Ryan Werre of Redcliff runs with his dog Luke on Saturday morning as part of a wellness fundraiser in which Werre ran 48 miles in 48 hours to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House.--NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The first thing Ryan Werre did after running 48 miles over 48 hours this weekend was hit the couch.
The 29-year-old from Redcliff said his legs were tired afterward but he was happy he was able to complete the challenge and raise money at the same time. Werre vowed to take on the challenge of running four miles, every four hours, for 48 hours, and wanted to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House charity.
Werre said he tried the challenge out last year but did not want to commit to raising funds until he knew he could complete it. He started off Thursday at 9 p.m. with his first of 12 legs of four miles, before wrapping it up Sunday with the final one at 9 a.m.
He said the nights were the hardest part on top of Thursday night’s temperature dipping below -15C.
“The nights were the worse, the 9 p.m., 1 a.m., 5 a.m., those are the toughest,” Werre said. “Naturally your body is tired and then you layer on the cold and just the sheer darkness is tough to wake up and go run, especially the second night.”
When asked why he picked the RMH to raise money for, Werre said the desire came from working with Bill Yuill.
“When I was working for him I was involved in his foundation for a little bit, the Yuill Family Foundation, and I was privy to the building of the Ronald McDonald House in Medicine Hat because he helped put up the funds to build it,” Werre said. “So I had that connection there and Mr. Yuill has been so gracious to me throughout even my golf career and he gave me a job at Monarch, I’m just so loyal to him. I love that he is involved in the Ronald McDonald House; it was nice because I had this thought of raising money and the Ronald McDonald House would be a great cause.”
Werre set his goal at $5,000 and Yuill committed to match all funds raised through the Yuill Family Foundation. After he completed the challenge, the total donated reached $5,899. Werre said the ability to donate will be left open until Friday and can be found on the Facebook page, 4X4X48 Marathon – Running to raise funds for the Ronald McDonald House in Medicine Hat.
Werre was not alone for the entire challenge, joined by his dog Luke for some of them, colleagues from his real estate business Friday morning and by his wife Sarah for the second last leg.
He was all by himself for the last leg Sunday morning as he wrapped up the challenge he described as both mentally and physically tough.
“You have to try to plan for it the best you can but you can’t really know what’s coming because after some legs you’re more awake than you thought and can’t sleep, while others you fall asleep but then wake up 20 minutes before you have to run again,” Werre said. “That’s why the challenge is unique, it’s not just go run this many miles, the time in between is tough because you have to manage rest and what you’re eating.”
When asked if he’d commit to doing it next year, Werre laughed and said his wife had already vetoed the idea but said it’s something he could see happening again simply because he liked doing something to raise funds.
