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Auburn Runner has Sore Feet, but Sets Mind to New Goal

May 06, 2009 - AUBURN -- Mike Brooks is pretty sure he'll never do that again.


Resting at home on Monday, days after a grueling 10-day marathon in New York, his feet were still blistered up, his aching back was recovering. He fell a little short of one goal, running 500 miles, but hit the second one, raising more than $10,000 for a Casco camp for critically ill children.


"I'm very happy with my performance. I missed it by 9 miles - it's better than missing it by 90," Brooks said.


"Seven families are going to be able to go to Camp Sunshine - that's an awesome feeling."


The retired Auburn firefighter, 63, has been a twice-a-month marathoner for years, but hadn't before tackled a race for so long. He started strong, running 77 miles the first day of the Sri-Chinmoy Self-Transcendence Ten Day Race in Flushing Meadow Park.


By day 10, Brooks was down to a mile an hour.


His feet had started to hurt around day five, then his back. Visits to an on-track chiropractor and message therapists didn't help.


"By the sixth or seventh day, (you're thinking,) 'Oh, I got to keep doing this?' That was kind of challenging," Brooks said.


He never seriously considered giving up, he said. Trackside visits from friends helped, as did people walking up to hand him money for Camp Sunshine. The other racers also kept it interesting. He talked with a runner who had gotten a partial hip replacement not too long ago.


"He asked his doctor if he could run a race. The doctor said, 'Yeah' - he never told him it was a six-day race," Brooks said.


"I enjoyed the people," he said. "I was getting a sunburn, this Russian guy told me, 'Turning red, turning red.'"

Brooks finished 14th in a pack of 22 runners Saturday. The winner ran 777 miles.


He said he'd been nervous in this economy about hitting his fundraising goal for the camp. The total might approach $11,000 from more than 90 donors.


"We're thrilled. It was a Herculean effort," said Matt Hoidal, executive director of Camp Sunshine. "He should be really proud of what he's accomplished."


A person who pledged $500 for Brooks' 500th mile called him after the race. "He said, 'You're going to get it, it was a great effort,'" Brooks said.


He's still catching up on sleep and figures it will take months to physically recover. He'll run in obscurity for a little bit; the next fundraiser for the camp may be running Death Valley at age 70.


In the more immediate future, he's signed up for a 50K at Pineland at the end of May.


In June? A marathon in a South African game reserve. He talked to a racer in New York who'd already run it and told him, sorry, there wasn't any running amongst the lions.


"They have a helicopter and it buzzes the course and chases the animals away," Brooks said.

By Kathryn Skelton , Staff Writer, Lewiston Sun Journal,
Tuesday, May 5, 2009


Lakes: Sebago Lake
Regions: Sebago


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