By the time Canada's only 24-hour relay called the final lap Sunday morning, Dan Dubrule had circled the 400-metre track 328 times, just 22 laps shy of his goal.
That's still three full marathons.
Just days before Dubrule took to the track at Relay for Life, a close family member was diagnosed with cancer.
"It was extra motivation," said Dubrule, who watched as Relay for Life organizers announced Prince George raised $468,233 for the Canadian Cancer Society. Last year the city led the province with $600,000 raised.
Dubrule tried to get $8 a lap and estimated he collected about $2,500. He was also running for a friend's fiance and his best friend's father-in-law.
During the long hours, especially into the quiet morning hours, Dubrule tried to keep focused on the cause for motivation.
"The track's empty, it's cold out," said the 30-year-old, who went through a flat of gatorade as he tried to remain hydrated and flush with carbohydrates.
"That's when my muscles are getting most sore, so it was a darker time but that's the good thing about it, is it's the light at the end of the tunnel that keeps you going."
Dubrule was one 20 people who made the 24-hour stretch at Masich Place Stadium. More than 1,300 participants on 136 teams helped achieve that goal, with 240 weekend volunteers helping pull off the round-the-clock event.
Seeing people on the track all hours of the day is inspirational, said Helen Owen, team lead for Prince George's Relay For Life.
"Some of them look like they're aching but they're doing a phenomenal job," said Owen, adding the full day makes for a unique experience. "It really builds on a sense of community."
There's something about Prince George, she said, that makes it a great city for the relay, now in its 23rd year.
"We've all been affected by cancer and I think that's probably the crux of the whole situation and we all want to make a difference," said Owen, who lost both parents to cancer.
At 61, she's thinking more and more of her mother, who died at 68 of lung cancer. This year was the 20th anniversary of her death.
"We're making huge strides and progress but we can still do better. That's why it's important to me keep going, keep doing what we do," Owen said.
Watching the survivors, all dressed in the same yellow T-shirts, launch the event Saturday morning was a highlight for Owen.
"It's very inspiring to see the sea of yellow walking around the track," she said.
Carol Peebles was one woman in that sea of yellow.
She has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and two years ago, surgery removed her cancer.
This was her first relay.
"Last year I couldn't even come here because everything was too overwhelming," she said, but this year she felt good. "I think I've always just sort of had the blinders on, afraid to face the whole thing with cancer and then when I got it, you kind of have to face it whether you like it or not."
For three years before her surgery, she lived with cancer. She would get so tired, she took to keeping a mat, blanket and pillow at work.
"Once I got healthy then I realized really how it did affect my life. I was really rundown," said Peebles, who is now retired, and said she made a goal of raising $500 to help find a cure for cancer.
"Research has come so far," she said referencing a speaker on Saturday who was saved because of clinical trials.
"If it weren't for the money raised at things like this they wouldn't have the money to have clinical trials."
There's still time to increase Prince George's total through the summer, Owen said, noting last year they raised a further $75,000 after the race.
"We're not done yet."
