The Road to 50 States

The Missoula Marathon asked me to write a story on why I run.  This was posted on their blog earlier this month:

I've run 26.2 miles eleven times.  On purpose.  Yes, with my two feet.  Yes, I said "on purpose."

My infatuation with running began innocently in the year 2000.  A friend starting training for a 5K, and, not to be left behind, I started jogging behind him.  Within a month, I had started to shed my sedentary lifestyle and ran my first 5K.  I kept running about 2 to 3 miles several times a week.   Within a year, thanks to my new hobby, I had not only shed my sedentary lifestyle, but I had also shed 50 pounds...so I kept on running.

In November 2005, I decided I needed a challenge and registered for the Hospital Hill 1/2 Marathon, which was in June 2006.   In order to tackle the distance, I joined the Runner's Edge of Kansas City, one of our local training groups.  Before I had even run my first half marathon, I was hooked, and I signed up for the Kansas City Marathon, which was in October.  I really looked forward to the comraderie of training with my running group on Saturdays.  In addition, as a chemical engineer, I seemed to respond well to the regimented training schedule, and I began to look forward to crossing off training runs on my schedule.  I even created a spreadsheet to track my mileage and how far I ran in what pair of shoes.   It was perfect for my Type A personality.  I love goals and goal tracking.  My first marathon was the Kansas City Marathon,  one day before my 31st birthday.

Not to be swayed by the physical and mental challenges of completing my first marathon, I decided to run the St. Louis Marathon with two of my running friends (Marcus and Stacie) during Spring 2007.  During that marathon, the idea of running a marathon in all 50 states was placed in my head.  I still remember this portion of our conversation vividly:  "you only need 10 states to get in", "yeah, only."  At the time, it was just a seed that had been planted and was temporarily forgotten.  After the St. Louis Marathon, I burned out on distance running and switched to cycling for a year.

In December 2008, I felt the passion burning within me to return to distance running, and I signed up for the 2009 Country Music Marathon.  Between 2008 and 2010, I decided to return to the challenge of running in 10 states, so I ran the Country Music Marathon (TN), Twin Cities Marathon (MN), Little Rock Marathon (AR), Lincoln Marathon (NE), Chicago Marathon (IL), and the Gobbler Grind Marathon (KS).  In the first quarter of 2011, I completed the Goofy Race and a 1/2 Challenge (FL), the Oz Marathon (another KS), and the Flying Pig Marathon (OH).  (That's 11 marathons in  9 states if you lost count.)  I've also finished 15 half-marathons in four states.  Within the last year, I've qualified to become a member of the Half Fanatics and Marathon Maniacs but it is the 50 States Club that is the carrot that continues to dangle in front of me. 

With each state I check off my marathon list, I find myself more and more infatuated with checking off another state.  A lot of runners train intensely to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  While I've chipped over 45 minutes off my original 5:37 marathon time over the last five years, I've accepted that Boston might be a slightly overzealous goal for me at the moment.  Getting into the 50 States Club by running in 10 states is my Boston. 

"But why 26.2 miles?", people ask me.  All. the. time.  Two words.  Race bling.  I love adding a new finisher's medal to my collection.  Seriously, though, there's just something about 26.2 miles.   It doesn't matter how many marathons I run, the distance is always challenging.  Each marathon has its own personality and obstacles.  Maybe it's a hilly course.  Maybe Mother nature is going to wreck havoc on my time goals by delivering a cold 20 mph wind on an April day or, worse, a humid sunny 90 degree day in October.  Maybe my stomach isn't going to agree with my nutrition.  I just don't know what will happen in those 26.2 miles, and the excitement of the adventure is thrilling!  Running marathons has simply captivated me.  Even at Mile 18 when my knees start to throb, or at Mile 22 when my quads have cramped so badly I have to walk and I swear I'm never running another one, I run those final 0.2 miles to cross another finish line and the magic of the marathon wisks it all away. 

As I write this, it is two weeks and five days after the Oz Marathon and five days after the Flying Pig Marathon.  I can finally walk down stairs normally again, but  I'm still pretty tired.  However, I am ready to go again.  The day after Flying Pig, I started to think about registering for the Missoula Marathon.  Two days later, I kind of fixated on it and shopped around for airfare.  Four days after the Flying Pig Marathon, I registered.

Why Missoula?  I have traveled a lot in the United States, but I have never been to Montana.  What better way to see a place than to run it?  In addition, Missoula has been on my "must do" list since it was written up in Runner's World as the best overall marathon in 2010.  As I continued to research it, I also discovered it's flat with one hill.  (You cannot argue with only one hill.)  Finally, of course, Missoula is incredibly scenic.

It should be noted that running so many marathons in such a short time frame does wreck some havoc on the body, so I train as intelligently and safely as possible.  I know I couldn't have made it this far without the help of Eladio Valdez (my running coach), Toby Scott (my chiropractor), and Barb Rinne (my massage therapist).

I'm incredibly excited to experience the scenery and people of Missoula on July 9 and 10.  It only seems appropriate that I will run my 10th state within months of my 5-year anniversary of running marathons.  Who better to share a 5-year runniversary with than the Missoula Marathon?  Cheers!  Happy running!

I Hightailed It! (Flying Pig Marathon, Marathon 11, State 9)

This little piggy ran all the way
 to the Finish Swine!

Sometimes I think I obsess more about the 10-day forecast before I run a marathon, than the fact that I am getting ready to run 26.2  miles again.  So was the case for the Flying Pig Marathon.  Ten days before the marathon, the weather forecast showed a 60% chance of rain.  The percentage didn't change, until midweek when it was 80%, then it went back to 60%.  As my trip to Cincinnati drew nearer, it was pretty clear that I would run my first rainy marathon.  It didn't matter if I went to Weather.com, Accutest.com, NOAA, or any local channel.  It was going to rain.

On race day, 20 minutes before the race start, the skies opened and it poured.  And poured.  By the time I started the race, the rain had lightened a bit, but I dealt with it the first 7 miles or so, and then again between Miles 15 and 17.  When it wasn't raining it was humid, but it wasn't cold so I fared better than my running comrades in Oklahoma City (where it was cold, rainy, hailed/sleeted, windy, etc.).  The only repurcussions of running in the rain ended up being one big blister on a toe and some serious belly button chafing.

Overall, the Flying Pig Marathon course is very scenic.  I don't recall any ugly (aka industrial) areas along the course.  However, I seemed to have overlooked the part of the course description describing hills.  (Perhaps this is why pigs fly in Cincinnati - to avoid the hills.)  The first half of the course has a pretty big climb between Miles 6 and 8.  The view at the top of the hill of the Ohio River and Cincinnati skyline makes the work worthwile.  It should be noted that the big hill(s) in the first half really offset the scale for the second half of the course.  There are lots of little short, steep hills.  With all of the ups, and steep downs, my knees really took a beating on this course. 

I had intended to take my camera with me along the course, but due to the rain I left it it in the hotel.  This was the first marathon that I ran in costume, if you can call pig ears and a piggy tail a costume.  Oink! Oink!  (If you need a random pig costume in April/May, Party City is the place to go!  Thanks for the tip, Pritha!)

Wee! Wee!  Wee!
Crossing the Finish Swine

Event Highlights:  
* Fiberglass pigs at the Expo (you know I love my fiberglass animals!)
*Dinner with the Marathon Maniacs at Rock Bottom Brewery on marathon eve (Thanks, Stephanie!)
*A person in a gorilla suit at the Half Marathon/Marathon Split (Mile 9) holding a sign saying "Run Human Run"
* Local churches handed out orange slices.  One church group had even peeled the oranges so they were easy to eat.
*Seeing other Marathon Maniacs along the course
*The view of the Ohio River after the long climb in the first half of the course
*The Hog Wash.  An aid station after Mile 20 somewhere handed out wet towels and would spray all the running pigs down so we could cool off.
*The finish line is called the Finish Swine.  The starting corrals are called pig pens.  The cuteness just makes you want to squeal, doesn't it?
*I made it to 13.1 miles in 2:22 (a 4:45 pace) without a pacer and without a pace band.  The hills on the second half of the course slowed me down a bit.  I took walk breaks up the hills to save energy, and planned walk breaks at mile markers.  I finished in 4:59:29, which is not a personal record but is only the third time that I have finished in under 5 hours!
*I got to wear my pink Marathon Maniacs Diva shirt for the first time.  (This was only my second marathon as a Maniac).  A little before Mile 26, while I was walk breaking it (hey - I knew I wouldn't PR and I knew I would still beat 5 hours so it was okay to walk) a few spectators starting cheering for the "Diva."  "Go, Diva! Go!" they said.  When I started running agin, they went crazy with excitement.  It was quite entertaining for me.
*The pig medal (which was really the entire reason I did the race except for....see next bullet item)
*All the cute clothing at the Expo with the flying pig logo.
*Glazed donuts at the finish line (and plenty of other sugary food including Ho Hos!)

Finisher Gear

*The two women that I rode to the Cincinnati Airport with after the race.  I had asked the hotel valet for a taxi and he asked two women (fellow runners) if I could ride with them.  I didn't realize that one of the gals was taking her friend to the airport in her own car.  However, they still insisted that I ride with them.  I made two new running friends.  (Oddly, they had met in NYC when seeking transporation after the NYC Marathon...)

Ohio joins Missouri, Tennessee, Minnesota, Arkansas, Nebraska, Illinois, Kansas, and Florida as states where I have completed marathons.  Up next:  Montana!  Until then, I have a double half marathon weekend to look forward to, as well as my 5th running of the Hospital Hill Half Marathon.