What does it mean to run 50 marathons in all 50 states? It means a runner must complete 50 or more marathons in every state of the United States. According to the 50 states marathon club on 50statesmarathonclub.com, to meet the criteria the marathons must be the full distance of 26.2 miles. The 50 States Marathon Club was founded with the goal to publicly recognize the runners who completed this challenge. This challenge may seem impossible but with hard work and dedication anything can be achieved. A recent example of someone completing this daunting task is David Bruce.
David completed his 50th marathon in his 50th state in October, 2015. What’s most impressive about David’s journey is the fact that over half of the marathons he ran occurred after his 70th birthday. He started his journey at age 42 and completed this incredible task in his 70’s. David’s first marathon in Buffalo, NY was in 1984. He didn’t run another one until the 1994 Marine Corps Marathon. For his North Carolina marathon, David participated in our very own Asheville Marathon in 2014
A crazy stat from David’s journey is the time that he had between marathons. One example of this was when he traveled Idaho to Utah and completed two marathons in less than 24 hours. The second of these two marathons is the only one that took over six hours to complete. The remainder of the 50 marathons hold finish times of between four and six hours.
Many people try to achieve the 50 states in as short a period of time as possible. With over 30 years between David’s first and his last of the 50 states, he has taken his time. Until the last two years, he never ran more than 9 marathons a year with 2008 holding no marathons at all. He managed to finish 34 marathons in the three years 2012, 2014, and 2015.
To read the full article of David’s amazing accomplishment the link is here: http://www.suncommunitynews.com/articles/ncl-magazine/marathon-man.
All in all to complete this task is a huge accomplishment and the runners who have completed this should be recognized for their hard work and determination and above all the time it takes to complete this challenge. Are you completing the 50 state challenge and including the 2017 Asheville Marathon as your North Carolina state?
Whether your completing the 50 marathons in all 50 states challenge or representing your state at the Asheville Marathon, we love to learn more about your journey getting from the start to the finish line.