Fourth-year Chris Peverada enjoys going for nice runs along the lakefront. Sometimes those nice runs are 32 miles long.Last weekend, Chris Peverada, who was a member of both the track and field and cross country teams, made his first preparations for running the entire 12 hours of Relay for Life by actually running that distance on a three-and-a-half-hour run along Lake Michigan. After the track season ended, he had two weeks to prepare for the relay that starts today at 7 p.m.“On a whim once, at the end of the track season, I did a three-and-a-half hour run to see how I would handle staying on my feet for that long,” Peverada said. “When I measured it on Google Maps, it was 32 miles.”Peverada is undertaking this formidable task in an effort to fundraise for the American Cancer Society. In his past fundraising experience, he has let the deadline creep up without raising a considerable amount of funds for the cause, but this time around has been different.“I feel like this is really a good cause. It’s researching treatment and maybe eventually some kind of cure,” Peverada said.As a member of the track and field team, Peverada ran the 5 and 10 km this past season. In training for track, Peverada went on weekly two-hour runs, but his three-and-a-half-hour run is the longest that he has run up to this date. Nevertheless, he is confident that he is up to the physically taxing task of running from 7 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday.“As far as just the running part goes, getting muscularly fatigued and aerobically fatigued, I feel like I’ll be fine with all that. The main thing I’m worried about is maintaining an energy balance. I’ll actually have to eat some to be able to keep going.”The only planned breaks from running are for the bathroom and possibly for eating.While hesitant to put a number on the miles that he will end up running Friday night, Peverada put some perspective on it by saying, “The world record for running 100 miles is under 12 hours, but I wouldn’t expect anywhere close to that for me. That’s just an idea for what people can do in 12 hours.”Peverada is of the opinion that the most trying time of the evening will come in the fifth or sixth hour. To fight through the exhaustion that he will undoubtedly incur, he is going to have to find some internal motivation to keep going.“I’ll probably be thinking, ‘I told people that I was going to be running the whole 12 hours, and that this is symbolic for the fight against cancer,” Peverada said. “I feel that if people are living with cancer and fighting that just running another five to six hours really shouldn’t feel like such a big deal, after what other people go through.”When Saturday morning comes around, being able to walk is a definite concern.“When I first started running back in high school, I went on an eight-mile run, and I could barely walk after that,” Peverada said. “I guess it’s kind of changed a bit now, but maybe the same thing will happen.”This weekend’s 12-hour run will serve as a springboard for Peverada, who plans on continuing with long-distance running, starting with the Boston Marathon and moving into ultra-marathons.As for Saturday morning, ultra-marathons are probably going to be the last thing on Peverada’s mind. After the clock hits 7 a.m., he’ll have only one concern on his mind.“I’ll probably sleep for a while.”