BY NICKI CONROY, A 2016 ASHEVILLE MARATHON AMBASSADOR
The Asheville Marathon and Half at Biltmore Estate partners with different local charities each year. These charities have runners who, on top of training for the race, also raise funds for the charities. This is the fourth in a series profiling some of the charity runners in this year’s Asheville Marathon and Half at Biltmore Estate.
Before January, 2015, Kenny Capps considered himself a marathon and an ultramarathon guy. Then, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that forms in the bone marrow. After multiple bone marrow biopsies, Capps went to Emory Hospital in Atlanta and received a bone marrow transplant. He is now back to running 25-30 miles a week.
Throughout this journey, Kenny and his family found that their community of Black Mountain, NC supported them emotionally, spiritually and financially. While Kenny may have battled back from a horrible diagnosis that took his ability to run away from him for months, he found that the world is full of people, some that he already knew and some that he didn’t know, that give to help those who need help.
In his efforts to give back now that he is in remission – there is no cure for multiple myeloma, Capps decided his first long race back would be the half marathon of the Asheville Marathon and Half at Biltmore Estate and he would run it for charity. Since being cleared to run again, he has logged approximately 600 miles and is ready for the half marathon. He knew about Consider Haiti and felt that its mission of promoting the health and welfare of Haiti’s children was a cause he could back wholeheartedly.
Raising money through an endurance effort is not totally foreign to Kenny. In 1993 he bicycled from San Francisco to Washington, DC to Charleston to raise awareness and funds for Ability Experience (http://www.abilityexperience.org/).
When faced with the fundraising goal, Kenny did not think that the threshold would be too high to hit. He believes if every person he talks with gives a couple dollars, the goal will be met in no time.
When asked about any tips for runners, he offered two: (1) run and (2) rest. He talked about how overtraining seems to be a given with runners but rest is as important as actual miles run.
You can read more about Kenny and support his cause at http://considerhaiti.org/kenny-capps/