Marine veteran Rob Jones received the "Most Valuable Patriot" award at Fox Nation's inaugural Patriot Awards in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Wednesday.

Jones was a combat engineer in the Marine Corps when he was injured by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2010.

This year, after 18 months of training, Jones ran 31 marathons in 31 cities across the country.

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Now Jones is launching his candidacy for Congress in Virginia's 10th Congressional district.

Appearing on "Fox & Friends" with hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade, Jones said that the award was sobering because he now has the "responsibility of making sure I continue to represent what that means."

Jones told the "Friends" hosts that he wants to return optimism to the American people.

"You know, when I was growing up, I had a lot of optimism for the future. Everybody kind of had that in my district and I kind of learned even more optimism — how to hone that and how to use it to my advantage over the course of my Marine Corps career and then what you all gave me the award for. And, I want to help return that to people using my experiences in my district," he said.

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"The first step in returning optimism for the American Dream to people is that they have somebody in Congress that they trust. That they believe in," Jones added.

Jones is seeking the Republican nomination to run against Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., who was elected to Congress last year.

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