minneapolis — In an incredible feat of athleticism, two men ran 80 miles around Lake Harriet in Minneapolis on Sunday. This is approximately the distance equivalent to two full marathons.
Patrick Larson and Jake Lepak ended up running 18 laps around the lake.
The two friends are members of the Special Olympics Minnesota Young Professionals Committee. They were working to raise awareness and funds for the organization.
Larson and Reback both ran in college, but nothing like this. Fortunately, they were rarely alone.
“We had friends join us throughout the day, people from the running community and Special Olympics athletes joined us for runs, which was really cool,” Larson said. “It’s great to be able to really bring together all the people who care about this organization and care about us.”
It was a unique challenge with plenty of breaks, resulting in an official time of 8 hours and 1 minute.
A group of family and friends cheered as he completed his final lap by the Lake Harriet Bandshell. Repak bowed and the two high-fived.
They quickly got to work eating pizza and drinking beer.
“I don't have any plans for the rest of the day. Timberwolves game It's 7 o'clock,'' Lepak said. “Go, Wolves.''
The runners raised more than $6,000 for Special Olympics, exceeding the goal of $5,000.