Why I Started Running
People often think that since I've done a bunch of marathons, I must be a naturally talented athlete who ran track or played competitive sports in school. The complete opposite is true - I was very unathletic as a kid and seriously overweight. Neither of my parents were physically fit or health conscious. Most of my early life was surrounded by all kinds of family dysfunction that reinforced laziness, victimhood mentality, and lack of personal responsibility. As a kid and young adult I started down that path as well and took very little initiative to overcome it, but after college I wanted to change course and started running a little just to improve fitness. I was never good at sports, but running is pretty simple. I originally had no intention of running marathons or any races for that matter; it was just about losing weight and improving overall fitness.
Until my mid-twenties, I had always just assumed that people who ran races of any distance were “real” competitive athletes, not even close to a category I would put myself in. In high school and college, I viewed the runners as kids who competed in track or cross country, which I would never dream of trying with my loser mentality and lousy fitness. I realized later that the racing world stretched way beyond the talented athletes who aim to win races. The elites understandably get most of the media attention, but the vast majority of the field in most races consists of much slower “normal” people who are running for fitness and to compete against themselves for personal goals. For those who think like I did that races are too intimidating and elitist, that is definitely not the case.
Building up to the Marathon
When I first started running a little in my early twenties just to get in shape, my runs were short and very inconsistent, jumping from ten miles one week to zero the next for no good reason. I had no consistency, no goal, nothing to silence that inner voice telling me to sit on the couch. There is an overwhelming tendency to be flaky and inconsistent because it feels so hard to get started. If there are no specific goals, it is way too easy to skip or put off a run, and there is always something that can be used as an excuse. It’s too cold, it’s too hot, I’m tired, it’s raining, it looks like it might rain, I have too much work to do, I’m stressed out, I think I might be getting a cold… and the list goes on and on. One of the most common New Years resolutions is to “get in shape” without ever really defining what that means, and then people wonder why their goals go out the window by the middle of January. That voice is always there for most people, even experienced marathoners, but back then I would actually listen to it. I soon realized that I needed specific, concrete goals to stay on track.
Heading into 2005, I had a simple but concrete goal - run a total of ten miles per week, and do it consistently. Although that's a very low bar from a marathoner’s perspective, I had at least realized by that point that inconsistency was my biggest enemy to making serious improvements. The new ten-mile-per-week goal worked, but it worked so well that it quickly outgrew its original intention of forcing me to run a few times per week. When I set that goal, my longest runs were three or four miles, meaning I would have to run at least three times a week to hit ten. But as I ran more consistently, my fitness improved to the point of being able to do longer distances in one shot. Within a few months, I could do a ten mile week with a single ten mile run. That was a great confidence booster, but it also meant that the ten-mile-per-week standard would no longer be enough to fend off laziness for the majority of the week. My goal was to be consistent, not to slack off for six days and do one big workout on Sunday. Being successful with this one goal motivated me to raise the bar and set a new one.
In 2005, I trained for and ran my first half marathon and first full marathon. After being out of shape for most of my life, the fact that I could successfully train for and complete a marathon without much running history gave me a lot of confidence. I finished the 2005 New York City Marathon in 4:19, not a fast time by my current standards but still within the top half of the field. It had forced me to step up my mileage and be consistent with my training. I knew I would want to do more marathons going forward, but it would be awhile before I would do them as frequently as I do now.
The 50 States
After my first marathon in 2005, I followed the conventional wisdom that says the body needs a few months of lower mileage after a marathon before building back up to do another one. With that in mind, I never did more than four per year until 2011, when I realized that more frequent marathons could lead to more consistent training and faster times. Longer breaks in between gave me more time to slack off and give in to excuses, but a marathon every month or two doesn’t allow for that. I jumped from four marathons in 2010 to ten in 2011, and four of those ten were faster than any I had done before. When I only did a few per year, the 50 states goal seemed unrealistic, but by the end of 2011 I knew it could be done in a reasonable amount of time without slowing me down or causing injury. I like to travel anyway and had already done ten states just by chance, so I joined the 50 states club and made it a goal to finish within about five years. My 50th state finish was in Connecticut in the fall of 2015.
The goal of running a marathon in every state wasn't just a crazy idea I came up with out of the blue. I had seen and talked to runners wearing their 50 states marathon shirts, and always thought it was a cool but unrealistic idea that would never work for a “normal” runner like me who can only do a few per year. When I started the goal in 2011 there were hundreds who had already completed the states and thousands working towards it. The club has official membership requirements, and finishers need to provide documented proof of completing each state in order to get their award and be listed as official finishers. I am #1065. A list of all marathons done in each state, with links to blog updates, can be found here.
Second Round of the States, 50-Sub-4, and Canadian Provinces
After finishing the states in 2015, I knew that I wanted to maintain the habit of about a marathon per month and run them in different places as much as possible. Traveling for races breaks up the monotony and keeps me more motivated than repeating the same local marathons year after year. Some 50 staters accomplish this by trying to finish the states as many times as possible. For me international races take priority when the timing works out (more on that below), but since I can't manage new countries more than a few times a year, I continue to fill in calendar gaps with states that I've only done once before with the goal of completing all 50 a second time.
As part of my goal of finishing a second round of the states, I am also aiming for all 50 under four hours. For the average non-elite marathoner, four hours (9:10 pace per mile) is often considered a good benchmark for a better-than-average finish time. The regular 50 states club simply requires members to finish a marathon in each state, regardless of time, which can include lots of walking. In fact, some races specifically cater to 50-staters by extending their cut-off times well beyond the typical six hours, making it possible to walk the entire time. That's still a great accomplishment of course, but there is a separate club dedicated to finishing the states under four hours. Only around ten percent of 50-state finishers have done this. Having done over half of them under four hours the first time around anyway, this goal - in conjunction with a second round of the states - makes sense for me as a way to maintain the fitness and consistency.
While working on the states a second time, the goal of running all of the Canadian provinces seemed like a no-brainer. There are only ten of them - one fifth of the 50 states goal - and from a travel perspective they wouldn’t be much harder to get to. It eventually added a nice little extra accomplishment on top of the states. Despite not being much farther than the states geographically, the provinces ended up being logistically more challenging than the states because there are fewer races to choose from and flights are usually not direct. Between scheduling conflicts with other races and two years of COVID border restrictions - which Canada was very strict with - the provinces goal ended up taking nearly twice as long as the 50 states did. I finally completed my tenth and final province in October 2024 at the Moncton, New Brunswick marathon. A list of all marathons done in each province, with links to blog updates, can be found at the bottom of this page.
Countries and Continents
When I finished my first round of the states in October 2015, I had already committed to doing more marathons internationally. While the main goal is to run as many countries as possible, there is no "finishing" the countries of course because there are some that are very difficult or unsafe to travel to. Running all of the continents, however, is a doable goal to finish and something that many international runners work towards. After having done a bunch in Europe already by the end of 2017, my goal was to do at least one new continent per year and to finish all seven by 2021. I completed South America in 2018, Asia and Africa in 2019, and planned for Australia in 2020 and a finish in Antarctica in 2021. COVID cancellations delayed the last two continents, but I managed to finish all seven with the Antarctic Ice Marathon in December 2022.
When I finished my first round of the states in October 2015, I had already committed to doing more marathons internationally. While the main goal is to run as many countries as possible, there is no "finishing" the countries of course because there are some that are very difficult or unsafe to travel to. Running all of the continents, however, is a doable goal to finish and something that many international runners work towards. After having done a bunch in Europe already by the end of 2017, my goal was to do at least one new continent per year and to finish all seven by 2021. I completed South America in 2018, Asia and Africa in 2019, and planned for Australia in 2020 and a finish in Antarctica in 2021. COVID cancellations delayed the last two continents, but I managed to finish all seven with the Antarctic Ice Marathon in December 2022.
Just like with the 50 states, the seven continents goal wasn't something I just thought of myself. After finishing the states, I learned more about this idea and realized that hundreds of other crazy runners had completed this goal. A list of finishers can be found here. The Antarctic Ice Marathon gives a special distinction and medal for those who have done all seven continents. A list of marathons done on each continent, with links to blog updates, can be found here.
Going forward after finishing the continents, my main goal has been to simply complete as many countries as possible beyond the 22 I had already done when I finished the continents in 2022. As with the states, tying in new destinations with marathon goals helps to prevent monotony and keep me motivated. A list of marathons in each country, with links to blog updates, can be found here.
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