Oct. 30, 2008

Members of the South Carolina track and field team ran with Tommy Neeson Tuesday morning when the Ronald McDonald Four Million Steps Run for Compassion ran through Columbia, S.C.

Neeson wrote about his experience running with the Gamecocks on his Web site. “I always enjoy company on the road,” he said.

During the run, Neeson told the runners that his fourth pair of sneakers only lasted 300 miles, and he was expecting they would last about 400 miles. His news prompted head cross country coach Stan Rosenthal to give Nesson the shoes off his feet.

“Now, you may think it a bit odd to take someone’s shoes from them, but I look at it from this point of view,” Neeson wrote on his Web site. “If the man thinks enough about what I’m doing and the mission to offer up the sneakers he’s wearing to make sure I’m good to go, how can I not accept them?”

South Carolina student-athletes Chad Palmer, Danielle Barnes, Laura Pramstaller and Layna Roycraft ran about four miles with Neeson.

On August 27, Tommy Neeson departed from the Ronald McDonald House in Bangor, Maine, and will run over 2300 miles to the Ronald McDonald House in Miami, Fla. Four Million Steps, the number of steps taken on this journey, is aimed at raising not only money for the Ronald McDonald House Charities but awareness as well. Neeson will stop at different Ronald McDonald Houses to visit and support families affected by cancer and to coordinate runs with local runners in an effort to increase local involvement and support for The Ronald McDonald House.

For more on Neeson’s entry on running with the Gamecocks, visit http://www.runnerssociety.com/4millionsteps/days/day50.html.