Cheryl McCormick, executive director of the American Cetacean Society, ran 55 miles yesterday, she really did it! As a member of the support team I wasn’t really sure what to expect. The concept of running 55 miles reaches beyond the limits of my imagination. I’m capable of knowing such a feat would be tough, pain would enter the picture, exhaustion, the desire to stop running, the need to have the mental stamina capable of overriding the body’s limitations, misery…these are the thoughts that come to mind.

But Cheryl conveyed none of these things during her double marathon. During breaks she was sweaty of course, but constantly upbeat. She just kept going and going, the true human incarnation of the Energizer Bunny. Cheryl made the whole run look so easy that sometimes I caught my mind contemplating irrational thoughts such as…maybe I could run 50 miles too.

The clues to understanding the toll a 55 mile run takes on the body were revealed during brief breaks when Cheryl would replenish her body with a disgusting pale yellow colored protein drink and restock the super tiny pocket of her running shorts with glucose tablets, salt tablets and advil. Of course she also drank water and ate some potatoes from time to time.

Even crazier, Cheryl was up early this morning to get to LAX by 6:00 am to catch a flight to Morocco for the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting. Now she is off to save the whales, this woman never stops! The only word that comes even close to describing Cheryl’s feat yesterday is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and even that word doesn’t seem sufficient.

For those who still haven’t donated to the Dolphin Dash to support Cheryl’s efforts to save the whales go to http://dolphindash.eventbrite.com/, it’s not too late to help!