I’m Half-Crazy — a 50-States Challenge
A bucket list that combines running, travel and photography.
Three months ago, I decided to run at least one half marathon in every state of the U.S.
When I told my friends about this undertaking, a lot of them were super supportive. I felt like I’d just given my life a sense of direction, a goal to accomplish, and more than that — a sense of identity. This would be a story I’d tell my future kids about. This would be how my friends and acquaintances identify me. This would be the setting for the book I’d always wanted to write.
MY BACKGROUND
Let me first start with who I am. I love playing sports, and play soccer, volleyball, badminton, cricket, some basketball, football, what have you…and while I was a sprinter in high school, I never took it up seriously. I did my Masters at the University of Florida (GO GATORS!), and while there, I got introduced to distance running through a non-profit organization.
THE INJURY, AND A DECISION
In 2012, I was in Indiana for a summer internship. While there, I kept myself busy with soccer in the evenings. On that fated day, however, a bad tackle landed me in an awkward heap, with an acute pain in my left knee. I would later find out that I’d torn my anterior cruciate ligament (the ACL — it provides flexion support to the knee), meniscus (sort of a buffer muscle to limit friction and impact), and sprained my medial cruciate ligament (the MCL — another major ligament).
I would also find out that these surgeries are unfortunately very common among athletes — and also very dangerous. Major athletes who have suffered these injuries are Tom Brady, Alex Morgan, Adrian Peterson, Derrick Rose…so a sarcastic “yay” there I suppose.
After the injury, I was asked by my physician not to strain my knee — so soccer, sports, anything that required lateral movement was to be cut off, until I got a surgery. Hearing this, I decided to do the exact opposite — I would test the limits that my knee could take, and took up distance running. In retrospect, that was a bad move — so if any of my readers out there are contemplating doing the same thing, I’d HIGHLY recommend against it.
The way I looked at it, running did not involve a lot of lateral movement — something that I was asked not to do anyways. The first time I ran on a treadmill, I couldn’t even complete one mile without breaks — I realized very early that running was very different to soccer or any of the other stop-and-go sports I was used to. However, it does have a low learning curve, and within a month or so, I was running 30–40 miles every week.
Eventually, though, I did get the surgery, and unlike the professional athletes, I am still to make a full recovery. However, a goal is a goal — and when it seems the most unlikely, that’s when you need to get the courage to see it through I suppose! Fortunately for me, I had the support of some amazing people, and I decided to go ahead and plan my races.
COMBINING TRAVEL & RUNNING
To be very honest (and it took me this article to understand this), I have never considered myself a traveler. Over the years, I have met some incredible people I’m lucky to count among my friends, who have this incredible urge, this passion to travel… whose experiences and amazing pictures trigger a bit of their infectious wanderlust in me. What better way to travel, than actually run through some of the most scenic or historic locales across the country?
From my races so far, I have collected a few medals and other memorabilia — I wouldn’t mind adding to the rack, either!
COSTS
At first, the goal seemed pretty straight-forward to me. I do not consider myself a distance runner by any means, but I have run a few races in the past — I count four 15k’s, six half marathons and a full marathon. To some of you, this might seem reason enough to tag me as a distance runner. To me, however, it does not — not because I’m shy or anything — but mainly because I’ve never put in a lot of effort into distance running.
The more I thought about it, though, this goal became more and more of a logistical nightmare. Most races are held during the weekend, on Saturday or Sunday mornings. If I had to fly out to the city of the race, it would have to be on a Friday — I’d have to figure out if I needed to leave work early. I’d probably have to book a hotel in advance. I’d need to fly out with my dog — or find boarding for the weekend. Multiply this by 50 states (and DC) — I’m looking at a lot of investment, both time and money.
WHAT’S NEXT
In spite of everything, I am bent on seeing this list through — what’s life without a good story! This may well be mine.
So far, I have run all my races in Florida — so that is ONE STATE DOWN! For the sake of this record, I have completed the CHORD Half Marathon and the Tom Walker Half Marathon, both in 2013 and 2015, and both in Gainesville, FL.
I will be flying up to Philadelphia, PA, for the Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon (presented by the American Association for Cancer Research) this upcoming weekend (September 18, 2016)! I will have my trusty camera phone on me, and I intend to run easy, taking a bunch of pictures during the race.
If you are interested in finding out how my journey goes, you can follow me (either literally, or on Medium) — I will be updating my experiences (with pictures) a few days after every state.
Forty nine to go!
