24 Hour Relay

 

Cooper and his friends decided to sign up for a 24 hour relay race in honor of the US Marines. Their cross-country coach Justin Beale did a 24 hour race a few weeks prior and it inspired them to sign up for this one. They got a team of four seniors and another team of four underclassmen. The seniors named themselves the Mighty Acorns and consisted of Cooper, Sully, Andrew, and Derek. The younger Classmen’s team name was the Miderate Acorns and consisted of Fyo, Nick, Beckett, and Charlie.

They gathered tents, sleeping bags and all the supplies they would need and set up camp early on Saturday morning. I don’t think anyone fully knew the extent of this race. They planned to run one or two laps around Bixler Lake each and take turns for 24 hours. One lap was equal to 3 miles. They started out very strong. Cooper started with three laps, or nine miles, before he took a break. They continued with two laps each for the morning, before resorting to one lap each or 3 miles at a time. 

They never stopped and stayed consistent taking breaks and taking turns. They were driven and motivated to complete this race without stopping. It was incredible to see the motivation and drive of these 18-year-old kids. As well as the underclassman. I don’t know that I’ve seen anything like it before! What an amazing group of kids to want to do something this intense and put their bodies through all this work for a good cause, and just because. We stopped in Saturday night to see how they were doing and they were exhausted. But when it was their turn, they got up and went. When it was all complete, the Mighty Acorns completed 123 miles. The Moderate Acorns completed 114 miles. Cooper did 40.3 miles for the team in 24 hours. Towards the end, they doubled up and ran together and the last lap, they all ran together, and Nate joined them. What an incredible experience and what amazing memories these kids have made.