The run is in the history books and I finished with 80 miles after 22 consecutive hours of running (with a few breaks here and there for food and foot care). Around mile 50, I began having IT band pain, forcing me to power hike. As the pain grew progressively worse, I eventually had to consider the real risk of injury, and time was not on my side at my degraded pace.

In the dark hours of the morning, it was the memory of LtCol Chris Raible and Sgt Bradley Atwell's heroic actions on 14 Sept 2012 that kept me going. It was thoughts of the many veterans who are unable to do what I was doing because of injuries received in combat or because they never returned home. I am proud and honored for the privilege of representing our heroes.

A videographer performs an on-the-run documentary about ultra-marathons.

The sport of ultra marathon is one that forces you to find your physical and mental limits, then convince yourself that your body can and will do much more than you thought possible (unless of course pushing your body is about to result in a real injury). As David Goggins says: "When you think that you are done, you're only about 40% in to what your body is capable of doing." I will tackle the 100 mile distance again, but not for quite some time.

Although I came up short of the 100 mile goal, it was not for lack of support and encouragement from you all. The race director was amazed at how many of you sent encouragement during the event, he even took a personal interest in helping me achieve the goal.

For those of you who pledged per mile, look for an email with the final amount based on 80 miles completed. The final tally of funds raised for the LtCol "Otis" Raible Scholarship by The Wingman Foundation was $10,079. Again, thank you for your support.

-- Captain Mike "SARS" Harris