Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Veterans Community Events topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Local veterans plan trail run and 32-mile mental-health run to raise awareness
Summary
Brandon Villanueva outlined plans for a four-mile trail run at Shiloh bike trails and described a personal 32-mile run to raise mental-health awareness for veterans' families; organizers asked community members to participate at any distance.
Brandon Villanueva, representing Military Brand Repair Network, told the Laredo veterans committee on May 13, 2025, that he is organizing two veteran-focused running events to promote health and mental-health awareness: a four-mile trail run at Shiloh bike trails in September and a personal 32-mile run planned for June 7 between the Zapata-Webb county line and a behavioral-health center in Zapata.
The events are intended to raise awareness of veterans' mental-health needs and to include family members and community supporters.
Villanueva said the four-mile "Battle 4 0" trail run is pending final approval from a doctor he was waiting to hear from and that he is posting updates on the Laredo Mud Fiesta Facebook page. He described the June 7 32-mile run as a personal challenge to bring attention to mental-health impacts on veterans' family members and said participants may run any portion of the route; "you don't have to run the whole 32 miles...it could be 1 mile, 2 miles, 3 miles, half a marathon," he said.
Villanueva said he would seek a Zapata County Sheriff's Office unit to provide an escort and that start times are tentative (he suggested a 3 a.m. start for the long run). He emphasized the events are not official races and carry no entry fee. The committee received the announcements as informational; no formal action was taken.
