Runners take off during the 12.5K and 25K Great Scorpion Trail Run at Bonita Lakes Saturday morning. The race, which also includes a 50K trail run, benefits The National Alopecia Areata Foundation.

The first year of the Great Scorpion Trail Run, Collinsville resident David Green volunteered. The second year, he took part in the 12.5K.

On Saturday morning, Green decided to double the challenge by participating in the 25K, which requires two laps around Bonita Lakes’ jeep trail and single track mountain bike trails, in the third-annual Great Scorpion Trail Run. At first, Green said there were doubts he would be able to finish the full two laps, as one lap was difficult enough.

“My wife (Patricia) went with me for one mile and made the last 4 miles easier because I was pushing myself so hard that I didn’t think I’d make the second one.”

Her advice was for him to pace himself better, which he did. Once he crossed the finish line, the feeling was even better than when he completed the 12.5K a year ago.

“What I remember about last year was how cold I got at the end,” Green joked. “I wanted to challenge myself to do two laps instead of one because if you challenge yourself, you become a better person.”

The Great Scorpion Trail Run was formed as an annual event three years ago by Caroline Bolton and Tim Irvine to raise money and awareness for the disease Alopecia areata, which causes hair loss ranging from small patches to the entire body in the most extreme cases. Irvine, who has the most severe form of the disease, said watching the race grow in each of its three years has been rewarding.

“It’s validation that we’re putting on a good race,” Irvine said. “We had a lot of people who came back this year, but we also had a lot of new people participate.”

The trail run includes 12.5K, 25K and 50K courses. There were just more than 100 participants in 2018 and 200 participants in 2019, and this year’s race featured 231 runners from nine different states, including Mississippi. Money raised goes toward the National Alopecia Areata Foundation (naaf.org), but the goal is also to raise awareness about a disease that isn’t well-known and whose symptoms are often mistaken for cancer treatment.

“The first year we didn’t get a lot of add-on donations,” Irvine said. “Last year we got some, but this year we’ve gotten a lot more, so people are supporting the cause as well as the race. We’re trying to raise money, but bringing awareness is just as important. The awareness is what we’re most proud of. We want to educate people so that when they see someone (without hair), it’s not so strange but more familiar to them.”

Irvine has suffered from Alopecia areata since he was 5, and he admitted he didn’t quite understand what was going on at the time. Once he started school, though, other children and even adults would notice he didn’t have hair.

“With kids, they don’t know, and they’re curious and say things,” Irvine said. “With (our culture’s) emphasis on appearance, especially our hair, one of the bad things about Alopecia areata is it starts in patches, and people don’t know what it is. It can be a challenge, and it helps shape your personality.”

While he got the disease at a young age, Irvine said people who develop Alopecia areata sometimes do so later in life, which can be equally as devastating. While it doesn’t reduce life expectancy, it comes with a great cost emotionally and psychologically.

“I don’t think twice about it now, but I got it before I started school,” Irvine said. “I was 24 before I met someone else who had it, so I felt alone for a lot of my life. Still, at some point, it can be overcome. You latch onto people later in life, and they’re your biggest fans. We have four people in this race who have it.”

While challenging himself was a major goal in Saturday’s run, Green said he’s also happy to help support a race that goes toward the NAAF.

“We do a lot of other runs to support other causes, so we like to support different causes at different places,” Green said.