Finishing one marathon is already a testament to your physical and mental fitness—but attempting to run 31 of them in a month? That seems beyond the realm of possibility, yet it’s exactly what one marine hopes to do to raise awareness for wounded veterans.
After serving in Iraq in 2008, Jones was deployed again in 2010, this time to Afghanistan. That’s when his life changed forever.
Jones was serving as a combat engineer, meaning he was part of a team responsible for detecting buried bombs. He was in Taliban territory, tasked with clearing an area thought to contain buried explosives, when he was wounded by a land mine, according to his website.
“I remember the screaming, the pain, and I remember my marine brothers coming and saving my life,” Jones recently said on Megyn Kelly Today.
Both of his legs were amputated above the knee, and while recovering physically and mentally from his wounds was surely a battle in itself, he hasn’t let it stop him from dominating incredible athletic feats. (Check out how America’s elite marines are becoming fitter than ever.)
In 2012, Jones made his way to the Paralympics, where he won a bronze model in rowing. In 2014, he cycled from Maine to California—5,180 miles to be exact—and raised $126,000 for wounded veterans.
Watch Adam Gorlitsky participate in the Disney Dopey Challenge with help form an exoskeleton:
Now, he’s tackling a month of marathons, aiming to make that number even higher.
“I believe that when you’re faced with a tragedy or bad circumstances, it’s better to use those circumstances to your advantage to make yourself stronger,” he told Megyn Kelly.
His journey started yesterday in London’s Hyde Park. Today, he’ll run in Philadelphia, followed by New York City, Boston, Toronto, Detroit, and 25 other major cities in the U.S.
“One of the things they teach you in the Marine Corps from the get-go is your mission is the most important thing, it’s more important than yourself,” Jones explained. “And so, my mission is to help my brother veterans get back into society and get back into their families, and that’s more important than me.”
More than 48,000 servicemen and women have been physically injured in the recent military conflicts, according to the Wounded Warrior Project. If you want to support Jones during his month of marathons, and help him raise money for wounded veterans, you can donate directly here.
The article A Marine With Prosthetic Legs Is Running 31 Marathons In 31 Days originally appeared on Men’s Health.
Alisa Hrustic is the deputy editor at Prevention, where she leads the brand’s digital editorial strategy. She’s spent the last five years interviewing top medical experts, interpreting peer-reviewed studies, and reporting on health, nutrition, weight loss, and fitness trends for national brands like Women’s Health and Men’s Health. She spends most of her days diving into the latest wellness trends, writing and editing stories about health conditions, testing skincare products, and trying to understand the next greatest internet obsession.
