George Kerns, a Bristol resident, chose Herndon's Worldgate Sport and Health Club as the location for his latest fund-raiser to benefit area children.
Kerns ran 52.5 miles in eight hours last week to raise more than $10,000 to be donated to the Joe Gibbs' Youth For Tomorrow Foundation and Project Fit America. Roughly $1,000 will be donated to Project Fit America, an organization that helps fight childhood obesity, and the remainder of money will be donated to the Joe Gibbs foundation, said Kerns.
"I had been thinking of ways to challenge myself while helping others," said Kerns of why he volunteered to run the 50 miles in eight hours.
Kerns offered his legs and stamina on behalf of the Northern Virginia Corvette Club, which has members across the region including the Herndon area.
"It just popped into my head," said Kerns, vice president of the club, about how the idea evolved. "We were in a meeting discussing how we could raise money this year and I said 'you all raise the money and I'll run 50 miles in eight hours.'"
A past iron man competitor, Kerns said this is the farthest he has ever run.
"When I train, I train real hard — I have a way to push and block out pain," said Kerns. "I never hit the wall, I just kept going."
During the eight hours, a second treadmill was stationed next to Kerns for others to run along side of him. During the last hour and-a-half Kerns' wife joined him to keep him company.
"I was sore when I got off the treadmill," said Kerns. "I have this ritual where I take an ice bath and a couple of Advil before bed and then a Tylenol PM to help me sleep through the night. I'll be back to normal in a couple days."