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USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION
VETERAN
CHAMPI NS Incredible athletes find their injuries don’t hold them back By Cindy Kuzma
GETTY IMAGES; PROVIDED BY ROB JONES
W
HEN YOU PICTURE AN elite
athlete’s diet, you might not expect to see pork rinds, chili and bacon and eggs. But that’s exactly what fueled Marine Corps veteran Rob Jones last fall to one of his most incredible achievements — running 31 marathons in 31 cities in 31 days, all on two prosthetics. After all, he needed to consume upwards of 4,000 calories per day, and those dishes made it easier. Ensuring adequate caloric intake was just one of the logistical challenges. With a support team that included his wife, Pamela Relph (a Paralympic
medal-winner herself, for Great Britain), and mother, Carol Wire, Jones carefully planned his route and locations. He decided not to run officially organized races; instead he logged 26.2 miles per day in city parks and trails. He timed his travel to allow nine hours of sleep per night, adjusted his prosthetics to manage blisters, and kept his pace slow enough to reduce strain on his body. When he completed the last run on Nov. 11 beside the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., he felt gratitude for the support — and for living in a country worth the effort. “My purpose was to keep fighting for
veterans and to be a positive example of what I was capable of doing,” he said. He and his team also raised more than $200,000 for the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes, the Semper Fi Fund and the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation. It’s just one of Jones’ major accomplishments since stepping on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan led to his two above-the-knee amputations in 2010. Within two weeks of surgery, he set a goal to compete in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, moving to CONTI NUED