24 hour ultramarathon part 2

24 hour ultramarathon, part 2:

I set my alarm for 3:30 AM but it droned for hours unattended. By the time I got back on the loop, it was 8:00 AM. I felt surprisingly fresh from just a few hours of fitful and guilty sleep. One problem I thought of the night before was an issue of tracking my distance ran. With no support team enlisted, I had to rely completely on myself for any problem I encountered (much like the first Maine homesteaders). For this tracking problem, the simplest solution would do. If you happened to be at the Duck Brook Bridge Thursday morning, you might have been interested to find a panting man bent over the low stone wall counting pinecones and pebbles and muttering numbers to himself. I picked up these tokens each lap to help me keep track and it worked. Another problem took me by surprise. That morning, after too many side trips to the car and back, I left my fig Newmans bag, water jugs, and rain jacket conveniently near the loop on the bridge wall. Every lap I grabbed a few cookies, chugged the jugs, and pressed on. But when I returned from a slow lap near noon, I discovered my gear moved and my figs STOLEN. I didn't believe my snack had been stolen at first, only misplaced as I so commonly do with everything else I own. Bar Harbor and the Park are pretty safe places, save for stolen bikes in the late Fall. Maybe someone misttok my stash of gear for an unlabeled lost and found, I do not know, but I do know now that I'm taking more than just physical risks by running long events without support crews.
In total, I ran about 45 miles over 10 arduous hours, give or take a few pinecones. With support from family and friends, I managed to raise over $1400 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

This Spring I'm hoping to plan a bigger fundraising event, including sponsorship from businesses around the island and support from COA and friends. Maybe I'll make a documentary about it too, or just a short film to spread around.

Thank you to my family and friends for another successful fundraiser. Now...time to hibernate through a cold Maine winter.