6/11 Definitely love Tracksmith’s aesthetic. They do really push this “church of the long run” thing though, and it really has bothered me. I was dissapointed it showed up in Des Linden’s book too. I think this writer dissected it all well, using a confident, yet non-aggressive tone:

The Church of the Sunday Long Run?

Only 6-miles for today’s “long run,” going to be a job to try and fit in 11 next weekend.

5/30 Okay, so I’ve decided to make this a goal. It’s a lifetime goal. Even if I run 2 per year, it will still take 25 years to run a marathon in every state. Here is why I have decided to pursue this goal:

1. It will give me something to google so I’m more likely to stick to my social media timers. Better to google random marathons in Nebraska than read another garbage post on Reddit.
2. I will spend less time googling “5 hr marathon to Boston Qualifier” and instead actually start trying. It forces me to set up my life in a system to where I’ll be trying by default. I say I want to run Boston, but really I want to eat snacks while fantasizing about literature at Wellesley and then buy some overpriced Tracksmith BQ gear.
3. Like reading around the world, this is a positive lifestyle structuring goal. When I’m thinking about marathon running, I track my alcohol consumption and extra focus on eating my green vegetables. I take my vitamins and go on walks. This is a positive lifestyle.
4. The goal is “scary.” I believe in doing things that are too difficult for me. Somehow, even if the thing is too difficult and you don’t actually reach the goal, you find yourself further along than if you hadn’t tried at all.
5. If I keep this blog going, I’ll keep writing. Running is a relatively innocuous blogging topic. There are only so many things to criticize – you could call out an author for failing to consider people who don’t have sidewalks, who physically can’t run, failing to acknowledge different paces than their own, failing to acknowledge the fact that races are expensive etc. etc. But most of those criticisms have already been made, and perhaps as a running social media group, we’re moving towards a point where we can just let everyone say what they feel when it comes to running and be happy with that. Please, pursue your own running goal and write a blog. The world needs your story.
6. After I get 10 marathons complete, I can buy one of those super dorky t shirts or a crew neck and join the 50 states marathon club.
7. And finally, this goal fits in with the type of person I would like to be: someone who goes outside, who challenges themselves, who eats vegetables and drinks water, who writes, who travels and gets to know each state, and who is happy to be an American.

5/12 Recently I’ve started considering in a semi-serious way the idea of running a marathon in every state. I like seeing where I am. When I run, I notice things related to civil engineering – ravelled asphalt, a degraded culvert, a new sidewalk, permeable pavements, trapezoidal channels, manning’s n….et cetera, ad infinitum.

I’ve ran one marathon, but it was not in an official race (during Covid), so it doesn’t count.

This too is a lifelong project, we shall see.