Athens native and longtime distance runner Lanier Greenhaw was accompanied by his oldest son, Guy Greenhaw, on a monthlong trip up to Alaska, which led to him competing in the Denali 50k.

“We left June 1 and came back on July 2, so about 32 days in total we were gone,” Lanier Greenhaw said. “Guy has always wanted to go up to Alaska, and while he was sitting there waiting on me for the race he found a picture from 2014 of the Alaskan highway, proving it’s been something he’s wanted to do since he was about 13.”

The 52-year-old runner did not plan on participating in the run until he was up in Alaska, and even then he hesitated to attempt it until he got the go-ahead confirmation from his son.

“I had a friend whose wife ran the 135 mile (race), and that’s how I knew it was even there,” Greenhaw said. “I asked my son if it was OK if I do it, and he was like, ‘Go for it,’ because it was only going to take a day out of our sight seeing.”

The almost 32-mile trek was situated between mile markers 37 and 68 of the Denali Highway. According to Lanier, Guy was his only support crew during the race and would give him the valuable nutritional snack consisting of a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola and a king sized Payday candy bar.

“When you run long distances like a 50k, you have got to fuel the body, and at some point when you run long enough, your body is going to burn whatever you put in it,” Greenhaw said. “I’ve always been a coke and Paydays type of guy, so I had two of each during the run.”

Persevering through all of the wild obstacles one has to face up in the wilderness of Alaska was the only mindset Lanier had as he completed the Denali 50k with a time of 6 hours and 12 minutes.

“There were only nine of us out there running, so it was a very small race,” Greenhaw said. “I’ve ran 100 miles a number of times, and you have got to go in thinking you can do it, and that’s exactly what I did in Alaska.”

Greenhaw added that, when he used to coach up younger cross country runners, he would have to get them to understand how important conquering their mind is while running.

“Mentally, the longest mile a runner faces is the mile between their ears, so you have got to be strong minded.” Greenhaw said.