RUNNING BACKGROUND & GOALS


Why I Started Running


People often think that since I've run 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. The idea of running at all, much less a marathon, would have been a complete joke for me until later in life.

Neither of my parents were physically fit or health conscious. After they separated when I was six, I grew up surrounded by my mom’s dysfunctional mess of learned helplessness, victimhood, and lack of personal responsibility. My mom was a nice, well-meaning person but had trouble managing everyday life. In her world, just keeping a steady job and paying the bills was often seen as “too much,” never mind exercise or physical fitness. As a kid growing up with her, I started down that same weak path.

When I got older and started breaking out of that helpless victim mindset, I started running a little just to lose weight and improve fitness. I had no intention of running marathons or any races for that matter; it was just about improving my overall health.

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, with my lousy fitness and loser mentality, I never dreamed of trying track or cross country. I realized later that the racing world stretched way beyond the talented athletes who aim to win races.

While the very fast professional athletes naturally get most of the media attention, the vast majority of runners in most races are much slower “normal” people with regular jobs and no elite talent. They are running not to win races, but for general fitness and personal goals. This is why runners will laugh or roll their eyes when asked, for the hundredth time, if they “won” their race. That’s what I would have asked too until I realized that races were much more realistic for the average person. 

Building up to the Marathon


Before going further, we have to address the question that drives runners even more nuts than “did you win?” That question is “How long was your marathon?” If you really want to get under a runner’s skin, ask “Did you win your 5K marathon?”

This confusion comes up a lot because the word “marathon” is often incorrectly or misleadingly used to define any running race. Even if “10K” and “marathon” appear on the same t-shirt or advertisement, for example, there is never any such thing as a 10K marathon. The word “marathon” has a very specific meaning.

A marathon, by definition, is a 26.2 mile (42.2 kilometer) running race. Other common race distances aside from the marathon are the 5K (3.1 miles), 10K (6.2 miles), and half marathon (13.1 miles, about 21K). There are also ultramarathons, which can range in distance from 50K (31 miles) to hundreds of miles.

All of this was foreign to me when I started running a little in my early twenties. At that time, since I wasn’t training for races and had no specific goals, my runs were short and very inconsistent. I’d jump from ten miles one week to zero the next for no good reason. I had no consistency and nothing to silence that inner lazy flake voice that lives within most of us.

There is an overwhelming tendency to be lazy 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. I later learned to keep that excuse list as short as possible.

Heading into 2005, I made a simple but concrete goal - run a total of ten miles per week, and do it consistently with no excuses. 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 serious improvement. 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.

Going from a lazy fat kid to being able to run ten miles at once felt great, 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. Given my history, 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


I knew I wanted to do more marathons after my first one in 2005, but for the next five years 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.

The standard 4-6 month training cycle is a good rule of thumb for first-time marathoners and one that works for many people, but everyone's body is of course very different. For me, it turned out that that shorter gaps actually led to better results. With longer breaks I had more time to flake out 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. With more training consistency and less slacking, my finish times improved. The goal of running a marathon in all 50 states had seemed unrealistic before, 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 made it a goal to finish within about five years. My 50th state finish was at the Hartford Marathon in Connecticut in October 2015.

The 50-states goal wasn't just a crazy idea I came up with out of the blue. I had met runners wearing their 50 states marathon shirts and always thought it was a cool goal, but just not for me. When I finally started out in 2011, there were hundreds who had already completed the goal 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.

Countries and Continents


After finishing the states in 2015, my marathon goals shifted towards international races with the goal of running as many countries as possible. Unlike with the 50 states, there is no "finishing" the countries because there are some that are very difficult or unsafe to travel to. Running all seven 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 in each country and continent, with links to blog updates and travel photos, can be found here.

Finishing my seventh continent in 2022 was by no means the end of my international marathon goals. While I wanted to have that accomplishment under my belt as soon as possible, I have continued with the more general goal of running as many new countries as possible.

Second Round of the States, 50-Sub-4, and Canadian Provinces


Although my priority after 2015 has been running new countries, there are enough gaps between international marathons that it made sense to work towards a second round of the states as well. Some 50 States Marathon Club members even try for multiple rounds, but two is more than enough for me. The club does not require a different marathon course in each state to complete another round, but with a few exceptions I have generally tried to do different ones just for the variety of new places to see. A list of all marathons done in each state, with links to blog updates, can be found here.

As part of my 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. For me that is usually doable if it's not too hot or hilly, but it requires consistent and quality training. Without such a standard, it would be too easy for me to slack on training but still finish - just with a slower time. Ultimately that would lead me back to that slippery slope of laziness that I had gone down before.

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-state walkers by extending their cut-off times well beyond the typical six hours. Walking a marathon is still a great accomplishment of course, but there is a separate club dedicated to finishing the states under four hours. I already had about half of the states done under four hours the first time around, so for the other half this adds an extra challenge and motivation to maintain consistent quality training. 

Along with a second round of the states, I also mixed in the smaller goal of completing the Canadian provinces. There are only ten of them - one fifth of the 50 states goal - and from a travel perspective I figured they wouldn’t be much harder to get to. Despite not being much farther geographically, the provinces ended up being more of a logistical challenge than the states because there are fewer races to choose from and flights are often not direct. I finally completed my tenth and final province in October 2024 with a marathon in Moncton, New Brunswick. A list of all marathons done in each province, with links to blog updates, can be found at the bottom of this page.

What's Next?


My main goal continues to be running as many countries as possible whenever scheduling allows. In between international races, I am continuing to work on U.S. states still needed for my second round and sub-four hour goals - all explained above.

A list of scheduled upcoming races is always posted in the main center section of the blog homepage, right underneath my most recent race summary.

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If you want to know more, feel free to contact me or check out other sections of the blog, including the Frequently Asked Questions page.
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