50 State 2: third Dozen #tbt

Published May 23, 2019

Pact made, solid plan in place. Round 2 a reality now, bring on the USA East. And rain. Whole lotta water. Would tag 10 states in 12 weeks AND continent #4. Brasil!

Ran my second Maryland 26.2, thirty minutes outside Baltimore. George Washington’s Birthday. Generously attended by the local DC Run Club; nice Support! Louisiana x2 took me to French Acadia. Wild mix of y’all, Cajun & bluesy Zydeco. Fell in a pothole mile 14. Tried to quit (DNF). Po’ folks, no cars (luckily, notta heart attack). So…3 hours later, finished, collected a medal, done. North Carolina’s Tobacco Road. Easy rail-to-trail towpath. Reconnected with friends of marathons past, an unofficial 50 State reunion 🙂

Trail in PA, in March? Was the $1 a mile [cheap] registration that grabbed me. Midnite flight to Philly, 2-hour drive north, Saturday a.m. start. Lederhosen, accordion tunes & sauerkraut. Aid stations FULLY stocked, trails snow-free. Upbeat, German & FUN. Totally unexpected. Fave of my third Dozen. Organizers done good. Hidden gem.

April showers, May showers too. Athens Ohio – college town. Wilmington Delaware – urban town. Holyoke Massachusetts – ski town? Trail/road mix thru abandoned (hilly) Mt Tom Resort. Trail portion – leafy GREEN. Northampton road – meh, not so much.

FARM CHARMED in Vermont. Country roads, rained the entire day – but GREEN & New England & COWS & Vermonter accents. Big SMILE memory. Vienna Illinois, Day 7 of Mainly Marathon’s Riverboat Series. Easy forgiving dirt towpath. STRONG 50k day. Returning November 2019 for my first 50-MILE finish (key word ‘finish’). Tunnel Hill. Fingers crossed. GOAL run.

Memorial Day sweltered in Buffalo New York. July sunburn (& altitude) in the high Rockies of Ennis MONTANA.

ALASKA. Place it where all began, state I ran marathon #1. Round 2’d on the peninsula, in Alaska’s ‘Rainforest’ capital Juneau. Hiked UP Mount Roberts, kayaked UNDER Mendenhall Glacier. King Crab feasted, Douglas Island marathon’d. Salmon JAM in Cordova next July (music fest not jelly). Bringin’ home a cooler of fresh-catch SALMON (another marathon medal too). A-L-A-S-K-A!

Why do you marathon? Folks, it’s the adventure.

African elephants, Antarctic penguins, Moscow’s Red Square. DREAM & dream BIG! ❤️

#	State	Marathon	City	Date	Time	Bib #
109	MD	George Washington’s Birthday Marathon	Greenbelt	2/18/2018	5:00.13	164
111	LA	Zydeco Marathon	Lafayette	3/4/2018	5:39.31	134
112	NC	Tobacco Road Marathon	Cary	3/18/2018	4:37.04	481
113	PA	Naked Prussian Trail Marathon	Leesport	3/31/2018	5:58.03	189
115	OH	Athens Marathon	Athens	4/15/2018	4:49.05	188
116	IL	Riverboat Series Day 7 50K	Vienna	4/21/2018	5:33.14	27
117	DE	Delaware Marathon	Wilmington	4/29/2018	4:18.58	1053
118	MA	Race of Champions Marathon	Holyoke	5/6/2018	4:35.41	41
119	VT	Shires of Vermont Marathon	Bennington	5/20/2018	5:01.35	330
120	NY	Buffalo Marathon	Buffalo	5/27/2018	5:00.38	579
123	MT	Big Sky Marathon	Ennis	7/22/2018	5:37.23	625
124	AK	Juneau Marathon	Juneau	7/28/2018	5:09.32	88