NOTE: This started as a 500K challenge (10K race in every state) until I decided to increase the challenge to half marathons. 

My name is DW (like the cartoon, either cartoon… Arthur or Darkwing Duck) and I live in Baton Rouge.  I like to play tennis, softball, kickball and now I like to run.  I don’t pretend to be an athlete.  I just like to be athletic.  I’m not a gym person, so I try to stay in shape the old natural way, by just being active when I can, and hopefully curbing my calorie intake which is hard to do while living in south Louisiana.  I’ve played sports throughout my life, for fun, for friendship, for recreation.  I started with youth league soccer and then baseball, but as I got older, I dropped the cleats for a trumpet and joined the band.  Some things I’m naturally good at and others, well, not so much.  But if it’s fun, I’ll try it, and if the people are fun and friendly, I’ll stick with it.

So in an attempt to reprioritize my lifestyle and personal health since the passing of my father in late 2012, who fought cancer bravely for nearly two years, and for the sake of leaving something meaningful behind beyond my own passing, I have rediscovered running.  I ran many times in grade school as a part of recess and PE activities but never looked upon it as recreational or for sport.  I mean, why would anyone just run for fun.  Running should be reserved for emergency situations such as running away from the zombie apocalypse or a growing sinkhole.  Then perhaps a little running may become necessary.  But alas, running can be fun.  And I discovered that quickly after my father’s death.  Running a few local 5k races seemed to do more than take my mind off of the current affairs of life.  Running is peaceful.  Yet it can be a challenge.  Around the same time, I ran into an individual who was on a mission of completing a marathon in every state in the country.  Wow, I thought.  That certainly is a admiral goal, especially as I discovered what a big deal running a marathon in all 50 states would be.  There’s even a club for it.

Well, knowing my own physical limitations at the time, I couldn’t see myself running any marathon yet (if ever).  However there seems to be many people who start off running 5Ks and end up building themselves up towards a marathon, so anything is possible.  Having said that, I have no intentions to win any of these races.  If I were doing this to win, I’d already given up and walked away very disappointed.  No, this is about living.  And seeing as I like to travel as well, why couldn’t I travel around the country running whatever race I chose to race, for the fun of it.  Maybe even raise some awareness on some worthy causes along the way.  I don’t believe I’ll limit myself to one cause because to only run in colon cancer races would really restrict me, but to run for any cause certainly would not.  And I’ve already seen various shirts worn by some racers who are racing for a particular cause but support multiple causes.  I really want to be all inclusive because all causes are worthy, some equally or more so than colon cancer in my opinion.  For example, I’m a huge supporter of St. Jude Children’s Hospital.  So in my endeavor, I will recognize and remember multiple charities and causes.

As for the races, well, I first settled on 5Ks, and at first that seemed like a great idea.  The 5K is the most popular race in this country and many locations have one nearly every weekend, many with fun themes attached to them.  In that regard, scheduling 5K races in each state would have been easy.  I could have picked any state whenever I want.  Then I ran some 5Ks and felt comfortable enough to begin thinking that I was choosing the easiest path.  So then I began wondering about 10K races.  Certainly the 10K is twice as long as the 5K, more of a challenge for someone like me.  So I get personal points for increasing the challenge.  But as far as scheduling goes, well, 10Ks aren’t near as numerous as 5Ks.  Some locations schedule one or two a month; others perhaps two or three a year.  So with regards to scheduling, I definitely made my task more challenging.  I’d have to be more picky with my scheduling.  I consider that a win, for now, until I change my mind again and decide to up the challenge to half marathons.

UPDATED AUGUST 2013: Well, I’m updating my challenge to half marathons!  Haha.  Guess I should have seen this coming, but after completing a few 10Ks and other personal runs where I felt ‘alright’ afterwards and after reading other personal blogs about the challenges but satisfaction of completing a half marathon, and realizing that half marathons were indeed obtainable, I have decided to give it a shot.  Why not.

So for the updated August 2013 challenge:… I intend to run a half marathon race in each of the 50 States that make up America.  So much for that mathematically inclined theme name of running a total of 500K across the USA.  Now it’ll be more like 1050K Across the USA.  Who cares about the name though.  I still like my original name and of course I’m sticking with it, just with new meaning.

So, very simple revised rules.  I plan to run a half marathon race in each state.  No time limit to complete, 50 States in 12 months or 5 years sounds great but we have to be logical and remember that every race located further than 6 hours drive away costs at least a weekend and probably a few hundred dollars not to mention that half marathons tend to cost much more to register for than 10Ks (I guess that way they make sure you’re really serious about it).  In between, I’ll fill in the gaps with races throughout southeast Texas, Louisiana and coastal Mississippi.  (BTW, my 2013 resolution is to run at least a 5K in every month of 2013 and perhaps add an extra to make it a more fitting 13 in 2013.)  I will use this blog to chronicle the journey as best I can, and I’ll dedicate it to all the slow runners out there and for those that shy away from running out of fear of being too slow.  Trust me, you’re never too slow.  If you can think it, you can do it.  Run for somebody else, for yourself, for fun, for adventure, and keep a blog on it.  Perhaps we’ll meet on the race course from time to time.

As far as my resources go, I’m using websites such as RuntheUSA to search for events.  I trust it more now as it appears nearly every local race is on it and Baton Rouge has a ton of 5K races (not that I’m back to looking for 5Ks, I’m just saying that I’ve searched through the site enough to trust that just about every major or somewhat major race in the country will probably end up on that website eventually).  I’m also using RunKeeper to keep track of miles and such.  I intend to make a map eventually too.  I’ve already seem some great examples.  I’ve downloaded a couple apps and bookmarked some websites to try and make a map fitting for me in the future.  After I cross a few states off my list, I’ll upload a map to keep tabs with states I’ve completed and which are next.  I actually had two states crossed off from the 10K challenge, but obviously I’m restarting my new half marathon challenge, so… new map.

So here’s to seeing you at the next race.  Cheers!

Personal Records by Distance:

5K Walk: 0:41:53, 01/18/2014

5K Run: 0:30:09, 05/03/2014

10K Run: 1:03:54, 02/15/2014

Half Marathon Run: 2:32:23, 11/9/2014