Manchester native completes 48 of 50 marathons
Manchester native Mark Harris (at right) is pictured with his running partner, Sterling, at a Taos, NM marathon last year.
When you’re 10 years out of high school and looking for something new to do, you come up with some crazy ideas.
Or maybe, if you were Mark Harris, you would even call it “stupid.”
“It had been nearly 10 years since I was in an organized sport,” he explains. I had just turned 28 and was beginning to feel like my life was set in stone. Married for a few years and looking to start a family; there was nothing outside of the ordinary. That’s when I decided to do something stupid.”
Running 26 miles wasn’t really the kind of thing he would normally think to do, added the 1996 Manchester graduate. “I loved basketball, football, and tennis. You know–the regular type stuff.”
But in 2006, he decided to get away from the “regular type stuff” and try something really different. Now living in Downers Grove, IL, he trained for and ran in the Chicago Marathon. “My parents (Terry and Kathy Harris) and my brother came to cheer me on and it was a great day through and through. Almost immediately I wanted to do more.”
Mark was hooked. “A crazy thought popped in my head – Wouldn’t it be cool to run a marathon in each state? I love to see out-of-the-way spots and this could be a reason to do it.”
Now, 13 years later, Mark has just finished his 48th state (New York), and is looking forward to running in Kona, Hawaii and Cordova, Alaska next summer, with family trips included. Along the way he has enjoyed traveling with his family and meeting new people as he runs. “I’m sure both my wife and I will be ready for the end of the marathons,” he says. “Now, what else is out there?”
What made him decide to do marathons in all 50 states? “Something was driving me toward an extreme kind of accomplishment. I think I was pushing 30 and just scared of being average,” he says. “I also felt this could be an incentive to stay fit.”
He may have thought he had a novel idea, but soon discovered a club for those who wanted to do the same thing, and he joined after he had completed 10 states. He’s done as many as six marathons per year (twice) and has done five marathons in three different years. His best race time was 4:12 in Des Moines, Iowa, and his most recent, from Schenectady to Albany, NY last month, found him at 4:51 for the 26.2-mile course.
“I used to listen to music in the beginning but found I wasn’t fully experiencing the race with headphones so I’ve been music free for most of the journey,” he says. “I like to meet people in the course and chat for a few miles too.
“My favorite race was in Taos, NM. I met and ran 17 miles with this fellow Sterling. He was the nicest individual I have ever met–a free spirit traveling the country on his motorcycle and going where the wind took him. He ran slower than he should have for a good 15 miles with me and then had cold chocolate milk waiting for me at the finish as I told him that was my favorite. Godspeed to you Sterling, wherever you are!”
Mark and his wife Erin also enjoyed a kid-free four-day vacation as part of their trip to New Mexico, where they explored Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos.
His best advice for someone thinking about duplicating this feat? “If someone else wanted to do it, I would tell them to start as soon as possible and pick places you would never normally visit!” He also says he would try to avoid major cities as a rule.
The Mirror will follow up with Mark next summer, after he finishes his Alaska and Hawaii marathons. Maybe by then he will have determined his next adventure!
Mark Harris, running in a marathon in downtown Duluth, Minnesota.
Mark Harris has collected finishing ribbons from marathons in 48 states. Next summer, he plans to receive #49 in Hawaii and #50 in Alaska.
Erin Harris (center, back) and the couple’s daughters–Sawyer (11), Isla (8), and Margot (6)–cheer on Mark in a marathon in Duluth, MN. “This photo was featured in the (Duluth) newspaper,” he says.
Mark running his Maine marathon at Mt. Desert Island, 2018.
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