Dedicates marathon victory to the late Coach Payne
Jessica Webb
editor@thesmokymountaintimes.com
Inspiration. A calling. Grit.
There is a complexity to understanding what it is that motivates people to do hard things. People are often both drawn to these stories and perplexed by them.
For Kallup McCoy II, each completed challenge since drug addiction recovery and becoming a competitive runner seven years ago, has driven him to go bigger.
The next challenge: a transcontinental run from coast-to-coast beginning in San Francisco and ending in Wilmington, N.C., a route that will chart the later part of his path through the Qualla Boundary and Swain County.
“People think I’m crazy when I talk about this,” McCoy said.
From his account, there are only about 350 people who have completed such a run, including Andy Payne, a member of the Cherokee Nation who won the Transcontinental Footrace of 1928.
McCoy’s run will be to raise money for RezHOPE, the men’s recovery transitional home he founded with his wife, Katelynn Ledford-McCoy, as well as Hurricane Helene relief to help those in western North Carolina who have lost their homes.
The plan is to secure sponsorships and fund a crew manager, establish weekly crews to join the trip, and have a feature-length documentary made.
“This is not going to be a solo endeavor; it’s a lot of hands-on deck to complete this,” he said.
This is not McCoy’s first rodeo for long-distance, cross country runs. In 2018, he ran more than 800 miles along the Trail of Tears from North Carolina to Oklahoma, averaging 34 miles a day.
A short documentary film titled “A Runner’s High” tells the story of that journey as well as McCoy’s struggles with addiction and how he got into running. The film is currently showing on the film festival circuit. It recently received the Audience Choice Award at the Center Film Festival.
“The concept and execution on the road…are going to stay the same,” McCoy said, compared to the previous cross state run. “As far as the undertaking and stress on my body, it’s going to be much harder because I’m running more miles a day. I’m going to be training to run 62 miles a day,” he said.
To log so many miles, he will have to fuel up with up to 13,000 calories a day— loading up on burgers, pizza, ice cream, pasta.
“You’ll see me running around town, eating a lot,” he joked. “I’ll probably be running about 150 miles per week to get my gut used to that many calories and breaking it down.”
Training on weekends will include longer runs.
Again, the question is why undertake such a huge challenge?
“My why, it’s probably going to change multiple times leading up to it, but I just want to encourage people to do difficult things, challenge themselves, push themselves,” McCoy said. “It doesn’t have to be running across the country. But understand life is an adventure, and
putting yourself in situations where the possibility of failure is bigger than succeeding— that’s where you learn the most about yourself.”
It's a message he has embraced since getting out of jail, one he describes as not settling for mediocrity and finding ways to give back.
When it comes to what drives him, McCoy points to the loss. The nearly 15 years he spent in addiction, and the loss of friends and family members to overdoses.
“I feel like everything I’ve been through and been saved from, I feel I have an obligation to do something big like this,” he said.
He also hopes to inspire young people, among them his sons, nieces and nephews. In between training, McCoy still coaches runners, mostly online, and volunteers locally.
The current plan is to start the run on March 17 and completing it in about 50 days. The route will be mapped on Strava, where people can also follow along.
Indianapolis marathon
Earlier this month, McCoy ran in the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, finishing with an overall time of 2:36:42, a personal best and finally reaching his goal of running a marathon in under 2:37 after 2 ½ years and five “failed” attempts.
He found his why in Coach Keith Payne, the beloved running coach at Swain High who took the running program to unprecedented heights and left a community mourning his unexpected death this past August.
It was just a couple days after the news of Payne’s passing that McCoy was running at Kituwah. He recalls being moved to tears and feeling emotional. That’s when he decided to dedicate his next race to Payne’s memory.
“Coach Payne always treated me with compassion,” he said.
McCoy crossed the finish line 87th out of 5,600 people and ran an average of 5:59 a mile.
“I thought about Coach Payne, especially in those tough miles, especially in mile 20,” McCoy said.
The lesson of hard work and continuing to push ahead was something he took to heart.
“What it taught me through those failed attempts is more important than hitting the goal itself,” McCoy said. “The only limitations are the ones we put on ourselves.”