How do I Run Marathons So Frequently

If you’re reading this, you probably already know that I run a lot of marathons.  Most of my friends do too.  When I meet someone new, they’re often shocked by the number of marathons I’ve run.  I’m often asked how many I run in a year.

When people ask how I can run marathons so close together, I usually tell them that the more often I run marathons, the more easily I recover from them.  Your body adapts to the things you do regularly.

That’s the physical side, but there’s also a psychological side.  In the late 90s, I met another runner from Minnesota named Burt.  Burt was much older than me, and he was running about 26 marathons per year.  He also sometimes ran ultramarathons.  I met him at a 24-hour race.

25 years ago, I saw Burt at the Fox Cities Marathon in Wisconsin.  He was wearing a T-shirt from the Mt. Rushmore Marathon.  That race was the previous weekend.  I asked him if he was doing the Twin Cities Marathon.  He was.  That race was weekend after Fox Cities.

Burt was running marathons on at least three consecutive weekends.  I was amazed by that.  I asked Burt, “How do you do that?  How do you run marathons so close together?”  Hos answer blew me away.

Burt said, “Well, when you’re looking at the race calendar, and you see a race that looks interesting, you sign up for it.  Once you’re signed up for it, it’s gonna happen.”

I still love the simplicity of that answer.  It’s all about attitude.  Once Burt signed up for a race, there was no doubt in his mind that he would finish it.  It’s really about making a mental commitment to a race.  Once you’ve made that commitment, you’ll find a way to do it.  Finishing a marathon is at least as much psychological as it is physical.

At the time, I was still early in my journey to run marathons in all 50 states.  I wasn’t like Burt.  At first, I was averaging three new states per year.  Toward the end of my journey, I was doing as many as five new states in a year.  I sometimes also ran a local race, but I don’t think I ever did more than six marathons or ultras in year.

In 2010, I finished running marathons in all 50 states.  I finished at the Vermont City Marathon in Burlington, VT.  Then I went to a post-race party.  The host of the party invited anyone who was a member of the 50 States Marathon Club.  I was one of two runners who finished their 50 states journey at that race.  There was another runner who finished her fifth circuit of 50 states at that race.  The three of us were the guests of honor, but the talk of the party was a young woman named Laura.

Laura was 24 years old.  She started running marathons two years earlier, and she had already run marathons in 49 states.  When she ran her 50th state, she would be the youngest woman to do that.  I asked Laura which state she still needed.  She was planning to finish one week later at the Minneapolis Marathon.

I live in a suburb of Minneapolis, so that race was local for me.  I was at a different race that morning, but I went to Laura’s post-race party.  Many of the runners at the party were other members of the 50 States Marathon Club, but at least half were members of another club called Marathon Maniacs.  I wasn’t previously familiar with this club, but I learned more about it.  It’s all about running marathons frequently, and you have to qualify before you can join, either by running three marathons within 90 days or by running two marathons within 16 days.

As it turns out, I was already qualified for the club.  Had I learned about this club earlier, I probably would’ve concluded that it wasn’t for me.  Since I had just finished my long-term goal to run marathons in every state, I was ready to try something new.

A week later, I joined Marathon Maniacs.  Then I jumped in with both feet.  My first three marathons after joining were on three consecutive weekends.  It took several months to adapt to my more frequent racing schedule.  By the following year, I was consistently running faster, despite running races every week or two.

After Burt ran his 300th marathon, he was interviewed for the newsletter of a local running club.  When they asked him which race was his favorite, he said it was the Reggae Marathon in Jamaica.  I was curious to know why Burt liked that race so much, so I signed up for it.  It was my second marathon outside the United States.

Burt and Laura were both at that race.  Here’s a picture of the three of us at a post-race party.  Burt was the older runner who inspired me.  Laura was the younger runner who inspired me.  What they had in common was their confidence and their ambition.  Now I’m just like them.  Hopefully, I’ll inspire other runners the way they both inspired me.