Sean Brennan

Day 2

This is my fourth time participating as a runner in the Run Across Haiti. Lots of things are very familiar but there are always new experiences and sights to see. This year I’m experiencing the run with my oldest daughter Alex. She is working on the support crew and it’s great having her here to share the experience. One thing I’m noticing is this year is definitely hotter than previous years. Every other year the run was held in February instead of May. It was hot then but not nearly as hot as it is now.

What has changed since the first year I ran? The first year was a small group of only 7 runners that wasn’t sure if we could even run across the country. Things weren’t organized and our start times varied each day. Fast forward to year 5 and the Run Across Haiti is a well-oiled machine. Every part of the process is as organized as you can be in Haiti. There are always going to be unexpected surprises but we usually leave close to our 4AM start time, the support crews are waiting at every 5K checkpoint and meals are always pretty close to the time noted. There were a couple of Haitians on the support crew the first year and over the years the number have grown. This year there are more Haitians than ever before. They have learned what to expect and how to support an extreme endurance event like this. It’s exciting to see that having the Run Across Haiti fully staffed by Haitians will likely be in the near future.