Posts Tagged ‘Wild West Relay’
Where there’s a Will, there’s a Way
Ladies and Gentlemen, allow us to introduce you to Will Laughlin.
If Will looks a bit tired here, it’s because he has every right to be tired. Will ran the Wild West Relay from August 6-8, a 200 mile race that winds through Colorado. And although the race is a “relay,” Will, or “UltraWill” as he has been rightfully nicknamed, ran the entire relay ALONE.
He didn’t stop. He didn’t really take time to sleep. He instead “sleep-walked” through the nights for a few hour stretches, and persevered to accomplish this astounding physical feat.
It is hard to quantify in words how remarkable of an accomplishment this is. He ran for 59 hours straight, through 2 nights. And to top it off, Will did the whole thing to help raise awareness and funds for Daraja and our girls. He created a website, designed t-shirts which can be purchased here (with 75% of proceeds going directly to the school), and has gotten excellent news coverage recently, with a story in the Steamboat Pilot and a television interview on Colorado’s 9News.
To quote the Steamboat Pilot article,
“All these things start with a little ‘wouldn’t that be great if,’” Laughlin said, admitting he was on the brink of passing out. “This was the hardest race I’ve ever had mentally. But in this you learn to be in the present, which is always good in life.”
Please click through all of the above links to learn more about Will’s remarkable race. The more you read, the more impressed you will be.
Will’s current plan is to keep on running. His ultimate goal is to run across the country of Kenya, and stop by campus along the way. As such, you’ll be hearing much more about Will and his training from this blog.
Congratulations Will, and a most sincere “Thank You” from all of us at Daraja. This school started as a dream, and it has taken the blood, sweat, and tears of countless volunteers to turn this school into a functioning institution, one that is changing the lives of Kenyan girls. We are honored to have you contribute your own sweat, 200 miles worth of it, to Daraja’s cause.
So what are the rest of us waiting for? Go get a t-shirt, get off the couch, and go for a run!
Tags: 9News.com, daraja academy, long distance running, Steamboat Pilot, ultramarathon, ultrawill, Wild West Relay, Will Laughlin
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Aug 14th, 2009
