SAN ANTONIO \u2013 The San Antonio Marathon will take over the Alamo City this weekend, and one Great Hearts Northern Oaks High School junior will be running a half-marathon wearing a life jacket.<\/p>\n
For Briar Dohner, those 13.1 miles are about far more than finishing a race.<\/p>\n
Two years ago, what began with Briar, her sister, and their dad sailing on Canyon Lake, nearly ended in tragedy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look back, and all I remember is a blank mind,\u201d said Dohner.<\/p>\n
An unexpected gust of wind flipped their catamaran, throwing them into the water. For more than an hour, Briar fought to stay afloat, saved by a single decision she almost didn\u2019t make.<\/p>\n
\u201cI almost didn\u2019t put on my life jacket,\u201d said Briar. \u201cIt was beautiful; water was clear, so I didn\u2019t think I needed one. But there was just something that told me I should wear my life jacket today. My life jacket is what saved my life when the boat flipped.\u201c<\/p>\n
Her mother, Jessica, will never forget that day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am so thankful that she chose to wear it, because honestly, I don\u2019t think she would be here today if she didn\u2019t,\u201d said Briar\u2019s mom.<\/p>\n
Briar\u2019s survival was a miracle, but the trauma stayed with her.<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple of months after the boating tragedy, I would wake up from these nightmares of water rolling over me,\u201d Briar shared.<\/p>\n
Instead of letting fear define her, Briar chose to champion her near-death experience for a greater purpose.<\/p>\n
She founded Choose Life Jackets, a nonprofit dedicated to encouraging her generation to wear life jackets.<\/p>\n
\u201cI created the mission statement to empower Gen Z and Gen Alpha to choose life jackets,\u201d Briar said. \u201cI believe it\u2019s not a fashion statement; it\u2019s a lifestyle.\u201c<\/p>\n
This weekend at the first San Antonio Marathon, Briar is putting that mission into action, running the half-marathon in the very device that saved her life.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of my lifestyle is running, so I think speaking true to my nonprofit and what I project out onto the world, I wanted to convey the idea that I wear a life jacket in my lifestyle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201dWhen she chose to run it in a life jacket, I was like \u2018Are you sure about that? Is that going to be hard?” said Jessica, Briar\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n
Briar will be joined by one of her nonprofit\u2019s board members and coach, Pete Martinez, and she\u2019s ready for any and all of the questions.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2019Why are you wearing that life jacket?\u2019 and I\u2019ll be like \u2018Oh, it\u2019s for my nonprofit \u2014 Choose Life Jackets.\u201c<\/p>\n
With one life jacket, 13.1 miles, and a message, Briar Dohner hopes she will save lives.<\/p>\n
She is racing to reach 71,000 people with her \u201cSave One Life\u201d campaign. Statistically, given the annual number of drowning deaths in Texas and the population, she says at least one life could be saved.<\/p>\n
Follow Briar\u2019s story on Instagram here.<\/a><\/p>\n ALSO ON KSAT.COM <\/p>\n Copyright 2025 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n