advisory out the night before, and the requests were flowing in by mid-morning to meet up with Harrison. His story was covered by KQED, ABC 7, CBS, KRON 4, SFist, the SF Standard, and… People Magazine!
More than 100 people donated a total of more than $5,000 to Walk San Francisco, which will go directly to our organization’s advocacy for the solutions needed to protect pedestrians. (Thank you to everyone who donated!).
Harrison went the extra mile for Walk SF (literally and figuratively: he ended up walking 51 miles by the time he got to his doorstep at 11:20PM). He said his favorite moment of the day was returning home to a handwritten sign hanging on the door from his wife and son that read “We are so proud of you.” We are, too!
Want to do a fun and challenging hike of our city while supporting Walk SF’s work to win safe streets for all? Join us (and Harrison!) at the SF Stair Challenge on Saturday, May 2!
