Avid Runner Completes 100 Mile Race At Home In Pouring Rain

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — Brendan Wills of Gambrills had been training hard for the 100-mile-long Blackbeard's Revenge race held in North Carolina. The avid runner had been logging lengthy stretches of runs, including 30 miles at a time on the weekend. He also cross-trained on the bike. But when the coronavirus pandemic invaded the United States, his event was canceled and Wills was understandably disappointed while he understood the need to take such action.

But Wills wasn't about to let it get him down. He logged his first marathon in 2009 and then shifted to triathlons. To date, he's completed more than 100 triathlons ranging from spring distances to the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. So to compensate for the cancellation of his race, he ran up and down the B&A Trail and finished the equivalent of Blackbeard's Revenge in less than 22 hours in the pouring ran.

"He started at 8 p.m. Friday and finished around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, which included short breaks to change clothes, eat and stretch/massage," his wife Christina told Patch.

Wills said he had accumulated months of training and "didn't want all my efforts to go to waste."

"I had committed myself mentally and physically to do this, and given the current circumstances, I decided to do it on my own, with some friends and family to support me. I train regardless of the weather, for the most part. Rain, snow, wind - unless it's really severe, I try to do all my training runs outside. The stretch of this run from midnight to 5 a.m. was all in the rain," Wills told Patch.

Wills aimed to complete all of his long training runs on the B&A Trail to duplicate the actual course down in the Outer Banks.

"It was going to be a point to point race that is really flat. I ran between mile marker 1-8 so that I would have a central location to get needed supplies at my truck parked at Jones Station park and ride for hydration, nutrition, change of clothes, massage gun, headlamps and medical supplies," Wills said. "I asked some friends to run with me throughout the race, and I was overwhelmed by the support. Many signed up for two-hour increments and one friend even ran with me five hours overnight in the rain."

For him, movement makes him feel better overall and during a pandemic, exercise like running gives people an outlet for the anxiety that builds and the uncertainty swirling around them. He encouraged everyone to make sure they're finding a way to get moving while staying safe.

"Just start where you are and do a little more every day, bit by bit. I coach youth wrestling, and like we tell our kids in the wrestling room, just try to be 1 percent better every day," Wills said.