Eighteen-year-old Rae Heim says what started out as a personal adventure also has become a fundraiser for Soles4Souls, a charity that supplies shoes to needy kids.
Heim is from Caroll, Iowa. She started her cross-country trek in Boston in April and hopes to reach Huntington Beach in California in October. She's raised $2,900 so far, which she says should buy 2,900 pairs of shoes for the charity.
She told the Des Moines Register this week that she started the run to see if she could do it.
Heim began running barefoot after breaking a toe last year and shedding her running shoes for comfort. She says shoes now are like dead weight.
She says, "We are born to run barefoot."
