Va. Beach teen completes goal of a 5K every month in 2011

LYNNHAVEN

Nothing could stop Montana Cox from keeping her New Year's resolution. Not icy trails or heat and humidity.

The Point O'Woods resident pledged to run a 5-kilometer race every month of 2011, and now has 12 T-shirts as proof she did it.

"It was about supporting a cause and getting exercise, plus I met a bunch of amazing people," Montana said. The 16-year-old Cox High School sophomore is on the track and cross-country teams and belongs to the book, Japanese and art clubs.

The one-race-a-month idea came from her father, Charles Cox. In the 1980s, Cox worked as a counselor at a wilderness camp for teenage boys. He told his daughter about the camp that encouraged teens to participate in organized running as a way to improve self-esteem and self-image.

Montana said she liked the idea of setting a goal and following through with it. So - with the help of her dad, who agreed to pay entry fees and provide transportation - she made the commitment. Finding races wasn't hard, she said. It was the getting up early, sometimes running while not feeling well, and enduring the weather that was difficult.

Her first race, the "Hair of the Dog" at Mount Trashmore on New Year's Day 2011, proved to be a challenge. "It was slippery and icy," she said.

The most difficult race? By far, July's Military Challenge, she said. The 3.1-mile run featured a muddy obstacle course filled with hurdles.

"I fell a lot and was covered in sludge," she said.

It was gratifying, she said, to know the races benefited such causes as the Special Olympics, the Wounded Warriors Project, the American Red Cross and the local Autism Society.

It was all about finishing and not about how fast she ran, she said. For the most part, she placed in the middle of the pack in her age group, but she took top honors for ages 15 to 19 in March's Cerebral Palsy of Virginia Run.

"I was the only one in that group," she said, laughing.

It was probably her favorite because of the course, nice weather, and the meaningful prize: a hand-made drawing by participants in the nonprofit organization's programs for adults with disabilities.

Montana's cross-country coach, Leslie Fedon, said she is proud of her team member.

"It took planning, dedication to running and parental support to succeed," she said.

Fedon said it takes a special kind of motivation to run and attend races on your own.

Susan Cox said her daughter learned "no matter how hard things get, you just continue on."

Charles Cox agreed, and said he saw quite a change in his daughter over the past year.

"To be honest," he said, "I really saw her go from a little girl to a woman."

Cindy Butler Focke, butler496@aol.com