The Nonsense of the 50 States Marathon Club

I have a nice 9 mile run yesterday in Central Park, the Daylight Savings Time is going to take some time to adjust to, it's 6:40am and pretty much completely dark, not to mention cold, and this bed I am in is feeling pretty toasty. I see Harry Jackson Jr. wrote a "disclosing piece" in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, I wil share with my commentary: You won't recognize them by looking into the crowd of runners at the GO! St. Louis marathon on April 6. But they're there, people who have made their life's work running a marathon in every state, sometimes as often as one marathon a week and sometimes making the circuit multiple times."I've done the whole United States twice," said Paula Boone of Houston, who heads the 50 States Marathon Club with her husband, Steve Boone, 58. "He's done all 50 eight times.'' The attraction for her is the travel and fellowship. "I don't really like running," she said with a laugh. "It's a good way to see the country, and you get to see it at ground level. You see the touristy things. We have friends from all of the country."Why? A club whose name better reflects the mindset is the Marathon Maniacs, another 50-states club, she said. "I guess there are different levels of insanity; you have to be a little tipped." Paula Boone, 41, has run more than 220 of the 26.2-mile events. The 50 States Marathon Club has about 1,500 members who pay the $10 annual dues. Members range from people who race to win and others who run to finish. Members include surgeons, NASA workers, assembly line workers and lawyers. The youngest to complete the 50-state circuit was 16; the oldest, 81. Members have finished first and last.The club has four reunions a year in which they award 50-state trophies. The only identification marks are on their T-shirts."It's interesting who you'll see in the group," Paula Boone said. "People look like anyone on the street." Most members run one a month, while others, like her and her husband, do one a week. For Lee Hoffman of Glendale it's a labor of love for friends and running. Eight years ago at the tender age of 65, he ran his first marathon in Toronto at the urging of friends. Eight years later, at 73, he has 61 marathons under his belt and a 50-state trophy from the club and is 16 races into his second go-round . And he has won his age class several times. "But as you get older, fewer people are competing."When you cross the line, you realize you've done something only 1 percent of the population has done," he said. "And running a marathon in all 50 states, only a few hundred people have done that." [ME: Not all exclusive clubs are worth entering, note the "Polar Bear Clubs"- like those fools on the left that jump in icy waters in the Winter - there are only so many people that have done that too - heck, there's a Pizza Eating Club called "Slice" where you can organize together to eat Pizza in all 50 states for example - a small exlusive club - no thanks] He has run marathons in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and boasts about having finished two in two days one weekend a couple years ago. That accounts for the 50-state goal, Hoffman said. "Once you do that, you start thinking, what now?" [ME: How about instead of quantity, you focus on quality? Is that too damn much for you to conjure?] He spaces his marathons out so that he runs 10 to 12 a year. His next is in Texas, and he's undecided about running in St. Louis; he has done Missouri three times.AREN'T YOU SORE?Anyone who gets into a groove for running that many races is in no more or less danger of wear and tear as any athlete.Dr. Bill Cragg, himself an Iron Man competitor, is a west St. Louis County chiropractor who is on the St. Louis Marathon medical staff. He said the key is the competency with which someone trains. "Certainly, the mileage seems excessive, but when you're talking about a mature runner, you're talking about someone who knows how to train," he said. He said he has treated some ultramarathon runners, people who run races often double a marathon's distance, and the story is the same. "Most of the injuries I see are from people who are running their first or second, or they run one a year," Cragg said.Barbara Wnek, 58, of Brentwood, another member of the 50 Marathon Club, said, "To stay injury-free, I change running shoes every few months." She also regularly replaces shock resistant insoles.And, "rest is very, very important," she said. "I usually take one day off a week from running and weight training."Wnek is a physical education and health teacher in the Ferguson-Florissant School District. She recently finished her 52nd marathon. "I have 20 states because I run where it seems like the most fun," she says. "I've run in California 10 times and St. Louis 10 times."Lee Hoffman admitted he's no superman. "I get sore," he said. "I've even had stress fractures in both ankles at the same time. But you get used to it."Paula Boone talked about the secret to staying healthy for constant running: "Once you get your body to marathon readiness, you just stay there. We don't train to get ready. We're there all the time"[END]. [ME: That is a nonsensical & fraudulent statement - it also runs counter to the wisdom of the gurus of running & learned study of Noakes, Daniels, Pfitzinger, Glover, Higdon, literally every authority on marathon running]. I've learned a lot of people believe their own nonsense & make statements of complete ignorance and expect you to swallow and accept their nonsense. That's Paula Boone. She knows nothing about Marathon Running. (1) "Once you get your body to marathon readiness" is something that takes several months. (2) " you just stay there", no you taper and peak for a moment physically & nutritionally. (3) "We don't train to get ready", is nothing more than her admission that she knows nothing about marathoning. (4) "We're there all the time", no, you basically go on Lydiard like long slow distance runs on the weekend of 26.2 miles, that's all. It's a lot harder to train and run 1, a single marathon well, than to go on long slow distance runs every weekend. I will never choose quantity over quality or engage in any activity marginalized, that's what these people do - it's a free county.....they enjoy what their doing & are having a good time, fine, great, whatever - and I am free to illustrate their total unfounded nonsensical streams of thought.