Mike Brooks got off to a solid start.

The Auburn man ran 77 miles in the first 24 hours of the Sri-Chinmoy Self-Transcendence Marathon in New York. By noon Friday, day two, he’d added another 55 miles.

He’s doing it one, one-mile loop at a time in a New York park.

Brooks, 63, is racing for 10 days to raise money for Camp Sunshine in Casco. The camp, which helps sick children and their families, created a Web site to follow his progress at www.tendaysforsunshine.org.

He went in with a goal of $10,000 raised and 500 miles run.

In an audio clip posted on the site Friday, Brooks said he was feeling groggy and hadn’t slept much. He was only planning on giving himself a handful of hour-long breaks each day.

“I actually fell asleep while I was walking last night,” he said.

He’d gone up half a shoe size already. The retired firefighter has run 245 marathons but nothing as long as this before.

“Today the sun’s out and I’m actually worried about getting sunburned,” Brooks said in his trackside report. “132 down and how many is that to go? I don’t even want to think about it.”

“I hope I make it.”

– Kathryn Skelton