Dark Miles - Larry and the Long Way Back (with Shawn Mahoney)

In October 2019, Shawn Mahoney's cousin came into his room to turn off an alarm that had been ringing too long. Shawn was unresponsive. His cousin started CPR. By the time Shawn woke up in the ICU, he could not move his hands (they were in restraints) and two doctors were standing at his bedside telling his parents he had a 50-50 chance of surviving.

He had been carrying a log for seventeen years by then. Training aid first: he had started running with it before boot camp, the way other people would use a telephone pole, and had never really stopped. The log had not yet become anything. It was just something he did.

What followed the hospital is the story: a man who almost died of a heart infection no one could diagnose (75 medical visits, white blood cell counts nearly 30 times normal) who woke up in a hospital bed, made a deal, and has been proving it ever since. The NE111 (115 high peaks across the Northeast in thirteen weeks), then the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, three consecutive years carrying a log and raising money for veterans, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, and Alzheimer's research in honor of his grandmother. Then Te Araroa in New Zealand for Make-A-Wish, where he carried a 2,500-year-old swamp kauri log because he couldn't bring his own across the border. Then the Colorado Trail.

He is not done. The fire that came on in that hospital room has never gone out. He lives in a small apartment, works out, and on the weekends he hikes. He does not have Netflix. He is getting ready for the next trail.

The log's name is Larry.