HOLLAND, MI -- One day after running 65 miles in celebration of his 65th birthday, Larry Erlandson said he had no soreness or or frostbite from completing nearly 16 hours in the stinging cold Saturday.

Erlandson had originally planned on running a 2.5 mile loop through the downtown snow-melt areas of Holland but high winds and significant snowfall narrowed his route to an area of just two-thirds of a mile.

"I feel well, I'm not sore or anything, I'm just pretty tired from putting in the miles," Erlandson said Sunday afternoon. "It took me longer than I had anticipated but the longer you go the slower you get it seems."

Erlandson used downtown frozen yogurt business Orange Leaf for his "home base" for clothing changes and to meet up with friends who ran with him throughout the day.

"I had people with me all the time running, it was just great," Erlandson said.

One person he met for the first time was a German businessman, Andy Hasenstab, who had wandered downtown looking for a place to jog.

"I started talking to him and he said 'oh, you're the guy I saw in the newspaper' so he ended up running with me for three hours," Erlandson said. "That was pretty special to meet someone for the first time and spend time with them because of our common interest."

Erlandson said he was able to raise a substantial amount of money toward his goal of $6,500 to be donated to the Girls on the Run and Total Trek Quest, organizations that help get youth involved in running.

"As of (Sunday) morning we were up to $5,600, about $900 short of the goal but we're still adding it up," Erlandson said. "I made the goal $6,500 with no idea if we could raise that much but it's a good cause and it gave good motivation for the run."

Even though the weather played a large role, Erlandson said he was pleased how his body handled the frigid temperatures that hovered around the mid-teens.

"There was a period in the day where it was just blowing and snowing like crazy," Erlandson said. "The only thing exposed on me was my face but nothing else on my body felt cold."

"Sometimes in these long endurance runs my feet get sore but they didn't in this one. I was very pleased with how my body reacted to it all."



Follow Cory Olsen on Twitter or email him at colsen@mlive.com

