Blake MacDonald felt sheer relief as he pushed past 162 kilometres of pain and ran straight into his parents' arms.
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The streets of Kaleen were lined with the ACT Comets star's family and friends on Sunday morning, spurring him on to finish a 24-hour charity run for Lifeline Australia.
MacDonald clocked up 162km, or almost four marathons, overnight and raised more than $16,000 in the process.
His Comets teammates created a roster to make sure there was always someone running by his side, helping him pass his goal of 100 miles with 10 minutes to spare.
"I had heaps of friends and family there at the finish line clapping, as well as a whole support crew running behind me for the last few laps. It was awesome," MacDonald said.
"I ran straight into my mum at the finish line, who gave me a big hug. Dad came over as well. It was nice to finish in that way, I think there was a lot of relief as well.
"There were definitely a lot of physical challenges, no doubt about that. There's every chance I could have got an injury but I think the mental side was the hardest.
"Physically, it was possible to keep going but mentally there were a lot of times where sleep deprivation came in, too. It was very tempting to pack it in.
"I think because I was able to get through that, moving forward that's something I can lean on whenever life throws challenges at me ... which inevitably it does."
The longest distance MacDonald had run before was 48km. He hit that mark after about six hours, so the next 18 hours brought an unknown challenge.
The doubts started to creep in at the 10th hour and each flip of the kilometre loop's tally seemed to tick over slowly for 22-year-old batsman.
He managed to stay on track with the 160km milestone as motivation through the night, stopping only for 10 minutes to sort out a blister.
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"From that 10-hour to probably the 20-hour mark, there were four or fives times where I had some challenges and the body was aching," MacDonald said.
"I didn't run a single lap on my own, I had a lot of support to help me get through that. The big thing for me was reminding myself it was temporary, the pain, and I'll get through it.
"That was one of the big motivations behind it, pushing beyond what my mind thinks I'm capable of and prove myself I have more to give."
As of Monday afternoon, MacDonald had raised $16,414.58 for Lifeline - more than half of his $10,000 target.
MacDonald, who studies psychology, has been completing crisis support training at Lifeline and also volunteers his time there.
"It's amazing. I think it's doubled since I first started the run on Saturday which is incredible," MacDonald said.
"The biggest take away is the community's support in terms of getting behind a really good cause and supporting me in this event I wanted to undertake. It's been incredible to see that and I'm very proud to help raise money for a good cause."
He'll now shift his attention to the upcoming season with St George, who play in the Sydney Grade Cricket competition.
"All the lessons I've learned from this will carry forward into my cricket as well. I'm looking forward to that," he said.