Why I Ran for 24 Hours Straight

Did you or your children ever Jump Rope for Heart? If so, you know the drill: you go to family and friends and you go door-to-door to your neighbors collecting pledges for a P.E. competition. If you know you can jump rope for a long time, you know you have a chance of winning a big prize while supporting a good cause.

So long story short: that was my idea behind running 88 miles in 24 hours. And it turned out to be simultaneously the most difficult and most amazing experience of my life.

For those of you who don’t know, I recently completed a Backyard Ultra which means that I ran 3.67 miles every hour for 24 hours.

Why would I do such a thing?

I love running and I believe wholeheartedly in the mission and work of Eighth Day Institute. So I thought combining these two passions into a Backyard Ultra would be a fun and creative way to approach Giving Tuesday this year.

I truly believe the work and mission of EDI has become increasingly more important every single year of our 15-year existence. And I believe it’s more important today than ever before. If you agree, if you think our culture needs renewed, if you’ve experienced our work and believe bringing all Christians together for a dialogue of love and truth to overcome divisions is an important contribution to that renewal, please donate today.

Anybody who donates $88 ($1/mile) or more will receive a pound of our annual Eighth Day Winter Blend of coffee and the 2021 issue of The Christian News-Letter (see contents here), and a pass for two days of the Symposium ($150 value!). Plus, you’ll get to register for the annual members-only Nativity Feast.

In Christ,

Erin “John” Doom

Founder & Director, Eighth Day Institute

P.S. I’m so grateful to those who joined me for laps: Dr. Mark Mosley for 2 laps, Gary Gensch for 2 laps, Dr. Charles Telfer for a lap, Bill Young for a lap, John Gleason for two laps, my brother Brian for a lap, my brother Jordan for a lap, my sister-in-law Natalie for a lap, Meghan Koci for a lap, my 11-year-old son Elijah for two laps, and Oscar Repreza for a whopping six laps (basically a marathon from 10pm – 4am!!!).

And then there was the pop-up aid-station crew. On my sixth lap, as I was coming into the home stretch passing my friend Jake Ramstack’s house, he was waiting in his driveway with his daughters to cheer me on. They led me the rest of the route home with sparklers in hand. When I returned on the seventh lap, Shailesh Mark and Gary Gensch were there with Jake to accompany me the last block to the tent with sparklers and smoke bombs. At the end of the eighth lap Alex Kice and Joshua Sturgill joined them in running me into the tent. My wife and kids returned home from soccer practice about this time and they joined the support team, cheering me on, taking pictures and videos, and washing and drying wet and sweaty gear so I could warm up in between laps. It had evolved into an official crew with Jake leading the charge of taking care of me, making sure I had enough food and hydration, keeping me warm, and getting me back onto the road on time.

The sacrifice and support of all those runners, crew members, and neighbors was truly exceptional and humbling.