Ray Sanchez is an ultra runner on the verge of doing the unthinkable, completing the BAD 135 World Cup—running three of the hardest 135-mile foot races on the planet in a calendar year. An acronym for the races' locations (Brazil, Arrowhead in Minnesota, and Death Valley, California), the BAD World Cup has never been completed.
Sanchez is driven to be the first to do BAD, but more importantly he has a cause that drives him. He runs on behalf of Be Change, a running group that supports better education and health care for the children of one of Sacramento’s toughest neighborhoods, Oak Park.
“If I am going to run, I want to run for a reason," says Sanchez. "It is easier to stay motivated when I can dig deep into my heart and picture the kids I am running for."
Be Change Director, Jason Harper, started the Run for a Reason campaign in 2008, when he ran a 100-mile loop around Sacramento in 29 hours to raise funding and awareness for the plight of health care for the students of Oak Ridge Elementary School in Oak Park. Since then, Be Change runners have seen their cause gain traction with partnerships with California International Marathon and Fleet Feet Running Store in Sacramento.
After Harper’s run, Sanchez committed to join Run for a Reason. The pair now trains together, and when Harper is not running, he is crewing and supporting Sanchez.
As a child growing in South Sacramento, Sanchez was one of 10 kids who constantly had to fight to survive. Bouncing from school to school and seeing his family fight the effects of poverty, Sanchez used sports as his ticket out on the inner city.
On January 21, Sanchez began his quest for the BAD World Cup, and with two crew members, Be Change runners Michelle Purcell and Ashley Loucks, touched down in Brazil to run the Brazil 135. The rolling course snaked through rain forest at the base of the Andes Mountains. Known as the Path of Faith, only 12 of the 135 miles are considered flat. Running through torrential downpours and pelting hail, Sanchez completed the race in just over 36 hours.
The next day he was in route to International Falls, Minnesota, for the harder of the two races, the Arrowhead 135.
“The extremely cold temperatures in Minnesota and having to run unsupported [Sanchez pulled a 50+ pound sled with his only supplies] scared me," says Sanchez. "I soon realized there was a reason no one has ran all three races concurrently before.”
For nearly 55 hours, Sanchez persevered in nearly constant sub-zero weather. “Pulling the sled and dealing with the cold was a first for me," he says."After finishing Arrowhead, I am excited to knock out the third race [Death Valley’s Badwater 135 in July] and then come back and start bettering my times.”
On a recent foggy day in February in Sacramento’s inner city, Sanchez helped line up kids into running groups at the Be Change After-School Running Club. The kids joked with the shy Sanchez, but little did they know there was a running hero in their midst.
Courtesy of Trail Running Magazine
http://www.trailrunnermag.com/news_detail.php?id=270 |
