Approaching my 50th State

My 50th state marathon is fast approaching. I’m scheduled to run the Newport Marathon in Oregon on May 30th. Not only will Oregon by my 50th marathon state, but it will also be the 50th state I’ve visited. I’ve never been there. It’s a long flight across the country, and I’m not taking a lot of time off work, so Scot and I will need to plan our sightseeing wisely. There’s so much to see, but we’ll limit it to Portland, Newport, Salem (the state capital, done as a drive-by), and the Pacific Coast Highway along the Oregon coast.


Both photos: credit to www.newportoregon.com
I’ve run 64 marathons and 33 half marathons. So, why am I a little nervous? My nerves should have been reserved for New Jersey, my nemesis state, which I conquered last month. I have no issues with Oregon…just that it represents this awesome milestone of finishing a full marathon in all 50 states. I’m not injured. I am under-trained, but what’s new? I’ll finish this marathon. And it will be beautiful. And I’ll have a handful of friends there to celebrate with me.

In 2004 I began training for my first marathon, the 2005 Mardi Gras Marathon in New Orleans. At that time, I had absolutely no idea that it would start me on this awesome journey. I wasn’t a runner. I hadn’t even done a 5K when I jumped right into marathon training. I could not have imagined that 10 years later I’d be running a marathon in my 50th state. I didn’t even know that was a “thing”. I was not familiar with the 50 States Marathon Club, of which I’m a member…or the 50 & DC Marathon Group, a similar club. I wasn’t aware of the many runners who have accomplished this feat without even having such a club affiliation. I didn’t know that the 50 states finishers came not only from the US, but also from Canada and countries overseas.


Scot's 50 States finish at 2014 Grandma's Marathon in Minnesota; I'm next!

But here I am. I’m doing it. I’m almost done. In a few short days I’ll be a 50 States Finisher and I’ll be able to proudly wear a shirt that broadcasts that fact. I’ll join an illustrious group of marathoners who have also accomplished this feat, many of whom are my friends, one of whom is my husband. I’m almost there. I’m just a little nervous.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2019 Hong Kong Marathon Race Report

Image
I registered for the Hong Kong Marathon  on a whim. I was already going to Asia to attend my friend Christine’s wedding in Thailand and then run the Tokyo Marathon the following weekend. My friend Dave posted on Facebook about the Hong Kong Marathon, which was a week before the wedding. I entered the lottery not expecting to be selected, but I was. It was going to be a two-country-marathon adventure.  It’s the year of the pig (or boar) and we got this medallion in our race packet.  I was woefully under-prepared for the Hong Kong Marathon. My training suffered through the winter, but knowing I had a 6-hour time limit for the marathon, I wasn’t terribly worried - until I got sick. At the end of January I caught a severe cold that I’m still not fully over, three weeks later. I was weak, slept little, and worked out zero times in all of February. But the Asia trip was coming anyway, and being a realist, I gave myself permission to DNS (did not start) or DNF (did n...
Read more

2017 Hefei International Marathon Race Report

Image
Most of my regular followers will know that I was selected as part of a team of five to represent Columbus, Ohio at the marathon of our sister city Hefei, China. I blogged about the announcement here and here , and about my team's fundraiser here . On November 8, 2017, we set off to the Far East, arriving in Hefei, China late evening on November 9th. We spent five days in Hefei, after which everyone went separate directions. My travels took me to Bangkok, Thailand, and then back to China to spend time in and around Beijing. But this post is about Hefei and the marathon I ran there. Post marathon with Courtney, Bernard, me, Echo and Lily in back The Hefei International Marathon is a large event, with tens of thousands of participants across all race distances (marathon, half marathon, 5K and 10K). The marathon had the smallest race field of all events, but included some very competitive elite runners. The Lead-Up Through the sister city marathon exchange, our team o...
Read more

2018 Running Recap

Image
I haven't blogged all year. In fact, I didn't even finish my 2017 race reports. What happened? I still ran. In fact, I ran several races, and did meet some of my annual running goals. But I also focused on other areas of my life that needed attention. I dropped the ball on some things, and I missed some of my other running goals. Right now I'm not going to write new running goals, because I'm not ready. I will, however, state one broad goal, and that is this: I will post a running-related story once per month in 2019. So, here's the 2018 recap: My 2018 Goals I will lead the 11:00 pace group for CWRC. CWRC is the Columbus Westside Running Club , which I joined after moving to Columbus, and this goal was about the winter/spring training program leading up to spring races. I started this, but I didn't finish. Very early on it became clear to me that I was not in the game mentally and not prepared to lead others on a weekly basis. A January training run ...
Read more