FEATURE: Former Montana State runner, now Tiger coach completes 200 miles in a week

MITCHELL, S.D. – What started out as a challenge between two ex-teammates from Montana State University to run 200 miles in a week, turned out to be an inspiration to people around the country. Zach Kughn and Ethan Wilhelm completed a friendly bet of who could run 200 miles in a week, and what they learned throughout the week was more than what they set out to accomplish.

 "What started out as a silly challenge between two friends ended up impacting people more than ourselves," Kughn said.

 Kughn is a native of Grand Blanc, Mich., where he left for college to run cross country and track in the mountains of Bozeman, Mont., at MSU. After graduation, he came to Dakota Wesleyan University to help lead the men's and women's cross country teams. Kughn oversees the cross country runners and the distance runners during the track season.

 After Kughn and Wilhelm began their 200-mile week, they began to receive more publicity than they thought they would. Citius Mag, a magazine that reports articles and videos of runners from all walks of life, began covering the two former Division I cross-country runners. After the first day, the runners began seeing their story covered by Citius Mag.

 "Once we made it through those first couple of days and we were ahead of pace, then slowly people started getting involved," Kughn said. "When we finished, it took off even more after I ran my last mile in four minutes and 56 seconds, and I got a lot more respect too."

 Throughout the week, adversity arose that Kughn had to deal with and learn how to overcome. Staying healthy and making sure he was eating enough became something he had to pay close attention to. Halfway through the week, Kughn said his knee began giving him problems.

 "I first felt it on the run where I passed 100 (miles)," Kughn said about his knee hurting. "After my run Thursday night, it blew up on me and I couldn't bend my knee. I knew I couldn't quit that early because I would try it again later, so I went out Friday morning and I was able to finish pain free."

 Along with his knee pain, Kughn said keeping up with the calories he was burning was a big challenge. He was burning around 6,000-7,000 calories per day, and his main source of food was through a liquid diet of protein and carb powders.

 "My stomach was always in that post long-run feeling where you don't really want to eat, and I always had another run coming up," Kughn said. "Trying to eat enough food to keep up was tough."

 Along with the challenges of the runs, there were easy times throughout the week as well. The easiest part for Kughn was the running itself. He said he ran faster than he thought he was going to be able to, and the miles began clicking off for him.

 "I needed to run whatever my body wanted to do," Kughn said. "If it wanted to go fast today, I needed to take advantage of it, and if it wanted to go slow, I needed to do that too."

 The most rewarding takeaway from the week, Kughn said, was not even at the forefront of his mind when he began the 200 miles. Once people began tracking the miles and realizing he was about to accomplish this task, they started motivating him and telling him that they were inspired.

 "It was a little unexpected," Kughn mentioned. "It inspired people to do more than what they thought their bodies were capable of doing."

 Whether he inspired people to run a 200-mile week, or maybe just begin running for the first time, Kughn and his former teammate, Wilhelm, accomplished a feat that not many can say they have done. However, when asked if he would attempt a 200-mile week again, Kughn said probably not, unless there was a wrinkle thrown into the plans.

 "I would do it again if I was with someone," he said. "If there was a new element or challenge added to it, then possibly, but my general answer is no."

 Kughn can be seen running the streets of Mitchell, but in the meantime, he will focus on leading the DWU men's and women's cross country teams to another successful season.