When Kiwi Nick Ashill takes to the back roads of Ohio in May, he'll be resuming a race he started nearly five years ago.
The 57-year-old was running a charity race across America — 5400kms — when he was deliberately hit by a ute on a state highway in Madison County.
It's taken 16 surgeries and four years of rehab to get back to running long distances — but Ashill was determined.
"Going back to the US is about completion, it's also about gratitude, to say thank you to so many people that saved me and put me back together," he said.
In May he'll go back to the very same spot, on US-40 in Ohio and resume the race — running past the ditch he was thrown into, all the way to the finish line — Coney Island, New York.
He's not nervous.
"I'm so excited about returning ... The three surgeons who put me back together have agreed to run with me," he said.
He's still fundraising for pulmonary fibrosis, but completing the race is a personal challenge as well.
"I don't know what the next challenge might be," he said, "but I'm sure there's always something there."
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