Each fall, a group of dedicated runners gather in the pre-dawn darkness at Boonsboro High School near Hagerstown, Md., to run 50 miles. William Bradley Distad ’04, a Mathematics teacher at the school, recently completed this feat for the seventh consecutive year.

“Everybody starts running in the dark,” the 29-year-old said. “I try to get up to the front because [when you turn around] everyone is wearing headlamps and you can see 300 headlamps running towards you.”

The race is called the “JFK 50.” It began more than 40 years ago, after John F. Kennedy challenged Marines to take a 50-mile hike. The path leads through the Appalachian Trail and the C&O Canal towpath. The course is rocky, occasionally steep, and at times muddy. Each year, it takes William up to 12 hours to complete. Part of the trick, he says, is keeping his mind busy.

“Being a Theatre major, when I get really bored I go over different plays and monologues that I learned at McDaniel. You have to have things to think about,” William said.

Afterwards, his legs don’t bend, his arms hurt, and even his chest is sore from breathing hard all day. But William says he’ll continue to run the JFK 50 until he can’t run anymore.

“It’s a great metaphor for life,” he says. “You start out excited, get worn down, and bond with friends the whole way. Anytime I feel tired or sick, I compare it to the run and realize, ‘I don’t feel so bad.’”