Streaking for a Cause
By Anne Stein on Apr 27, 2010 with View Comments
Zach Cox running the Richmond Marathon
Anne Stein, M.S.
Sports & Fitness Journalist/Author
Running a marathon a month might seem crazy, but for a 22-year-old University of Virginia senior devoted to public service, it’s been a great way to combine charity fundraising and a love of athletics.
So far, despite enduring a couple of nasty knee injuries, Zach Cox has run two marathons, two half-marathons, and raised enough money to pay for the floor in a brand-new school in war-ravaged southern Sudan.
“I started with the idea to do a marathon a month until I reached the 1,000-mile mark, because that’s the rough estimate of total miles that the Lost Boys of Sudan walked,” explains Cox, an anthropology major.
The Lost Boys fled southern Sudan while civil war raged in the mid-1980s. The young boys, who were nicknamed by aid workers, marched upwards of 1,000 miles to reach the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. Thousands died along the way, while several thousand have since relocated to different cities in the U.S.
“I’d heard about the Lost Boys for a while and kept seeing more documentaries and reading about them, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do to help,” Cox said. He eventually found Help Sudan International, a Chicago-based group founded by local Lost Boys who are rebuilding schools back home. “I think when you have someone of the culture doing the work, it gives it a great chance of success,” says Zach, explaining why he picked the group.
A marathon a month might seem crazy…
Cox, who ran cross-country in high school and completed two marathons (including a 3:30:00 first-time effort) a few years ago, didn’t just want to donate money. “I wanted to make this kind of personal – I wanted to do something that took a fair amount of effort on my part, as far as putting in time, trying to fundraise, figuring out which races to do and how to get there.”
In November and December, he completed his first two charity marathons, Richmond and Charlotte, but with nine miles to go in his second run, he injured his knee. He pushed through the pain and completed the race but missed his January marathon, having discovered he had tendonitis and bursitis in his knee.
The injuries have been a learning process, says Zach. “I’ve learned to listen to my body and rearrange my goals and training to reach the 1000-mile mark.” But he has no intention of quitting.
“If I had been doing this without some purpose, I would have stopped because of my knee. But since I have that goal and I’m getting money to help Sudan, it pushes me.”
Zach’s marathon training tips:
- Training with a group can be a great motivator. Zach likes to run by himself without an iPod. Whatever you prefer, training should be fun.
- Having a goal like an upcoming race gets you out the door when you don’t feel like training.
- Listen to your body. It’s dangerous to stick with a rigid workout schedule where you think you can’t miss a workout, even if your body needs a break. “There were days when my body was saying you shouldn’t go this far and I still did,” Zach says, explaining his knee injury.
- Get enough mileage under your belt before your marathon. You want to be comfortable running at least 22 or 23 miles. If your long run’s only 18, you can finish the race, but it won’t be pretty.
Zach’s injury tips:
- Re-adjust your goals and training. He’s substituted half-marathons for a couple of marathons while the injury heals, and he’s slowed his race pace to protect his knee.
- Cross-train (such as biking) twice a week to get your legs off the concrete.
- Ice injured areas after workouts to reduce pain and inflammation.
- Use ice and anti-inflammatories if needed after races to reduce swelling and pain.
To learn more about the Lost Boys, Zach’s races, or to donate, go to:
- www.helpsudaninternational.org (click on Donate Now and enter Zach’s name in the Comments box)
- www.facebook.com/zach.ftw.cox
- http://twitter.com/my1000miles
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