The Motivator, a.k.a. James, a.k.a. my husband, has come up with the idea that we’ll join the “50 in 50” club… 50 marathons in 50 states.  I don’t run 26.2 miles yet, so while he’s doing the marathon part of it, I’ll be doing the half-marathon part of it.  The bling is equally nice in both. And oh yes indeedy, that is one of the big factors for which race we run… whether or not the bling is worth it.  We (okay, he, it was all him) have compiled a lovely spreadsheet full of races, states, and the time of year so that we can plan accordingly.  We figure we can pull off maybe 4 or 5 per year, so it’ll take us about 10 to 15 years to complete this little goal.  We have the next 3 already planned… Maui, Olathe, and Missoula.

I should mention that James is already 2 states ahead of me.  He has Washington, Oregon and Arizona, and after running the Chicago Marathon in October, he will have Illinois.  Right now, I only have Washington and Oregon.  After September, I’ll have Idaho, so I’ll still need Arizona and Illinois, and he’ll still need Idaho… but I digress…

We have officially registered for the Maui Oceanfront Marathon for January, about 12 weeks out from Chicago, just enough time to lather, rinse, repeat.  While the bling probably isn’t my favorite, who can resist 26.2 miles (or 13.2 miles) of whales, beautiful oceanfront, and mountain vistas?!  While I was registering for it, the online form clearly said, “You are not registered until you click this button.”  I hesitated for about 5 minutes, closed my eyes, then clicked.  It’s set in stone now… no backing out.  But actually I look forward to it… okay, not the actual running part, but more “I’m going to Maui, yay!”

In April, I insisted we do the Garmin Marathon in Olathe, Kansas, “The Land of Oz.”  Every bling has something to do with The Wizard of Oz.  I missed out on the Cowardly Lion this past year, but I can’t wait to see what they’ll have for next year!  Looking forward to it!

After April, will come the Missoula Marathon in July… flat and fast, so they boast.  Gawd, I hope so.  The bling hasn’t been pre-approved yet, so I don’t have a clue as to what it is, but James really wanted to do this one, so I guess sometimes I have to concede, bling or no bling.

The real beauty about this 50-in-50 idea is that we will be visiting every single state.  We plan on making most of these little trips fun little run-cations where we get to do a little sight-seeing as well.  It seems families don’t get to spend much quality time together these days with our overly busy lives, and this will allow us that much needed time to just be together (and get a little exercise as well).  Yeah, I think this is a good idea.

I leave you with this oh-so-true marathon training tip from The Onion:

Visualize your success and how good it will feel to accomplish something hundreds of other people will accomplish before you that day.

Happy running!  🙂