{"id":1203394081,"date":"2023-01-18T16:37:54","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T21:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/footwearnews.com\/?p=1203394081"},"modified":"2023-01-18T16:37:54","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T21:37:54","slug":"runner-hellah-sidibe-hoka-run-across-america-soles-4-souls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/footwearnews.com\/shoes\/outdoor-footwear\/runner-hellah-sidibe-hoka-run-across-america-soles-4-souls-1203394081\/","title":{"rendered":"How Hoka Athlete Hellah Sidibe’s Run Across America Made History and Helped Soles4Souls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hellah Sidibe endured seemingly endless challenges when he became the first individual Black man to run across America in May 2021, including racism and his feet swelling from a size 10 to 11.5. Despite the challenges, the journey, which he accomplished in 84 days, had plenty of upside. Sidibe\u2019s effort raised more than $22,000 for Soles4Souls (with money still pending from sponsors<\/a>) and three tons of shoes were collected. Although proud of his accomplishment, Sidibe doesn\u2019t necessarily have plans to top it. \u201cIf you’re trying to one-up what you did, you\u2019re never going to be satisfied. It might be the biggest thing I’ll ever do, and I’m OK with that,\u201d he said. But the 32-year-old still has big goals for the coming year. Sidibe said he will race in the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run in June. The runner also signed with Hoka in May (although he has run in its shoes for years<\/a>) and has a goal to help increase the brand\u2019s presence on the pavement, to complement its strong standing in trail running. \u201cOn roads, you see a lot of Nike. My goal is to make Hoka popular at road races,\u201d Sidibe said. \u201cI want Hoka to be the top shoes out there, not just with the elite but also with avid joggers, hobby runners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Below, Sidibe reveals details about his run across America and the state he loved the most.<\/p>\n

BEST FOOD I ATE ON MY RUN:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFrozen pizza. I was all about it. We had an oven in our RV, it was boujee.\u201d<\/p>\n

BIGGEST MISTAKE I MADE:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNot training vertically and then running every mountain within the first week.\u201d<\/p>\n

BEST TIP FOR ANYONE LOOKING TO RUN LONG DISTANCES:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cRun pressure free. That\u2019s how I fell in love with this \u2014 zero pressure. Go your own pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

SCARIEST MOMENT:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAn officer in Oklahoma started touching his gun to unclip it because he didn\u2019t believe my story. I had to stop to catch my breath for almost 10 minutes. I was like, \u2018I could have got shot right there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

STATE THAT MADE ME THE MOST NERVOUS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMissouri. I was called racial slurs, was flipped off. That was a tough state to go through.\u201d<\/p>\n

FAVORITE STATE:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNew Mexico. The Navajo people, the Di\u0301ne people, were incredibly friendly. A native offered their land for us to park our RV overnight to sleep because we were in the middle of nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\t\n\t\t\"Hellah\t<\/span>\n\n\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Hellah Sidibe.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
CREDIT: Courtesy of Hoka<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\n<\/figure>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sidibe\u2019s effort raised more than $22,000 for Soles4Souls (with money still pending from sponsors) and three tons of shoes were collected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82410116,"featured_media":1203394809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"authors":[],"contributors":[],"styled_by":[],"_image_credit":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","pmc_selected_wwd_video_media":"","pmc_top_video_source":"","pmc_top_video_duration":"","wwd_top_video_source":"","wwd_top_video_duration":"","pmc_selected_featured_media":"","pmc_selected_video_media":"","pmc_selected_variety_video_media":"","variety_top_video_source":"","variety_top_video_duration":"","pmc_featured_media_has_alt_text":false,"_pmc_featured_animated_media_id":0,"_pmc_featured_video_override_data":"","_pmc_featured_video_override_url":"","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{},"pmc_list_item_description":"","primary_category":"","primary_vertical":"","_mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"off","pmc-gallery":[],"categories":0,"subcategories":0,"mt_seo_title":"How Hellah Sidibe's Run Across America Helped Soles4Souls","mt_seo_description":"Hoka runner Hellah Sidibe spoke with FN about how his run across America made history and how it helped the nonprofit Soles4Souls.","mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"off","_pmc_canonical_override":"","instant_articles_should_submit_post":false,"_sailthru_selected_alerts":[],"_sailthru_send_override":false,"_sailthru_alert_subject":"","_sailthru_breaking_news_meta_data":[],"experimental_features_inline_styles":"","linked_video_id":"","pmc_hubs_hide_header":false,"override_post_title":"","override_post_excerpt":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-01-18T21:38:14Z","apple_news_api_id":"389ec491-2405-4d56-a36d-b93f958b8f7b","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-01-18T21:38:14Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AOJ7EkSQFTVajbbk_lYuPew","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","_pmc_automated_related_links":{"settings":{"module_name":"Related","hide_box":0},"data":[{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true},{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true},{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true}]},"overlay_text_placement":[],"overlay_text_one":[],"overlay_text_two":[],"kicker_meta_block_field":[],"_pmc_kicker":[],"pmc_multiple_products_title":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17581464,630],"tags":[378248069,378239653,378240417],"post_format":[],"_post-options":[],"pmc_ads_suppression":[],"editorial":[378246937,378246939],"ep_custom_result":[],"coauthors":[326576910],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"How Hoka Athlete Hellah Sidibe’s Run Across America Made History and Helped Soles4Souls","url":"http:\/\/footwearnews.com\/shoes\/outdoor-footwear\/runner-hellah-sidibe-hoka-run-across-america-soles-4-souls-1203394081\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/footwearnews.com\/shoes\/outdoor-footwear\/runner-hellah-sidibe-hoka-run-across-america-soles-4-souls-1203394081\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/footwearnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/hellah-sidibe.jpg?w=150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/footwearnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/hellah-sidibe.jpg"},"articleSection":"Outdoor Footwear","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Peter Verry"}],"creator":["Peter Verry"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Footwear News","logo":"https:\/\/footwearnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/cropped-fn_favicon2.png"},"keywords":["hoka","running","soles4souls","shoes","outdoor footwear","daily headlines","two column \u2013 daily"],"dateCreated":"2023-01-18T21:37:54Z","datePublished":"2023-01-18T21:37:54Z","dateModified":"2023-01-18T21:37:54Z","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{}},"rendered":"