GUNNISON, Utah — It's tough and gritty and all for a good cause.
Organizers were out marking the trail ahead of this weekend's Gunnison Gut Check that benefits first responders, military and veterans.
"I was not able to join the military. I’m not a fireman, I’m not a policeman, but we all need to be worth their sacrifices," said Justen Mellor, the man behind the United We March effort. "Not a greater gift of healing is to serve people you don’t even know, and being able to do that with United We March and this community is the greatest healing I continue to go through."
Mellor took FOX 13 News out on the trail in the hills just north of the town of Gunnison in central Utah.
"We’re sitting at about a mile and a half right now. This is still easy. It is a climb. As you can see, we head north on those roads, nine more miles north, and then you’ll drop down into the most beautiful canyon you’ve ever seen," he said.
Mellor says he can't take credit for what this race has become for so many who take part, crediting his team of volunteers and board members who put in the work all throughout the year.
"We’ll be setting up today with mile markers and direction arrows, because we don’t want anyone to get lost. And then we also will have water stations, fruit stations, because we want people to almost die but not. We want them safe!" he said.
Mellor pointed out the different courses available, like a 26-mile option, a 16-mile, and a 4-mile mini. He says they are all supposed to be hard.
"Let’s face it. We all look at social media, we’re all pulled in different directions. We’re divided. So our goal is to be united as Americans through differences, and the Gut Check is a personal challenge," he said.
Many of the participants will take on the hike with a heavy, weighted backpack, which Mellor says is symbolic of the weight many of us carry in our lives.
"They have a heavy rucksack and they have the distance. It’s training. It’s physical," he said.
Mellor says you sometimes have to really go through something hard to make that change in your life. For him, that was getting clean and sober. He says he's been on a healthy path the past 10 years, and this event that he started eight years ago is his way of trying to help someone else.
"The more that participates in the Gut Check, the more that are healin,g and that’s important to me. I’m a recovering addict of 15 years, and that healing journey, you've gotta go through something hard," he said.
The Big Betsy flag that weighs about 400 pounds already sits in the back of his truck in its crate, ready to be unfurled Friday at the hometown football game, helping kick off two days of events that are purposefully held just after 9/11.
"So 9/12 is what we want to be like," Mellor said. "There are all those that come in to answer that call. There’s military — UVU Mash, University Military Assistant Student Hub. We donate to that group and our firefighter organization we donate to is the Wildland Firefighter Group. Our law enforcement agency is 1033 and that’s local and has had two officers that recently died in the line of duty. The Acel Thompson Not Forgotten Fund is a local group that falls under our umbrella. And Operation Enduring Warrior that assists veterans in a physical, mental challenge, and they will be here doing the Gut Check on Saturday. They're amazing."
More than a thousand people will typically gather in the city park for the activities, and hundreds take part in the races. Mellor says he is always hoping to have more people take part, but if just one individual leaves changed, he feels like it's all been worth it.
"If we reach one person every year, I mean that’s it. That’s a win. Reach one person, make one person’s life better, but we provide a means and they do it," he said.
You can learn more about the event or sign up to participate HERE.
