Early Sunday, under a full moon, Carol Sakavich tightened her shoe laces and stepped on the track.

Round and round the Central Kitsap High School track she walked — for about 10 miles overnight, breathing steam in the cool air.

While others slept or took a break, Sakavich, 62, of Silverdale, walked late-night laps during the Central Kitsap Relay for Life event.

She chose the peacefulness of night to remind her why she walks the long walk.

“It’s a good time for contemplation,” she said.

The annual 24-hour fundraiser hosted by the American Cancer Society began at noon Saturday and continued non-stop through the night and ended at noon Sunday.

During the day, hundreds walk, run, jog and push strollers, talking with family and friends to the beat of live music for as long as they like — usually several hours.

The first day’s crowd begins dwindling following the Luminaria Ceremony — one of the relay’s main events — where candles are lit in personalized paper bags lining the track honoring those who have survived or died from cancer.

By 1 a.m., a few determined walkers, some bundled in blankets, remain on the track.

Sakavich said she chose to walk in the late-night hours because it’s quieter. She walks with her head bowed, thinking of her mother, a three-time cancer survivor who will turn 90 years old in September.

There’s a bag for her mother, but Sakavich decorated and personalized 72 other bags at the request of friends and co-workers.

“It’s a reminder to me that there are a lot of survivors,” she said. “I hope that our money is going to something important that may save my life one day.”

Sakavich raised $2,500 and her team, Our Gang, raised more than $15,000.

By 2:30 a.m., Sakavich’s teammate, Keith Hawryluk, was down to single digits with nine and a half hours left.

Listening to a rotating mix of music including that of Christian rapper TobyMac and the Rolling Stones and with a diet of granola bars, sandwiches and water, Hawryluk, 54, of Keyport, walked the full 24 hours and raised $1,200 for his team.

This is the second year Hawryluk has walked from noon to noon, who lost both his parents to cancer.

“We’ll see how the feet look tomorrow,” he said.

During the day, with headphones on, Hawryluk blocks out the sound of chatter and weaves in and out of groups of children walking the track.

Late at night and into the morning, it’s a different scene.

Like his Silverdale teammate, Hawryluk looks down at the illuminated bags and ruminates on the reason he’s taking each step.

“You connect with those that are gone,” he said.

Half the track-length away, Laurie Hoskinson and her niece, Kayla Hoskinson, wrapped up the end of their circuitous trek.

Laurie Hoskinson asked her 13-year-old niece visiting from Las Vegas if she wanted to do something crazy, something ridiculous.

Kayla Hoskinson answered, “Why not?”

“With the full moon, it’s just kind of quiet,” Laurie Hoskinson said.

To help add volunteer hours toward a school project, the two signed up to help the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard apprentice program’s team by walking at the only time no one else would — from midnight to 4 a.m.

It was the first time either of them participated in a Relay for Life walk and they didn’t know what to expect.

“I thought we were going to have to pass off a baton or something,” Kayla Hoskinson said.

Although the Hoskinsons signed up to check off hours on a sheet of paper, by the time their shift ended, the event had come to mean more.

A close friend of Kayla Hoskinson was diagnosed with leukemia within the last month.

Kayla Hoskinson said the laps help to make a difference in an otherwise helpless circumstance.

“Walking is like me being able to help her,” she said. “To help find a cure so she can be my best friend again.