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By the time he had run 60 miles through the enchanted forest sanctuary, Earl had struck his head twice and rolled his ankle, and was delirious in the dark.
He mistakenly thought he had finished the ultramarathon that night, so he drove his car back to his hotel room and lay down in bed. When the Oklahoma college professor woke up the next day, he found that he had fallen asleep in the dense woods, and the bed was just a pile of sticks.
The injured, dehydrated and possibly concussed man had no idea he was the subject of a search and rescue campaign. The missing runner was not found during a search by police officers, firefighters, volunteers and dogs.
A security guard at Knight's Armament Co. spotted Blewett on Monday morning near the Enchanted Forest Sanctuary on the south side of State Road 405. During the press conference, Werring said that Blewett was in a state of delirium.
Earl is in a hospital bed.
A runner who went missing during a 100 mile run has been found alive.
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Had I gotten bitten, a snake could have been bad. If I fell in the canal. "It could have gone bad," he said during a phone interview from his hospital room. I am glad it ended as well as it did. It was not the way I was planning to spend my Christmas.
On Christmas Day, he was still in the hospital. He said that he had injuries, including a severely sprained ankle, and that he spent a week recovering. His forehead and nose were cut.
I hit my head a few times. "That's what led to all this, I think, you can only concuss yourself so much."
I didn't know it was so bad. I was running well. He said he was happy with how he was running. I did a really good face plant after falling. I walked into a sign. That really hurt. I think the head trauma was tied in with the ankle trauma.
I slept all Sunday and missed the whole day. That is not normal. Not even in my world, he said.
Earl Blewett turned up missing in the Enchanted Forest Sanctuary, and the police released a photo of him.
Family members had flown to the Space Coast to visit him after he said his kidneys were improving. He hopes the doctors will let him go from the hospital on Monday.
Earl is an ultramarathoner.
A professor at Oklahoma State University, Blewett lives in Oklahoma. He ran his first ultramarathon in 1993 and has run about 80 since.
In October, he finished in 45th place out of 58 entrants in the Mines of Spain 100 mile endurance run. Five laps of a 20-mile loop were completed by participants. The 100 mile ultramarathon took 30 hours, 32 minutes and 33 seconds.
Belwett said he developed hypernatremia after he suffered a head injury and concussion during a triathlon in 1995. A high concentration of sodium in the bloodstream can cause muscle weakness, confusion, and unconsciousness.
The Ancient Oaks 100-Mile Endurance Run is an invitation-only ultra marathon. The race began at 7 a.m. Runners attempted to complete 29 loops of a 3.46-mile trail course in the Enchanted Forest Nature Sanctuary within 32 hours.
The sanctuary contains oak scrub, mesic and hydric hammock, wet prairie and pine flatwood habitats.
He continued to run despite rolling his ankle. He was last seen on the trail course.
I ran on Lap 18. I thought I had finished the race and drove my car to my hotel room. I didn't go to a hotel room and I didn't drive the car.
I laid down on the bed. The bed was just a pile of sticks when I woke up. I was in the bush. He said that his ankle had swollen so much that he couldn't walk. I lay down and woke up Sunday night because I thought I had a concussion.
Emergency personnel are coordinating the search for Earl Blewett at the Enchanted Forest Sanctuary.
Werring said Sunday's search effort included grid searches, K-9s, ATVs and sheriff's mounted patrols. Race volunteers searched the running loop, trails that were not used during the race, and areas outside the park.
The race director said it was "astounding" that the man emerged from the forest two days after he went missing.
I don't know if Earl was at the park when he left, or when he fell and hit his head, or if he damaged his ankle later on.
In the history of the Ancient Oaks 100-Mile Endurance Run, only two incidents have required emergency-service personnel. A runner from the Naples area became dehydrated three or four years ago.
I would like to thank the people who searched for me. I apologize for disrupting their weekend. "I have never had anything like this before," he said. I promised my wife that I would buy a spot locator and wear it. I was running in the park. I didn't expect to get lost.
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I hit my head twice and woke up in the woods.
