Brown has a good friend - Nick Chisholm - who is wheelchair-bound after suffering a stroke at 27. Brown decided to dedicate his journey the length of the country to raising funds for the NZ Stroke Foundation.
Starting September 1, 2011, it took 67 days to cover the 2900km from Stewart Island to Auckland, learning about his people and country along the way.
The following year, Brown was back in his shoes - this time he ran the length of Japan raising money for victims of the 2011 tsunami.
"What amazed me is that people who had lost everything came out to offer me food and a place to stay - small local organisations who were working to rebuild their lives. So when I completed the run, I divided the money I had raised into about a dozen bundles and went back down, giving it to the local groups who had supported me on my journey."
On November 3, Brown completed his latest venture - the "Circle of Awesomeness". Starting in Huntingdon Beach, California, Brown ran 5485km across North America to Boston on the eastern seaboard, then cycled 13,200km up and across Canada and back down to California.
The 10-month odyssey was a fundraiser for the 100 Mile Club, a charity that encourages children towards daily activity with innovative fitness programmes in US schools, where budget cuts have forced many to eliminate physical education from the curriculum. Brown spoke along the route about goal setting, self-belief and the power of dreams.
"I go into schools and ask kids 'Who thinks they can run 100 miles?' You might get one tenacious kid put their hand up. I ask if they could run two or three times around the school yard. Then I point out that if they did that every day, they'd cover 100 miles in a year - and the smiles come out.
"I ask again 'Now who thinks they can run 100 miles?' Every hand goes up and we shoot out and trot around the field a couple times."
"The weird thing is that people think I am inspiring. They don't get that without people, I am just a guy running up the road. It's the people who stop and ask what I'm doing, the ones who join in for 5km or 50km, who offer me food and shelter or donations - they are the awesome ones. People want to help, they want to be part of something - they create the magic, and that inspires me."
Days on the road aren't always filled with awesomeness, Brown says.
"A few days into the ride across Canada, I was in New Brunswick and got kinda lonely. I don't do this because I love running or cycling, I do it because I love the connectivity, the magic that happens - the people, the smiles.
"Schools were closed for holidays and the weather was crap. I started to think 'Maybe I don't need to be out here. Maybe I should just go home.' But I had promised people - sponsors, the charity. Of course, the very next day I met some neat people, and felt a bit better.
"Then I got to see an iceberg in the harbour at Newfoundland - that was so cool. Schools went back in so I was able to talk to the kids - I was back in my happy place again."
Brown will work a while to pay off debt he accumulated during the Circle of Awesomeness, but is already thinking of his next challenge.
"I'd like to go back to the schools I visited on that first adventure in 2011 and say 'Thank you, New Zealand - look what you inspired me to do'. I'd like to see the 100 Mile Club active in New Zealand schools."
