Montoursville native LaFon runs 165 miles for MS Run the US relay | News, Sports, Jobs - Williamsport Sun-Gazette

Jul 1, 2025

PHOTO PROVIDEDMontoursville native Aubrey LaFon holds a MS Run the US baton while in Holdrege, Nebraska, her last stop as part of her 165-mile relay for the non-profit event which raises funds and awareness for those battling multiple sclerosis.

Every day, Aubrey LaFon was surrounded with beautiful views. There were gorges and canyons that she ran by. Then she saw plenty of farmlands. It was a 165-mile stretch between Colorado and Nebraska that LaFon ran through.

And while she was roughly 1,200 miles away from Pennsylvania, LaFon kept getting glimpses of her hometown in Montoursville. It was those little country towns that reminded her of where she was born and came from.

LaFon, who was born in Montoursville, took part in the MS Run the US event recently and ran that 165-mile stretch from Wrey, Colorado to Holdredge, Nebraska.

“Words cannot describe how I am feeling after completing this segment of the relay. I have been reflecting on this journey and I cannot find the words,” the Montoursville native said. “I certainly am grateful and have a sense of accomplishment about me, but those feelings are only the tip of the iceberg of thoughts and emotions I am embracing.”

Running that many miles in a short time — the ultra relay run spans a total of 3,260 miles with multiple runners competing in relays from one side of the United States to the other — wasn’t exactly on LaFon’s bucket list or radar. It all happened by a chance meeting and a little religious intervention from above.

PHOTO PROVIDEDMontoursville native Aubrey LaFon holds a marker indicating the 165 miles she ran as part of MS Run the US. She ran a 165-mile portion of the relay for the non-profit event which raises funds and awareness for those battling multiple sclerosis.

LaFon met the MS Run the US founder Ashley Schneider on a plane ride to Milwaukee, Wisconsin from Houston, Texas in the summer of 2024. It was there they struck up a conversation about the book LaFon was reading “Just like Jesus” by Max Lucado.

The two met up for a brief run later that week and she told LaFon she believed she could run 160 miles as a relay team runner.

“At that time in my life, the longest mile run I had ever completed at one time was four miles. I thanked her and we parted ways,” LaFon said.

But life has a way of bringing people back together.

Eight years later, LaFon found herself laid off from her job and had reached a low point in her life. That’s when LaFon said that God spoke to her in a dream.

“I immediately awoke and found myself halfway out of bed. This moment marked the start of a journey of healing for me, and led me back to answering the call that I didn’t realize at the time that God was placing on my heart through Ashley to run 165 miles,” LaFon said. “I put my application in for the team in January of 2024 and the next day, Ashley reached back out fully ecstatic that the timing was now.”

LaFon noted that the task of running a 165-mile portion of a relay was more than daunting, especially for someone who initially only ran a few miles a day.

“In order to complete the miles, I had to change my outlook on the completion of 165 miles,” LaFon said. “With the help of my coaches and mentors, I trained myself to think about this 165-mile run as ‘one mile run completed 165 times’ or ‘a marathon a day is only five rounds of five miles with a 1.2-mile cool down walk.”

MS Run the US is an event that’s dedicated to raising awareness and funds for those who live with multiple sclerosis and helps provide hope and aid to those who are affected by the disease and to support research to stop it.

Each runner has to commit to raising $10,000 to support the fundraising goal of the organization. LaFon said that throughout the process of talking to people about the organization, she was introduced to numerous people within her sphere of influence who had a close family member or friend who was struggling with MS.

LaFon had to complete her portion of the relay in six days. That meant she had to run at least 27.5 miles per day to finish the relay, just a little bit more than running a marathon a day for nearly a week straight.

‘I was so shocked to realize the amount of people who are affected or struggling with this debilitating disease and it does not seem to be well publicized,” LaFon said. “The money raised by the organization goes to helping families who need financial assistance in the form of vehicular modifications, motorized wheelchairs, home modifications and more.”

The Montoursville native also noted that there’s two researchers who the organization supports that investigate how lifestyle modifications can change the outcome for those living with MS.

“It is because of all this organization does that I was more than happy to do more for those who cannot,” LaFon said.

And LaFon was more than happy to run those 165 miles as well.

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