Brian's Fun Marathon Stats

I ran my first marathon in Columbus, Ohio at the age of 25 on October 24, 1993.

I've found two organizations recognizing 50 state marathon finishers.

The first is called is called the 50 States and DC Marathon Group.   This group is a little more specialized since you need to do the Marine Corps Marathon which counts as your 51st marathon.  Note:  You can't count the Marine Corps Marathon as your Virginia state.  The day I ran my first marathon in 1993 there were two finishers (finisher 25, 26).   23 years later I became the 496th finisher group finisher.  The group was founded in 1989.
Complete 50 State & DC Finisher List 

The second organization is called the 50 States Marathon Club.   In 1993 when I ran my first marathon, only 13 runners had completed a marathon in all 50 States.  By the end of 2016 there were 1,211 runners that have run a marathon in all 50 States and on June 10, 2017 I was the 1,266th runner to complete a marathon in all 50 States.  The club was founded in 2001 which I'm also a member.
Complete 50 State Finisher List

By comparison, by the end of 2016 throughout the years there have been 7,646 summits of Mt. Everest (the highest mountain on earth) by 4,469 people.   I feel it's pretty spectacular that I was the 1,266th finisher of the 50 State Marathon Club and the 496th finisher of the 50 States and DC Group.

First Marathon October 24, 1993 (Age 25) and 50th State Marathon June 10, 2017 (Age 49)
50 States took me 8,631 days or 23 years, 7 months and 18 days

My 2nd marathon was in 1994 at the age of 26 as the final leg of my my first full Ironman
6 of my total marathons were Ironman's
1st Ironman Age 26
6th Ironman Age 40 (Kona)

While living in Columbus, Ohio I ran 32 marathons in 26 different states
While living in Seattle, Washington I ran 4 marathons in 4 different states
While living in Los Angeles, California I ran 21 marathons in 20 different states

My 8th marathon at the age of 30 I ran my fastest marathon in Chicago, Illinois (3:14:08)

43 marathons, I broke 5 hours
33 marathons, I broke 4 hours
8 marathons, I broke 3.5 hours

While I came within minutes several times, I never actually ran a qualifying time for Boston, but was fortunate in 2004 to meet a gentleman while running in Huntsville, Alabama that is from Boston and said he could get me a charity bib number for my friends and I.   John & Todd and their wives join me and certainly this marathon ranked up there with one of my favorite marathon experiences.  Boston was my 35th marathon and 29th state on 4/17/06 and I was happy to break the 4 hour mark with a time of 3:57:28 (Age 37)

My hardest marathon was Pikes Peak marathon in Colorado which took 7:26:02.  The race started at 6,295 and the 13.1 mile turn around was at the top of Pikes Peak 14,110'.  Mile 12 to 13 took me 38:47 (Age 33)

My 2nd hardest marathon was a 50k trail run in Wyoming which took 7:18:46 which the first 22 miles were all above 6,000 ft and climbing up to 8,535 (Age 47)

My 3rd hardest marathon was the run leg of in Idaho of Ironman CDA which took 6:05:05 and I had bonked because of the heat (Age 38)

In my 20's, I ran 7 marathons
In my 30's, I ran 30 marathons
In my 40's, I ran 20 marathons

Two of my marathons were 50k (31.06 miles)
1.  Oregon 11/5/2005 (4:58) flat course (Age 37)
2.  Wyoming 6/20/15 (7:18:46) hilly mountain trail run (Age 47)

In 2003 I ran a 2nd marathon 6 days later (Age 35)
10/12/2003 South Dakota (3:40:39) & 18/18/2003 Indiana (3:39:59)

Two Marathons I road tripped with my Little Brother (Big Brothers / Big Sisters)
Georgia & Indiana

Three times for travel logistics I ran back to back Saturday/Sunday marathons:
1.  4/6/03 Delaware (4:40:34), 4/7/03 New Jersey (3:52:56) - Age 34
2.  10/11/14 Connecticut (4:09:19), 10/12/14 Rhode Island (4:33:57) - Age 46
3.  10/4/15 New Hampshire (4:14:58), 10/5/15 Maine (4:33:42) - Age 47

I ran 6 marathons in 2003 - Age 34-35
I ran 5 marathons in  2015 - Age 46-47
I ran 4 marathons in 2001, 2002, 2005
I ran 3 marathons in 2000, 2004, 2011, 2014
I ran 2 marathons in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2008, 2013, 2016
I ran 1 marathon in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015
I ran 0 marathons in 2007

Marathons by month:
1 - January
4 - February
4 - March
8 - April
3 - May
5 - June
2 - July
1 - August
2 - September
17 - October
7 - November
3 - December

5 of my marathons were Trail Marathons:
Michigan, Delaware, West Virginia, Wyoming (50k), Oregon (50K).   Alaska would be a sixth trail race, but was 50/50 road and trail.

Everyone always asked me my favorite brand of running shoes.   To the best of my ability of looking through old pictures my first 4 marathons I'm not sure I probably wore either Nike or Saucony, tho I went on and I think 38 marathons I wore Saucony.   I was a big fan of the Grid Hurricane and probably have tried every version of it and was always eager to try out the latest version.    For my 5 trail marathons, the first 4 I ran in a Northface trail shoe, and Wyoming 50k as well as Alaska I ran in the Brooks Cacadia's.   It wasn't unitl 2011 I started exploring some new brands.  Asics always claims to be the best selling running shoe, I tried them out for a couple of years and ran 2 marathons (13'-14') in them.  Nike is another super popular running shoe however I've only ever found one model that I liked for stability which was the Nike Equalon 4 and while had 2-3 pairs of this shoe which I loved training in I only ran 3 marathons with them (11', 2x 15').  A newer brand that I tried out was Hoka and actually only ran 1 marathon (16').    I went through at least 1-2 pairs of shoes every year, however, only a few people know that I had what I called my lucky pair of socks.   At one of the first marathon expo's I attended I picked up 1 or 2 pairs of this sock that I fell in love with.  One of them I trained in and wore out, but the 2nd pair I only broke out on race day and pretty sure they've seen at least 50 of my marathons (or over 1,300 miles) and believe it or not still have them today.

Saucony - 38+
North Face (trail) - 3
Brooks (trail) - 2
Nike - 2-3
Asics - 2
Brooks - 2
Hoka - 1

When GPS came out I started a little more accurately recording my training.   In 2016 I logged at least 631 running miles including two marathons for that year.    In 2017 I logged at least 675 miles and only ran 1 marathon that year.  Using this last two year average as I was older and trained less, figure over the 23 years the total of marathon racing was 1,493.4 miles and if I trained 650 miles every year which is a safe or low estimate I probably have ran over 15,000 miles.   Of course that's not to mention all the miles I put on the bike as it was my preferred cross training exercise. 

These were pretty cool year end summaries that Strava created to share with friends.
2018 - https://2018.strava.com/en-us/video/edb9128df3ec915404d6eb2b624a817e457cd85c/
2017 - https://2017.strava.com/en-us/videos/edb9128df3ec915404d6eb2b624a817e457cd85c/
2016 -  https://2016.strava.com/en-us/share/1580353

I have several inspirational friends that helped me achieve my 50 state goal:

The first is my friend John that I met in Columbus, Ohio while doing a biathlon.  I joined his triathlon club (COTT).   I think he first introduced me to the 50 State Club and we went on to run 9 states together.   Ohio 93', Arizona 99', Tennessee 00', Oklahoma 04', Alabama 04', Arkansas 05', Massachusetts 06', Mississippi 08', and Montana 13'. 

The second is my friend George, we met through a mutual friend Gregg in Montana.  The week before the Missoula marathon the three of us spent a week hiking in Glacier National Park and come race day Gregg split and left George and I to run the marathon, we hit it off and went on to run 8 states together.  Montana 13', Connecticut 14', Rhode Island 14', Wyoming 15', New Hampshire 15', Maine 15', Wisconsin 16', and Alaska 17'.    George is like me with a sense of adventure and packing as much as we can into a marathon weekend.  Two times I traveled to the east coast for back to back marathons and George ran the 13.1 mile course and helped get me to the next state and next race the following day.   Including we the 8 marathons, George & I also hiked 4 state highpoints (Mt Greylock -MA, Mt. Frissle - CT, Jerimoth Hill - RI, and Eagle Mountain - WI) together as well as visited a 5th highpoint (Mt. Washington - NH).   George also spent two weeks with Parisa & I exploring five different regions of Alaska.

A very special thanks to Parisa who was with me for nine of my finishes, several she was too young to remember.   Minnesota 05', Oregon 05', Washington 05', Massachusetts 06', Idaho 06' all in about her first year of life.  After that she was there for California 15', Wyoming 15', Vermont 16', and Alaska 17'.   When asked what was my favorite marathon it has to be state #50 when she mountain biked (for the first time) the entire 26.2 mile course along side of me providing me water as well as my own personal photographer every step of the way!

Another thanks to my partner for 15 years that put up with me and my crazy marathon obsession and 15 of my marathons not to mention countless days, months, years of training.  DC 00', Colorado 01',  Michigan 02', California 02', Nevada 03', North Carolina 03', South Dakota 03', Minnesota 05', Oregon 05', Washington 05', Massachusetts 06', Idaho 06', Hawaii 08', California 15', & Vermont 16'    

Honorable mention to my other friends:
Rick & Mark Florida 94'
Jane Ohio 95'

Jennifer, traveled to Oz with me in 97', and Columbus Marathon 97'  
Bob ran Illinois 98', Pineman 99', Louisiana 01', and Maryland 01'.  
Stacy (1) ran Illinois 98' with Bob & I
Mary ran Arizona 99', Las Vegas 03'
Michelle ran Tennessee 00' 
Stacy (2), Tracy, Scott, ran Pineman 99' & Lake Placid Ironman 00' with me 
Greg & Maureen ran Colorado 01' with me
Gary ran 13.1 California 02'
Jason trained with me & ran Ironman CDA Oregon 2006'
Todd ran Pineman 99' & Massachusetts 06' with me
Pat & Monica Nevada 03' & California 15', also Pat Kudos on 50 total marathons before 50!
Brian traveled to St. George Utah 09' with me
Mike traveled to back to back marathons in Delaware 03' & New Jersey 03' and drove!
Brandon traveled to Indiana 03' & Georgia 04' with me

Celia compted me a free entry for the 50k in Oregon.
Ralph ran a 50k in Wyoming 15' with George & I
Rosemary & Luke traveled to Wyoming 15' with Parisa & I for a fun adventure preceding the 50k
Marathon Geek Fast Eddie Washington 05' & California 15'

Finally a special thanks to my mom & dad who always are there for me and even got to see a few of my races.    Ohio 95' Michigan 02', Washington 05', Idaho 06',