Daniel Garrett is spending his week practicing walking and staying up late.
Garrett, 20, will participate in the Lakewood Relay for Life to raise money for cancer research. His quest was motivated by his friend, Lakewood resident Rick Magee, who recently recovered from skin cancer only to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.
However, Garrett will take an extra step — or an extra few thousand steps — as a team of one. As other walkers trade off laps with teammates, he will walk alone from 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, to 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 21.
“It’s usually done with 10 or 15 people,” Garrett said. “But I didn’t want to have a team. I kind of put this challenge to myself.”
If he can pull off the feat, he will spend just under 14 hours walking the track at Red Rocks Community College. So far, Garrett has raised $170 in donations. His goal is $200.
“What he’s doing is pretty unique,” said Sean Meyerhoffer, relationship manager for the American Cancer Society. “Of about the 20 relays we have in the Denver area, I don’t know that I’ve seen any other participant trying to walk the whole thing.”
The question remains — can he do it?
“The walking I have no problem with,” said the 2004 Lakewood High School graduate. “I think staying awake will be the hard part. I’m going to see if I can get some of my friends to give me coffee or snacks to keep me up.”