Johnny Kuplack is running 3,500 miles in 100 days to spread the message that every person — including every young man — is made for greatness.
The 36-year-old began his run, called the Via Magna (“Great Way”) run, in California earlier this year and will finish in New York on Divine Mercy Sunday, which falls on the second Sunday of Easter. His goal is to run an “ultra” — a run longer than the 26.2-mile length of a marathon — every day to raise awareness for his new organization, Sebaste. The nonprofit co-founded by Kuplack promises to help men reclaim their masculinity through trial, training and mentorship.
“The big message of Sebaste [that we want to communicate] to the men that come through our initiatives is: Your life’s not about you,” Kuplack said of his group, which is based in New Mexico and named after the 40 martyrs of Sebaste, Roman soldiers who died for their Christian faith in the fourth century.
“You need to get swept up into the bigger plan,” he added. “God has a mission, he’s got a plan for your life. And you’re only going to rise into the full greatness of your being and become the great saint you were made to be when you willingly engage in that greater mission.”
Kuplack, who spoke with Our Sunday Visitor while running through the hill country of eastern Ohio, said that his team wanted to launch Sebaste not only with words but also through action.
“We didn’t just want to talk about doing something great,” Kuplack said of the run. “Especially for young guys, you need to see it.”
The Via Magna run takes its inspiration from Pope Benedict XVI, who is often paraphrased as saying, “You were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” For Kuplack, his journey is more than a run; it’s a pilgrimage.
“We have to be willing to suffer to come into the greatness for which we were made, because it’s going to cost us something,” Kuplack said. “If we have our minds focused on that ideal — on the greatness that God made us to be, which is man fully alive and a great saint — we got to be willing to pay the price to grow into that.”
“We decided to do this,” he added, “so we could talk about it while we were doing something on a massive scale that does involve a lot of sacrifice.”
A special visit
Kuplack, who is living out of a camper van driven by his crew during his trek across the country, said that he spends between five and seven-and-a-half hours running each day. Along the way, he stops and speaks with people about Sebaste.
Among other things, Sebaste offers several programs for boys and men, including a summer program for college-aged men in which they participate in traditional adobe construction for a local nonprofit that supports the Native American community. They also offer custom events or programs, such as team-building training, for student athletic teams, business teams, teachers and clergy, as well as leadership development for students, teachers, businessmen and clergy with a focus on self-sacrifice and decision making.
One of Kuplack’s stops to speak about Sebaste during the Via Magna took place at the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, New Mexico. Kuplack called the monastery one of his favorite visits and remembered the joy of the nuns he met.
“They’re so happy being where they are and doing exactly what they’re doing,” he said. “They know the mission they’re made for and they’re living that mission.”
He pointed to them as an example of people who have “grown into their greatness.”
One step at a time
Speaking from Ohio, Kuplack described his run under an old, rusty steel bridge on a little path winding through the woods that he had already been following for more than 18 miles. After running through snow the day before, he was grateful for the sunlight. He called it a beautiful day.
Kuplack revealed what he had learned about God so far on his 3,500-mile journey: that God works slowly and that, when the time is right, he reveals himself. Kuplack called it a process that can be slow and sometimes painful.
“There are things that we need to come to know in a certain way before he’s ready to reveal certain things to us,” he said of God. “His timing is always perfect.”
“He’ll cultivate us through some uncomfortable, painful situations over a duration of time, like a field,” he added. “When we’re ready to receive that seed, receive that truth, then he plants it.”
He called on people to embrace this process, even when they can’t see where it’s leading. God, he said, walks with us every step of the way.
A Lenten challenge
Kuplack said that the run took on a special meaning during Lent. The daily running, and the fatigue that accompanies it, has drawn out of him unexpected, interior struggles that he doesn’t really want to address. One hardship is being away from his wife after getting married earlier this year.
Another challenge, he said, is seeing himself as he is.
“Interiorly, you’re kind of at your worst, you’re so tired all the time,” he said of his run. “But then you kind of see yourself for who you really are because you’re not able to play the little game and mask it all up and dress it up in a pink bow and pretty wrapping paper.”
“You start to see the truth about yourself,” he added. “And that’s not always a pretty thing to see.”
An inspiration
Kuplack said that he began running after writing a list, when he was 20, of 10 things he wanted to do before he was 30. One of those things was to run 100 miles.
When he was 33, he realized he hadn’t done it and tried to figure out why.
“I’m just afraid of what it’s going to cost me, I’m afraid of the pain, I’m afraid of maybe attempting and failing,” he remembered thinking. “I’m afraid to dedicate myself to training for something like that.”
He decided to skip the training and sign up for an ultra race two weeks later, on his 34th birthday.
Leaning into mercy
That race led to the Via Magna run, which concludes at The National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs, also known as the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs, in Auriesville, New York. He will finish on Divine Mercy Sunday, a special feast day that highlights God’s mercy.
“Receiving the mercy of God can be a difficult thing to accept,” he said of choosing that day. “Because it’s having to realize the truth about ourselves, that we can’t just earn it.”
“We think we can just earn it by doing all the right things and forget that salvation is a gift,” he concluded. “It’s a gift from God, and without him, we are not saved.”
