Completing 2 Marathons In 15 Days

I am a runner. Not a fast runner in the grand scheme of things, but a runner nonetheless, who enjoys the challenge of distance running and particularly the marathon distance.

My running log goes back to Dec 26 1998, and in the intervening years I’ve covered 13,150 miles over 2,547 runs. That includes 218 races of every conceivable distance between the mile and the marathon, with a few triathlons mixed in for good measure. Three summers ago, I even ran 31 days in a row.

My latest running feat is completing 2 marathons over the course of 15 days. Completing those marathons gives me 30 total marathons, and at least one marathon in 21 different states. My goal is to run a marathon in all 50 US states, and if I can complete 2-3 per year, it is a reasonable goal to finish by the time I turn 65, in 13.5 years.

Story for another day, but trust me, if I can run a marathon, so can you. It very simply requires (1) making that an important goal and thereby prioritizing it over other things in your life, and then (2) putting in the necessary work over the long period of time required to build up to the distance.

7000 Mile Road Trip Over 3 Weeks

As you know doubt are aware of if you’ve read our content over time, Caroline and I *love* road tripping. We’ve written about many of our long trips. Last year we wrote about our road trip to Wisconsin, in 2021 covered our lunar eclipse road trip to New Mexico and Colorado, and in 2019, there was a road trip to Fargo, ND for another marathon. Our 2017 Toyota Prius almost has 270,000 miles!

One of the things we love about taking road trips is being able to cover several different locations on the same trip and combining various things we want to do. On this particular trip, we covered at least 6 different objectives: marathon in Arkansas, vacation in Scottsdale AZ, seeing family in Knoxville TN, work commitment in Washington DC, important errands in New York City, and marathon + family in Gettysburg PA. Over 20 days we drove from Jacksonville FL to Fayetteville AR to Scottsdale AZ to Knoxville TN to Washington DC to New York City to Gettysburg PA and finally back to Jacksonville FL. And many cool stops in between.

6922 total miles!

Since I have a goal of running 2-3 marathons in different states per year, and each one requires its own trip to a potentially far away state, and each trip can be time consuming and costly, I was curious to know if it would be possible for me to batch together multiple races in a single trip.

This trip was originally designed around a planned mini vacation in Scottsdale. I would run the Hogeye Marathon in Fayetteville AR on the way out, and then the Oklahoma City marathon on the way back, and in between we would visit a few cities out west. But then Caroline ended up with a work commitment timed to the end of the trip, which made the Oklahoma City marathon impossible. But the Gettysburg Festival of Races was being held at the same time, and Gettysburg PA is close enough to Washington DC to make a race happen.

Race 1: Hogeye Marathon in Fayetteville AR

Fayetteville AR is home to the University of Arkansas (go Razorbacks!). While the Hogeye Marathon is billed in some places as being in Fayetteville, it was actually staged and mostly within the confines of neighboring Springdale.

Springdale is a lovely small town with a defined town square in the downtown with shops, bars and restaurants. We were able to find a great AirBNB that was less than 5 minutes walking distance to the downtown, which is where the race started and finished. What a treat to be able to do all of my prep (including trips to the bathroom) in our AirBNB and walk out just 15 minutes before the start of the race. No need to get into the car, find parking, etc.

The Hogeye Marathon was on Saturday April 15. Unfortunately for me it was pretty hot and humid. The temperatures were in the upper 60’s at the start, rose into the lower 70’s and it was on the humid side. Ironically a strong cold front came through that afternoon, cooling things down significantly. If the race was the following day, the conditions would have been much cooler, in the more perfect for running 50s.

My training leading up to the race was pretty solid. I did 3 runs of 15 miles or more and given the training was in the colder weather of the winter and early spring, they went pretty well. As a result, this race felt pretty good in the early miles.

My issue with this race course was that the uphills were all bunched together over long sets of miles. In particular, as you can see in the image above, miles 11-17 were mostly uphill with some pretty heavy hills in there, and miles 23-26 was a low grade uphill the entire way. Those sections of uphills were pretty relentless and so there was definitely walking involved in those sections. Miles 17-23 were mostly downhill and so easier to deal with. One of the water stops in that section was serving shots of pickle juice, and let me tell you, what a help! I believe it was the pickle juice that gave me a nice 2nd wind during that part of the race.

My finish time was 5:11:40. While far from my best (around 4:22), it was about average for my marathons over the past recent years. Considering the hills and warm, sunny weather, I was very happy. The t-shirt and medal provided were both very unique and great keepsakes (medal clearly inspired by Wheel of Fortune shown above).

Race 2: Gettysburg Festival of Races North South Marathon

My next marathon would be Sunday April 30, in Gettysburg PA.

First, the recovery after the first marathon went pretty well. I had a few blisters on my left foot, but no injuries and besides the normal soreness and stiffness for a few days, I was back to slow running within a few days. On the remainder of our trip, I was able to run in the following locations: Gallup NM, Scottsdale AZ x 2, Albuquerque NM, Knoxville TN, Washington DC and New York City.

Second, weather is always a race day concern and never seems to be just right. That would unfortunately be the case for Gettysburg as well. The long range forecast showed rain for the entire weekend of the race. And that forecast did not change at all as it got closer. This race would promise to be a wet one.

During the road trip, I did a bit more running than intended. Worst of which was doing a 5.5 mile run in Washington DC. Caroline’s work event was very close to the location of the White House and National Mall, and I couldn’t help myself but make a longish run all around all of those areas – was a beautiful night for running. By the time we arrived in DC and I went for my run, it was dark, and of course managed to take a weird step in a non-paved area of the mall, slightly tweaking my right foot/ankle. It thankfully was not too bad and turned out not to be a real issue, but doing that kind of run right before a big race was not the smartest thing to do!

Back to the race. In short, even with the rain, it went amazingly well for me. I finished in 4:49:41, which was more than 20 minutes faster than the race 2 weeks prior. Even more importantly, it was my fastest marathon since 2011, faster than my last 13 races! Of the 30 marathons I’ve run, it was 9th fastest. Why did it go so well?

• Weather – the weather was pretty miserable. It was in the mid 50’s with a constant rain. The only times it was not raining was miraculously right at the start and also for about 45 minutes in the 2nd half of the races. Otherwise it was a steady cold rain. But, the cold rain helped to keep me from overheating – it kept my body cool. Also, there was little to no wind – a strong wind is always killer, but even more so in the rain. Yes it was annoying to be completely soaking wet, and to be cold at times, and to run through a lot of standing water, but in the grand scheme of things, keeping my body cool was a huge factor in my successful race.
• Hills – this race was quite hilly, and in fact had more total elevation gain than the prior race. But the hills in Gettysburg were a lot more rolling, not very steep for most uphills, and then most uphills were followed by nice downhills to provide a bit of recovery. This was also a 2-loop course so I knew exactly what to expect on the 2nd loop. Given the cooler weather and the rolling nature of the hills, I was able to get by with much less walking of the hills. Definitely another positive factor.
• Training – I had definitely put in the required training. My body was ready. Given the marathon run 2 weeks prior, I had completed 4 runs of at least 15 miles in the months before the race. Also, in 2023 I have stepped up weight training in the gym, and my program includes a lot of exercises to strengthen the core and leg muscles. I have more work to do in this area, but a stronger core and leg capacity definitely gave me the strength to keep pushing forward late in the race.

My sister and brother-in-law live within an hour of Gettysburg, and while the rain kept them away from watching the race, they did come by afterwards and we enjoyed a great meal at a local restaurant.

Given the race and the rainy weekend, we did not have time to explore Gettysburg any further, so I’d love to make time to come back to explore all the history and the battlefields.

And I look forward to batching up multiple races on future road trips!