You Think I'm Crazy?

As noted previously, the most frequently asked question when I share the goal of running one marathon each month is the question, "Is that good for you?" I am convinced the question is a strategy for hiding the person's true feelings, which would be best indicated by them asking and exclaiming, "Are you crazy?"

In the words of Mr. William Martin Joel (aka, Billy), you may be right, I may be crazy. To be running this much, that is.

My answer to both questions is, "I don't know." I don't know if it is officially good for me to run a marathon a month, but I feel better, have seen some great places, met some new people and have a year long goal that creates conversation opportunities on many different levels about many different topics.

But, if you think I'm crazy, check out the folks below who far surpass my efforts.

Chuck Engle http://www.chuckengle.com/

I just happened to sit by Chuck during the pasta dinner the night before the 2007 Hatfield and McCoy Marathon. At the time, I was quite impressed that I had run three marathons already that year. That is, until Chuck explained how he ran 52 marathons in 2006. I was smart enough to just listen to his stories the rest of the evening. By the way, he ran all 52 in under 3 hours each. He has a great story on how he started running marathons...and he typically runs the Tupelo event where I'll see him fly by me at mile 17 as I move along at mile 11 (it's an out and back course).

Johnny Donnelly http://www.runjohnnyrun.ie/runjohnnyrun/

I've never met Johnny, but a quick Google search under "marathon a month" produced his website. He's running a marathon a month for four consecutive years. To quote from his website, "The main objective of the Run Johnny Run challenge is to raise as much money as possible for the poorest of the poor around the world." This serves to remind me I should be doing more than just running these things.

Dean Karnazes http://www.ultramarathonman.com/

You will see from Dean's website that he is a bit more polished than the others. Dean turned his passion for distance running in to a full time gig. I had the opportunity to run with Dean in Huntsville, Alabama during his North Face Endurance 50 Challenge. The Endurance 50 was Dean's successful effort to run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days. It was pretty cool to run with him on Day 26 of his effort.

Dane Rauschenberg http://fiddy2.com/

I don't know Dane, although I've apparently been in races where he was also running...but he was way ahead of me. You run 52 marathons in 52 weeks and I'll add a (somewhat dated) link to my blog.

Karl Gruber

I don't have a link for his effort. Again, I just found out about him through the magic of Google. He ran 52 marathons in 52 weeks. The internet article I found was from the Columbus, Ohio newspaper with the headline, "Man With Full Deck Trying To Run 52 Marathons in 52 Weeks."

Marathon Maniacs http://www.marathonmaniacs.com/

If you want to find out where the nuts congregate, I think you will find the Marathon Maniac website to be your source for this type of information. I will disclose that I have not yet joined, although following my run in Tupelo I will have earned qualifying status at the "Iridium" level since I will have completed 9 marathons in 9 different states since February (I ran both the January and February events in Alabama). By the end of the year I could still earn "Ruthenium" status, but I'm not making any promises.

And, if you look hard enough, you'll find several more folks talking on similar challenges.

After all that I'm comparatively average.