HE HAS being hailed as 'the British Forrest Gump.'
Isle of Wight man Paul Wheeler, 35, set off from his home in Mary Rose Avenue, Wootton, yesterday (Friday) to San Francisco in the United States.
From there, the former soldier aims to run the 3,000 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge to New York's Statue of Liberty to raise money for the Royal British Legion.
Just like Tom Hanks's Forrest Gump, Paul is encouraging people to join him for a day or two while on his transcontinental run.
He will be pushing all his water, food and equipment in a stroller he has named 'Wheelson' in homage to 'Wilson' the volleyball, Tom Hanks's companion on a desert island in another of his hit films, Castaway.
Paul, who served in Afghanistan, expects to run between 20 to 25 miles a day with two days rest a week and hopes to complete the run in around four months.
He said: "I'm running alone and completely unsupported. I will be pushing all my food, water and equipment in a stroller and camping each night. I'm hoping to spend one night a week in a proper hotel and have a hot shower.
"I'm fully aware I will have good days and bad days, and I'm pretty sure it will take me a few weeks to get into some form of a routine. The truth is it's not about how many miles I run a day or how quickly I run each mile."
Anyone wanting to donate to Paul can go to the Gofundme page, which can be accessed via his website www.run-across-america.com where you can also track his progress through his blog and Google maps tracker.