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<p>One Saturday last November, Wilkes-Barre native Bryn Mesko ran the 13.1 miles of the Philadelphia Half-Marathon. The next day, did she rest? Put her feet up?</p><p>No, she got up early and ran the 26.2 miles of the full Philadelphia Marathon.</p><p>All that running might sound excessive, but it&#8217;s helping Mesko prepare for an eight-day ultramarathon called Run Across Haiti.</p><p>Set to begin Feb. 16, the coast-to-coast, 230-mile feat is a fund-raiser sponsored by an organization known as Work, which hopes to provide jobs for adults in a poor neighborhood of Port-au-Prince.</p><p>&#8220;A lot of kids are in the workforce now. We want to flip flop that,&#8221; Mesko said in a telephone interview, explaining that if parents had access to good jobs, children could stay in school.</p><p>Mesko, 30, moved to the Pittsburgh area a year ago and just began a new job at PNC Bank. Earlier, she worked for a non-profit, and that&#8217;s where she heard about the run &#8212; which appealed to her altruism and sense of adventure.</p><p>&#8220;I loved everything about it,&#8221; she said, adding that recent disparaging remarks President Donald Trump reportedly made about the island country have only increased her motivation &#8220;to carry out the mission of the run, which is to showcase the beauty of Haiti and prove it&#8217;s not a place to be pitied or feared. I intend to do just that.&#8221;</p><p>Online video clips of a previous Run Across Haiti show what this year&#8217;s 40 runners, including Mesko, can expect. The clips show the athletes, equipped with head lamps, starting their day hours before dawn to beat the heat.</p><p>The first day&#8217;s course that year was 37 miles, or 60 kilometers, someone mentioned, yet the terrain was &#8220;flat and rolling.&#8221; Subsequent days would take the runners, and their support team, up mountainous roads, some 4,000 feet above sea level. They would also run through a crowded marketplace, and meet people along the way.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re not running in a bubble,&#8221; one person said.</p><p>Explaining a small boy had run alongside him for six miles, one runner pointed out the lad had been wearing a pair of Crocs that were too big for him, yet the youth still gave the older runner the challenge of trying to keep up.</p><p>The runners spoke of battling humidity and fatigue but were determined to press on.</p><p>Haitians in heavily accented English encouraged them with such sentiments as &#8220;Keep it up,&#8221; &#8220;You can do this&#8221; and &#8220;May God bless you.&#8221;</p><p>Mesko, who was a swimmer before she began to devote herself to running, isn&#8217;t worried about keeping up, though she did say &#8220;knock on wood&#8221; as she anticipated the satisfaction of completing the grueling event.</p><p>Her preparation has included the Pittsburgh Marathon and Scranton&#8217;s Steamtown Marathon in addition to the Philadelphia races. With advice from Work&#8217;s team coach, she&#8217;s running 45 to 50 miles per week, and expects to increase that to 55 to 60 over the next five weeks.</p><p>A graduate of the former Bishop Hoban High School in Wilkes-Barre and Northeastern University in Boston, she is the daughter of Gertrude and George Mesko, of Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>Getting ready for the ultramarathon includes running on a treadmill when the outdoor temperatures are really cold, she said. &#8220;Can&#8217;t stop now!&#8221;</p><p>It also includes &#8220;eating whatever I want &#8212; a lot of pizza,&#8221; she added with a laugh.</p><p>Just as important as the physical training is the fund-raising. Mesko is committed to raising $10,000 to support the race and the cause.</p><p>People interested in contributing may do so through <a href="https://www.crowdrise.com/run-across-haiti1" target="_blank">crowdrise.com/run-across-haiti1</a> or by sending a check made out to &#8220;Work&#8221; to 5109 Duncan St., Pittsburgh, PA 15201.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">She&#8217;s run marathons in Scranton, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The next challenge for Wilkes-Barre native Bryn Mesko is a 230-mile, coast-to-coast, eight-day ultramarathon called Run Across Haiti. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_bryn.jpg</photo0><caption0>She&#8217;s run marathons in Scranton, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The next challenge for Wilkes-Barre native Bryn Mesko is a 230-mile, coast-to-coast, eight-day ultramarathon called Run Across Haiti. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photos </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_bryn2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Bryn Mesko kept warm with a light-weight blanket after the Philadelphia Marathon. When she runs an ultramarathon in Haiti next month, she can expect warmer air temperatures. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_bryn2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Bryn Mesko kept warm with a light-weight blanket after the Philadelphia Marathon. When she runs an ultramarathon in Haiti next month, she can expect warmer air temperatures. </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photos </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Funds from ultramarathon to provide jobs in Port-au-Prince</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre native Bryn Mesko trains for ultramarathon Run Across Haiti