Lemondrop

Supposedly less than 1/10th of the world's population will ever run a marathon, so I'm pretty proud that I've done 14 in the past 10 years. I don't run fast, but I enjoy them -- particularly New York City's. But Laura Skladzinski's stats make me look like a total slacker: On June 6 in Minneapolis, the almost-25-year-old will complete her 55th marathon in just over two years -- and become the youngest woman to run a 26.2-mile race in each of the 50 states.

Skladzinski is what they call a "Marathon Maniac." And we don't just mean "Oh my gosh, you're a maniac -- how can you run that much?!?" It's an official club, with rules and levels of membership. Aspiring runners might want to visit her race page, where she logs her time, date and place, and gives feedback on her races. Like this:

The Olathe Marathon in Olathe, Kan.: "I had a cold ... but since I was pacing the 4:20 group, I had to suck it up, put on a happy face, and pretend it was all easy"

The Austin Marathon in Austin, Texas: "Definitely my favorite medal ... I love the little red jewel hearts"

The Yuma Marathon in Yuma, Ariz.: "Flew into San Diego the night before and then had a harrowing drive through the snowy mountains, so I didn't get to Yuma until 1 a.m. ... [I] managed to P.R. and come in as third overall woman! I was floored. After the race, they had aerobics instructors on a stage, so I tried out Zumba."

The Steamtown Marathon in Scranton, Penn.: "Really disappointed with the lack of jello shots at mile 23 (a la "The Office"), and further disappointed that no one got the Dunder Mifflin 5K T-shirt that I was wearing"

The Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa, Okla.: "I fell asleep WHILE RUNNING around mile 14."

Skladzinski paused for a few minutes between states to chat with Lemondrop about her run for the record.

Lemondrop: When did you first start running?
Skladzinski: About 5 years ago. I was doing a summer internship in Florida. I didn't have a lot to do in my free time, so I decided to teach myself how to run. At the time I couldn't run a quarter mile without getting a stitch my side. I didn't know any advanced technology. I would literally drive my car to measure how far I'd run. I timed myself with my iPod. At the end of the run I would add up the songs on my iPod. I did eventually learn to run one mile without stopping. I think my progression was from 5K to 5 miles, then I found a lot of races that were odd distances -- a 6 mile, a 7 mile.

At the time, did you ever imagine doing a marathon?
In November of 2007, I watched the New York City Marathon. I had a manager who was running. I just thought it was so neat. But I thought there was no way I could do a marathon. I only ran once a week. Every week, I ran another mile -- 10 more minutes than what I did before. By January 1st, I did 10 miles and that's when I said I wanted to do my first half marathon. That was my goal for the whole year -- I ended up doing that in January. It was loops around Central Park, the Manhattan Half. It was freezing! So I was doing all these different half marathons; I'd hear about all these people who had done marathons in all 50 states, but I thought that I would run half marathons in all 50. I still thought there was no way I could do a full marathon.

Oh, it's really not that big of a leap from a half to a full. Ha. She says now.
One weekend I scheduled a half in Rhode Island on a Saturday, but I was trying to do all five half marathons in New York City.

Right -- The Road Runners Club does half marathons in each of the five boroughs.
So I ran one on a Saturday and one on a Sunday -- 26.2 miles in a weekend. I'd just have to do that in one day. So I literally just signed up for one, the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon. It was sponsored by Ben & Jerry's. They had all-you-can-eat ice cream at the finish. My mother and my friend held up signs that said "Run for the ice cream." That was my primary reason for picking it. I really didn't think I'd ever be able to finish. I was just looking for what was the point where I was going to burn out. So it was a huge surprise to me when I actually finished. Even now, every time I finish I just get so excited. I can't believe I actually finish. You never get over that.

Oh my gosh, me too. I never really start to believe I can do it until at least mile 20! Now, there are a lot of 50-staters. Why not just do 50 and leave it at that? Why go for the record?
That was how it first started out -- I'll do all 50 and get to it when I get to it. But I ended up doing it fairly quickly in the beginning. And that was when I heard about the record. When I started I had six years to break it. When I started it just snowballed and now I'm enjoying it.

What kind of effect has all the running had on your body?
I think what people don't realize is that your body gets very used to it. Before I ran at all -- the very first time I ran without stopping I was sore for several days. But now I can run a mile and it's no problem. And as crazy as it sounds that's how marathons get to be -- my body is very used to running 26 miles. Saturday you get up and run 26 miles and you get on, move on with your day. Most days I'm not really sore the morning after; you don't see me doing the marathon limp. I've even done a marathon that morning, flown home that afternoon, gone out with my friends that night. The sleep is where I really lose it. In terms of the actual soreness that's not really an issue. That's what's really interesting to see -- how much your body can actually adapt to doing; now it's just something -- I've run two marathons in a weekend. It kind of makes you appreciate just how resilient your body is.

I'm curious about how you choose your marathons. Why did you pick Carrollton, Mich., as opposed to, say, Detroit?
A lot of it comes down to scheduling. Prime marathon schedule comes in the fall; in the summer and spring, it's hard to find races. Carrolton was in July. When I had so few states down, it was really about recommendations -- which were the fun races, the pretty races. I read a lot of reviews online. Every race is just unique. There's always some little draw to get you somewhere. Thinking back on all the races, I can't think of any that were just boring. Carrollton was three loops around the same track -- I had never done a looped track. Wyoming came highly recommended. Run With the Horses: You started on the mesa at sunrise. You can't see any sign of civilization. It was a very small race, only about 100 people. While I was running I couldn't even see other runners; you're on this dirt road that cuts through the mountains. As you're running the wild horses will run by. I'd never seen anything like that in my life.

Okay, what's your favorite race?
I get that question a lot. My favorite small race was Wyoming. My favorite big race was New York City.

Mine too!
It was my 33rd marathon. It was my 30th state, and it was the first time I got to run in my hometown. It was so exiting to run somewhere I knew people along the way and I had friends to go out with after the race. The whole city gets so into the marathon! You have fabulous crowd support.

I always start running on the inside, and then I end up running out to high-five all the little kids who are holding out their hands in Brooklyn. They're the best!
I purposely ran on the side of the road so everybody could see my name and cheer for me. I discovered if I smiled and made eye contact people would cheer for me. My face muscles hurt more than my legs did when I finished. I just had a blast.

San Francisco we got to run over the Golden Gate Bridge. The one disappointment was that it started so early there was so much fog you couldn't see off the bridge. Hartford, Connecticut: The race itself was fun.

That's one of my favorite medals -- in the shape of the arch at Bushnell Park.
For me the exciting part was that the food at the end was catered by a local culinary school. In Niagara Falls, you start on the American side in Buffalo. The day before the race at packet pickup they have a U.S. customs official who checks your ID and passport and all that. You finish by the falls. They have these tollbooths on the road. And as a runner you've already checked out, so you just got to run straight through and look at the cars and laugh.

Atlanta started and finished where the Olympic starting and finish lines were held, so you got to run under the big Olympic things. Disney was really cool; I had about 120 pictures of different characters. The Mardi Gras Marathon starts at 5 or 6 a.m. so you still have all the partiers on Bourbon Street who come out and cheer you on. I ended up having a couple drinks along the way. I figured it's not really the Mardi Gras Marathon if you don't!

I did Country Music and I ran with a couple contestants from "The Biggest Loser." That's one of my favorite TV shows. When I was first starting to run, I would put "The Biggest Loser" on TV and get on the elliptical and go. The Sunburst Marathon in South Bend, Ind., finishes in the Notre Dame football stadium, and the finish line is right on the football field. I'm thinking, I get my "Rudy" moment!

The toughest one I ever did was my 20th marathon: Running With the Devil in Nevada. It's in the Mojave Desert in the end of June, and it intentionally starts at 11 a.m. You had to get weighed in at the start and along the course to make sure you weren't losing weight and getting dehydrated. You had to get a specific kind of insulated water bottle; we'd fill it with ice and it would turn it to water. It was 119 degrees. It took me 7 hours. When I got to an aid station I would stop for maybe 20 minutes just trying to get the strength to go out there again. That was definitely a challenge -- not one I would recommend.

I did one in Anchorage, Alaska. I ended up having some slight problems. I got into Anchorage at 3 a.m., did the race at 8 a.m., and flew home at that day, so I had 12 hours in Anchorage. I sometimes get in and out of these states a little quickly.

What's your maintenance like? Do you run during the week?
I actually don't run during the week at all. It's easy for me to do that because I'm going marathon to marathon. I wouldn't recommend my style of training to anyone else. Kind of the lazy man's route to running marathons. The one thing I have not done is get a Boston qualifying time. Once I stop doing marathons every weekend and actually do a training program I'm hoping I can do it.

So how did you snag a spot in Boston?
I was working for Jet Blue and they're one of the major sponsors. They had an internal contest for employees. My proud moment there tough was that I started in the second-to-last corral, yet I still finished in the 50th percentile. [Note: She finished in an impressive 3:54 -- not so far from the 3:40 an 18- to 34-year-old woman needs to qualify.]

Do you have specific things that you eat before a race?
I've definitely grown much more lax about it. I think now my body has adapted. I've eaten Indian food as my pre-race meal. Once when I did Arizona I got in so late I had Denny's. One thing I've found that's important is getting a good night's sleep two nights before the race.

What about after a race? I always crave red meat.
A lot of times I just crave a salad after a race. My favorite is a salad with some grilled chicken on top, which is actually kind of hard to get when you're traveling. I usually just eat what I want after the race and then later Mexican food. My friends are used to me coming home and saying, "Let's go out for quesadillas! Margaritas!" There was actually a study done saying that beer is actually one of the best recovery foods -- better than milk.

That probably explains why they have beer at a lot of races! A lot of beer companies are even sponsoring races now.
For me the big benefit is that it puts me to sleep!

How about injuries? Any major ones?
When I did Wyoming, I actually had some knee problems I only got to mile 6 and actually ended up walking the rest of it. It cleared up; it was actually just some I.T. [iliotibial] band issues. Other than that I actually haven't had major issues.

So what's next for you after Minneapolis? Will you keep running marathons?
That is the question of the day! Right now I don't have any races scheduled, but at the same time this has just been such a big part of my life. A lot of states have several really interesting runs and of course I only did one! So of course I'll keep doing marathons. But in terms what my next big challenge is I have no idea.


Melissa Rose Bernardo is already signed up for the Baltimore Marathon on Oct. 16 and NYC on Nov. 7, and needs just one more 26.2-miler before Jan. 14 to meet the Bronze "Marathon Maniac" criteria. Hmm ... perhaps Tucson on Dec. 12? Damn you, Skladzinski!!!


More on running on Lemondrop:
+ The Workout Junkie's Infinite Run-Faster Playlist
+ A Morning in the Life of a Runner
+ Alexa Goes From Couch to 5K ... and Back to Couch