Rana Bates teamed up with her son, bought books on ultramarathoning and recruited a mentor, John Mark Hendrix, and later, a coach, Nickademus de la Rosa, to help Zach along the way.Along with his family, Bates has been supported by his running mentor, John Mark Hendrix, and coach Nickademus de la Rosa.
"The thought of a 19-year-old taking this on is just incredibly remarkable," he said."I tell people all the time, running an ultramarathon is 90% mental and the other 10%, well, that's mental, too. A 19-year-old just doesn't necessarily have the experience to commit and actually run 100 miles. That is just super, super unusual.
"We need to see them as an individual. We need to listen to them. We need to hear what their thoughts and what their dreams are, what they want their future to be," she said. "It's a tough, tough thing to do, especially the first time you do it. And he was in a lot of pain but he never ever once in the 20 miles that I ran with him that night, complained or said, 'I don't know if I can do this.' He just kept going," he recalled.At the end of the day, Bates said he simply loves running and that his autism doesn't affect his ability to do what he loves.
A real life Forrest Gump. You go dude good for you just keep running and running
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