GREENSBORO, NC (WFMY) - After five days and 110 miles, UNC Greensboro student and Marine Corps veteran Collin Yarborough finally reached the finish line.
Yarborough fulfilled his promise to run to the mountains and raise more than $2,000 for Hope For The Warriors, a nonprofit group that helps combat veterans and their families. Yarborough wants to draw awareness toward preventing veteran suicide.
Yarborough served in the Marines for four years with a six-month deployment in Afghanistan. He says he's used running to cope every time he's had to deal with someone in his unit committing suicide. Four men Yarborough's served with have taken their own lives.
PHOTOS | Greensboro Vet Runs 110 Miles For Hope For The Warriors
"Running, it's almost like my coping mechanism," said the 25-year-old who spent six months in Afghanistan.
"Getting out (of the Marine Corps), I was looking for that safe haven and looking for something to do and keep my mind occupied," Yarborough said in May when we talked to him.
Tuesday, he completed his run at Pilot Mountain State Park after starting at Greensboro's Bryan Park on June 1. Yarborough trekked 22 miles each day.
“To complete this journey is very humbling,” said Yarborough in an email release from UNCG. “I’m exhausted but when I finished it was more than anything I could have ever imagined. I’m beyond thankful for the support I received from my support crew, everyone that donated and everyone that was able to come out along the way.
“I never could have asked for the support that I received and I’m so overwhelmed and overjoyed for it all,” he said.
Yarborough had runners and fellow veterans join him on his run.
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