RETRACING STEPS: Like fictional jogger Forrest Gump,...

RETRACING STEPS: Like fictional jogger Forrest Gump, Dave Kunst of Newport Beach is known for crossing continents on foot. In 1974, Kunst was the first person to walk around the globe, taking four years to cross four continents and wearing out 21 pairs of shoes. . . . On Oct. 5, he marks the 20th anniversary of his trek by returning to Waseca, Minn., where it all began. Kunst laughs about Gump’s run across America, saying “that’s a whole different story. . . . I would never run around the world; walking was hard enough.”

FANS FOREVER: Four Orange County youngsters are in Arlington, Tex., this weekend competing in the national Major League Baseball Pitch, Hit & Run Finals. . . . To win their expense-paid trips, the four--Casey Okuma of Irvine, Andy Clay of Anaheim, Jared Fast of Huntington Beach and Kenny Olson of Laguna Beach--exhibited superior talents in the three baseball skills. The goal is simple, really. “Get kids excited and you have fans for life,” says spokeswoman Pamela Silvestri. “You get them to buy team merchandise.”

HEALTHY RUN: Maria Van Haaster and her mom, Evelyn Rivera, have a special reason for teaming up in Sunday’s Orange County Race for the Cure, a 5K walk-run in Newport Beach raising money to fight breast cancer. Both have survived encounters with the disease: Rivera in 1990 and her daughter just this year. . . . “It was a shock for us,” says Van Haaster, 35, who, like her mom, underwent a mastectomy. “I think it’s important to make people aware.”

MOTHER’S LOVE: Anaheim schools have earned a top award from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture for their breakfast program. . . . They serve 2,500 breakfasts a day to elementary school students--up from zero three years ago--plus 2,000 more to the older kids. And 75 cents is a bargain for milk and juice with cereal, bagels, french toast or pizza. Says food services director Barry Sackin: “Your mother was right when she said breakfast is important.”