Foley man running across state to raise awareness, funds to fight human trafficking

A local man is running about 600 miles across the state of Minnesota, from outside of Sioux Falls, South Dakota up to Grand Portage.

A native of Foley, Zack Jennissen is running in hopes of raising awareness to end human trafficking. He recently passed through the St. Cloud area and is on his way north for the final stretch. He is hoping to raise $60,000 for 30forfreedom, which organizes 5k, 10k, half marathons and 30 and 60-mile ultramarathons to raise money for trafficking prevention, rescue operations and survivor care.

“Running has always been a passion of mine so when I initially started, I saw it as a way to use running to help other people,” he said. “Now the reason has become a little more personal to me. My family has done foster care since I was about 10 and we adopted when I was 11 and both of my adopted brothers’ mom had a background in human trafficking.”

Starting May 1, Jennissen planned to average about 30 miles a day. He took Interstate 90 for several miles before turning north on Highway 60 and then took Highway 15 all the way up through St. Cloud. Right now, Jennissen has passed 400 miles and was plodding along Highway 210 near Carlton this weekend. He plans to finish by Memorial Day weekend.

Jennissen didn’t train much, figuring “it would be something that my body would just get used to,” but the lack of planning is making for a really difficult run. After about 250 miles, Jennissen’s body started breaking down from fatigue and the constant pounding of his body weight on the pavement. Although blistering hasn’t been too bad, “I’ve had some issues with my Achilles and the tendons all around my ankle to the point where I’m having difficulty walking,” he said.

Jennissen, who is 19 years old, has several years of highway running experience and luckily he had planned for rest, but with the injuries, he said he had to take a few more days off than planned and reduce the pace.

“I’ve definitely had to adapt, Jennissen said. “I got a pretty bad sunburn just from being out. Especially down south, there’s no coverage at all and it’s not really that conducive to running. Part of it is the way the roads are built, they’re kind of at an angle so my feet are hitting at an angle.

He’s also had to be wary of aggressive dogs, eagles swooping to protect a nearby nest and has recently seen a black bear.

For most of his runs, Jennissen packs a 10-pound vest that holds petroleum jelly and duct tape for blisters, water and other supplies. Jennissen has camped and has stayed in hotels and friends’ places along the way.

He also carries a lot of electrolyte drinks to aid in muscle recovery, but said his diet would be changing on the back half of the run.

“I want to kind of change things up a little bit and get more nutrients in me, but before it was pretty consistently just gas stations,” he said. “For two or three days straight my diet was Snickers ice cream bars and slices of Casey’s pizza.”

Jennissen’s website is zackruns.com, where supporters can find information about him and 30forfreedom. Jennissen has raised $5,200 of his goal of $60,000. Last year 30forfreedom raised $500,000, according to the group’s website.

Jennissen said he befriended organization founder Brent Silkey last summer. After running a 60 miler, Jennissen said “I thought this was just a normal next step, you know?”

“I’ve wanted to run across the state for a while,” he said.

He said there’s “hardly any time” while running when he is not thinking about the cause.

The human trafficking hotline received 335 calls from Minnesota in 2021, the most recent year statistics were available. Nearly 100 cases were identified, involving 148 adult and minor victims. Often human trafficking is worse along transportation corridors, like those that run through St. Cloud and where Jennissen is running.

“There's been plenty of times already where I think this is so painful, I could just be done,” Jennissen said. “My body just wants to be done but then I really think about why I'm doing what I'm doing and it flips the switch for me.”

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Foley man running across state to raise funds to fight trafficking