nbc bay area news, we investigate. >> faith is something felt with strong conviction without tangible evidence of existence. many claim to have it but how do we attain it? it can't be held.;l it can't be sold. but it can be passed down. faith is invaluable to those who feel it. p can unite us regardless of our

differences? it's because of conviction, that feeling inside that links so many from the far corners of the earth to the closest reachest of our neighborhood. faith is all around us.  a glorious path forward to a promising future, faith that those who not so quiet defeated rivals would inspire their brothers of today to reach such epic accomplishment and all along there are those who cheer. in their mind they envision. in their heart they believe.bfa and because of that, they are simply known as "the faithful." >> what 21-year-old doesn't want to write a bucket list. everyone in my family has a bucket list. so i was multi-tasking on

i was looking at my lar learn spanish, learn to weld, or run across the country, that sounds like it would be fun. >> meet christina lee. she's a hometown faithful from san jose, california and she decided to make a journey from new york to san francisco inch by inch, step-by-step, mile by mile for a great cause. before she hit the open road her faithful story started where all stories do. >> i remember her moving because i would get very much into the games and very nervous and i remember her kicking me smiles when i was yelling. like i need to take it down just a notch. she was probably reroute inside >> even before they entered this world she was bound to route for the red and gold. her parents were second generation 49er fans.

>> i was just born into it. i inherited. some are queens, i'm just a 49er-faithful. >> all the kids have 49ers gear. >> we would be decked out head to toe. if we were playing packers we would wear a cheese grader. >> she had cow cow on her lap in that little red sweatsuit cheering her heart out and explaining football to cow-cow and feeling so endeared by how faithful and how much she loved being at that game. she wasn't born, she wasó[ so - it, so was cal-cow. >> she's about as knowledgeable as anyone i've seen in terms of talking to. in fact i enjoy sitting with heh and watching football games.

>> they would write doctor's school in san jose and they were playing at candlestick so my-.ld school in san jose and t saywere christina and mitchell have a dentist appointment and they need to leave last 30 minutes of school and we would peel out of the parking lot and head up to the stadium in time to put stuff on the bark cue. as a kid i thought that was thec best thing ever. i thought i was a rebel. >> they handed down their love for their team to their children. they also handed down something else. >> with our oldest we gave him a jerry rice jerusalerry ricec je faithfully and handed it down to his brother. >> i obviously looked better in it. >> when i was eight or nine i first start the wearing it. i call it my lucky jersey.

of course that's not really true but it's fun to have a lucky jersey and i've been wearing it ever zblinsñãchristina relished it because it was from her two older brothers. >> my mom keeps saying that is falling apart do you want a new one, no way, i'm going to wear it until i5+n can't any more. >> although football was a staple in christina's life she had to find something that was hers and would be realized not on the gridiron but on the pitch. >> my parents enrolled me as early as you could start, i think i was four or five. >> the intensity of having weekend practices and endurance training, christina was in the front, she would be pushing her coach on her bike to run faster, she would tell us how to run

uphill, she would research this sort of thing. >> running started as a way to get into shape for a budding soccer career that would pay forbes college tuitionvom but a high school was coming to an end she had six prior conconductius which meant she had to walk away from the opportunity to be college athlete but also from a sport that had helped to define. >> i felt because anyone÷k who has based their life on athletics, you can't just say, oh, doc you told me i can't play, i'm done. no. when i had tojd where hi to fit in where i fit in. so i started running again. and is that became my identity. i never wore "watch or did it for time. that's somethingqsa people

misconstrue is they think that girl is running across america, she must have run in college, i laugh at this because i'm not that great of a runner. i'm just a casual runner who!í? enjoys it and said i'll do it for 3,000 miles. but i have no running credentials. >> when she mentioned it, i thought if we don't think about this maybe its a phase and it will go away and then she started training and changed her running style. >> she said i'm going to run home shae home.zñ she told us that while we were on the phone long distance, because that's the best way to tell dad. >> no. don't do that. >> she tells me she was going to run across america and it was when i told her i want her to be my brides maid in july she said

she would run, i was confused i said i'll buy you a plane ticket. >> i remembery[ny she said casu christina is going to run across the country and i paused and said are you crazy. >> not crazy just incredibly driven and determined.,c 23-year-old christina lee was+o going to make the arduous journey, so difficult that only three other women accomplished. this wasn't just a bucket list dventurous idea, no, it was one with incredible substance. >> i think when most people ask why i'm running, they are lookìn for the personal connection. i'm running for a fallen navy seals, and more importantly, he came back from war with brain injuries and one of the side effects it can make you angry or

suicidal so one of the things his wife made veryvc] sure whee told me to emphasize that he was never ever violent with her all the way up to the day he ended up taking his own life. one of theí< unfortunate side pay out for that cause of death. so here you have this military wife, her husband has given everything for his country trying to raise her kids and has no money to do it. so that's when navy seals ( ao when she told me that i knewñr this was gay char was a charityc >> these guys are very dedicated.'c these guys are gone for a long

time. >> there's a sense of we are free to complain about the country andé the way things ar run but it comes at a cost, the fact we have to go out and defend those freedoms. i think a lot of military gets to recognize those efforts. there are a sub set of people that don't get vocal appreciations because they are not allowed to. the navy seals embody that. they are out protecting ourvhf lives doing some of the most dangerous work in the military but they are not able to receive the recognition that most other branches in the military get. >> so on-ab8ñ july 7, 2014 chri lee embarked on ai/k journey÷ as united states in order to raise awareness to the navy seals foundation. her entire life packed into a stroller.

>> that's christina, she goes full out, head on, anything she takes. >> it's incredible for anyone to do that but to say yeah, that's my sister, i think that's really amazing.

christina thinks the hardest part is the wear and tear on her feet and body but more importantly it is the mental feet and body but more pi

♪ ♪vd( ♪ with an open heart, herçó trusty stroller and technology that tracks her every step, christina lee, the faithful, at the wise old age of 23 is running across the u.s. all for charity. >> she will wake up do e-mail go do down and get breakfast. i get out on the road and am out on the road for six to eight@n hours, ushlgdepends on how much sunlight there is. i will get toe& whatever town i

going to, check out on the hotel. i give myself 30 minutes to vege, because my mind is fried and then i have to go find dinner. people forget, oh, yeah a car doesn't appear after the run. it's not just about pushing during the day, when you want food you have to jog a mile or ÷ it's dawn to dust deal, there's not really free time except that 30 minutes after the run. people ask me, aren't you scared to travel alone? but i am been incredibly surprised how gracious and amazing the people on this route have been.]án >> she just keeps going regardless of the weather.r>ñ people on the road when they see someone out there by themselves

would stop to see if sheq/o wa okay, she said my record was 19 different people stopped to try to take me off the road. >> she's out in the middle of nowhere, you can't protect malicious. >> these gray hairs are there for a reason. and she's pushing a 90 pound stroller uphill.v she can tell this story to her kids, i had to push it up and downhill0 poun downhill0. rocks hit your face, it is not a romantic knowledge of just crossing the country, it is hard. you cy6f imagine running the marathon, that's fine, you can relax and take time off, she's

doing maybe 20 miles to 41 that repettetive pounding her feet were beat up. she was pushing that stroller into gusts of 50 miles an hour direct head0,÷v wind and every muscle in her body hurt. >> i think it was more difficult than originally imagined but christina just does not have an ounce of giving up in her body. >> despite the elements christina was unshaken by the task at hand. unwavering by her cause. she pushed ahead alone. well, maybe not completely alone. she had something, someone to keep her company as the miles went on. >>1eñ flora is my baby stroler gets in a lot ofo5 trouble wit the police, people are calling

me in crazy lady running with a baby.ku so i put my clothes, water, food, all of the basic roo necessities, it's nice to have it name, like wilson in castaway.çbsñ hopefully i don't loose though, i don't know about that part of the movie.

every day is a new opportunity to help make life better right here in san francisco. whether it's helping local businesses like the fruitguys grow and prosper, supporting nonprofits like juma ventures as they fulfill their mission or helping neighborhoods like the tenderloin be.c'ñ become vibrant communiti. if there's a way to help the people of san francisco thrive and succeed, we'll find it. that's the power of local connections. that's bank of america.

running for many is a way to stay in shape, a way to escape, to unwind, but for lifelong faithful christina lee it was a way to give back. c% july would take her coast t coast from new york to california in the name of charit. she was running for the navy seal foundation. she happened to run not only into the heart of the people in the route but also onto the cover of oneuf of the country'

most prominent magazines dedicated to the running world. >> there's so many unbelievable stories in the running community but we really wanted to bring as many stories together as weñ=py could in one special issue. the contest was live for six weeks and we got 2,341 entries. we noticed her fairly early .". once we got to knowoier better and heard more about her story and traumatic brain injury and how she responded to that and over came that and the fact she is running across the country self-supported which is pretty unique and to raise money for a strongly about, and the more we talked to her, the more blown away we were by this young woman who is all of 23. we just became convince that there is really nothing this girl cannot do.[o >> as christina's journey

progressed, she crossed into california and closer to her goal of raising both money and awareness for the cause. along the way, she had been met with words of encouragement, and smiles, and it was the perfect opportunity for the 49er franchise to ask her to take a small detour before5,fñ crossinr own personal finish line.cm2v >> hi christina jerry rice here. i heard about your cross country run from new york to san francisco and that you areinñ dg it for the navy seals foundation. i'm so impressed by your ambition and determination. >> oh, my god. >> i know your story will inspire our 49ers so i have an idea. when you arrive, do you think you can run into levi's stadium and bring the game bowl for our week 12 game. i sure hope you can and run safe.xl we'll see you at home.

bye. >> i can't believe that is his message. wow. yes, i would love to. that would be amazing! >> i think she will be beside herself. >> she's never really outgrown 49ers. >> you çlc9=]1ñ it gives me chi. i don't even want to think about how amazing that would be for pi mean, imagining chills, imagining that for her is just like incredible. %=9s into 49ershs÷ faithful and she will be the third generation so to could this will be awesome. >> wow i just got a message frot jerry rice.áf÷ [ laughter ] >> as christina completed her journey she needed only to run a few more steps.vúfñ her work complete. a check on her bucket list accompanied by those4 who show

huge appreciation for those who serve and continue(ñ to serve. months running 3100 miles from new york back home to san jose raising money for the navy seals foundation, let's welcome back lifelong faithful, christina lee. 's phenomenal to see th outreach of support from the 49ers nation. it's our job as a foundation to shed light on what these men are doing and what their families are sacrificing. >> i actually have a t-shirt that says most people never meet their heroes, i've had the privilege to raise mine. she's an amazing human being. we're faithful to family. we're faithful to the 49ers. >> the thing i value about the 49er faithful is the hr(t&háhp &hc

the section we were in, in candle stick park, i met those people once aweek, you couldn't tell if we had been friends for 20 years or decades more than that. that was just week in and week out. you sat down in the stadium and all of a sudden you were high-fiving and giving each other hugs. the 49ers faithful that's what i value.(@r(t&háhp &hc these people you don't know but you are just bonded to them instantly and they're there every week. i'm looking forward to being there again. it's one of my favorite parts of the weekend. >> the team and christina's having her back. the old challenge now is to decide what is next to check off the bucket list. >> the next thing, i'm saving my parents so gray hair, i felt i gave them enough already, so i'm going to learn to play the guitar.&qs ♪f%cs

makes me blush. makes me feel a little bit, i mean, it's amazing to hear. it never occurred to me that i would inspire someone else to run across the country.f'ú you know, i had my own ideas why i was doing it, for lung cancer mi and it never occurred to me it would inspire someone else to d/