100 Marathon Club

During my last long run I saw a gent wearing a tshirt with a "100 Marathon Club" logo, this prompted a discussion with my running buddy about how long it would take to become a member of the club. I've seen people with the tshirts before and thought along the lines of "wow, 100 marathons, impresive" but never given much thought about the logistics of training and running that many marathons.

We came to the conclusion that if we trained properly and managed to avoid getting injuried, we could probably manage 2 marathons a year. So, just curious how many people on RW have actually done 100 marathons, how many did you run a year and did you always have a target time in mind or just aim to finish? 

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Comments

  • Plodding Hippo for one.
  • There is a 100 marathon site, have a look, I saw one bloke that has done over 760!!! looks like there is over 250 people that are "in the club".

  • 100 mara site

    In fact there you go!, and apparently the record is 800 marathons so far

  • If you are not racing them all for PB's then one a week is easy...........if you have the time and the money on travel and accomodation.......so depends on your circumstances....easier if you tackle it either pre kids or post kids or no kids...........but still achievable by those who love longer distances........ultras count towards them as well
  • There were some at Beachy head mara that were off to another the next day....i couldn't even walk straight.......AJH must be getting near the 100 mark on here soon??

  • Flat Foo.ted - I think, until Snowdonia moved their mara, people could do three that weekend - Snowdonia, Beachy and Dublin on the Monday - three done with only one weekend disrupted!

    I'd love to join the 100 club!
  • Thanks for that info - Vixx, but i can asure you i would never catch me running three in a month let alone a weekendimage
  • Still working on my first one image

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  • Most of them are probably too busy running marathons to come on here and comment image
    I saw several with the shirts at Abingdon this year.My aim is to do 100 halfs but even then it's probably going to take me 8 years or so image
  • My husband is aiming for the 100 club.  He's at about number 34 and does a marathon every 6 to 8 weeks. Sometimes he will do 3 on consecutive weeks then have a rest for a couple of months depending on how the race diary works out.  So at that rate it will take him another 8 years to reach the mark.  He would happily run a marathon every other week but as others have said the cost of that is massive when you factor in travelling and stuff. 
  • I'd love to get to 100, but in the last few years injuries and stuff have kept me from even reaching 10! I will get there - think when the 10th is done, I'll look at more regular ones, but the expense is something I have to consider.
  • The list of rules is interesting on the site, what does and does not count especially. If you do the MdS which has three marathon distance stages ths counts as one race towards your 100.............image
  • Thanks for the link Flat Foo.ted, it is very interesting reading! I saw the rule about only being able to count 3 marathons from a multi-marathon event, sounds pretty harsh! 

    I can't believe that the youngest people to complete 100 marathons were 23 (male) and 24 (female), I wonder how young they were when they started the marathon game. Makes me feel very lazy! 

    Seren and Soup - I didn't even think about the cost associated with running so many marathons but you are right, it would become a very expensive hobby! I'm really impressed that people are doing a marathon every 4-6 weeks, amazing image

  • I know a couple of folk who have done it, you have to be a bit obsessive I think and let it take over your life, not so much just the running but travelling too is a big committment.

    I've done about 17 now and at this rate would take me another 20 years so it's not on my agenda. I live on one of the North Isles so the travelling does not allow for doing much more.

  • I am nowhere near that level, but I think once you get to a certain level of fitness you could do a marathon and find it as easy as I find a 4 mile run now. The was a time when I couldn't run 4 miles. It is all just a case of building up to a level of fitness, staying there and not getting injured, I imagine
  • I can see how it would take over your life, not just the events and the hours spent in training, but as you say the travelling and associated costs.

    I do like building a holiday around a race, but I think that I will probably stick to half marathons so that I can enjoy the following day without limping around too much (saying that, I'm very tempted by Berlin and New York, and I want to have another crack at Medoc)

  • Mathschick - that's true, I remember when I couldn't run for longer than 5 minutes without feeling like my lungs were going to explode! I was so proud when I got my first 5k medal (still have it image )

    I suppose it depends whether you train just for one marathon and then dramatically scale back the mileage, or keep on doing the long runs. 

  • My husband doesnt really train for marathons any more, he just sort of stays at that level of fitness. An occasional 10 or 15 miler in between marathons is all he does.  He doesn't race them and has a pretty consistent 4:40 finish time unless its off-road/challenging. He doesn't ache afterwards or anything. The only marathon he hasn't enjoyed is the one he trained for to get a sub 4 finish.  He got 4:03, was gutted and didn't enjoy clock watching so thats what made him change tactic and go for 100.

  • Wow - I'm in awe! How long did it take him to get to that level of fitness, or has he always been athletic and just decided to channel it into marathons?
  • He's never been athletic but does have a lot of natural stamina I think.  Not sure how long it took him to get to this level, it sort of evolved but did his first marathon in 2002 when 6 months earlier he'd never run a step. He'd do a marathon a year which crept up to 2 a year and has steadily increased to 6 or  8 a year now.

  • Good for him TSD! That's great work image
  • Thanks, I'm very proud of him even if I am a bit peeved that I train like a mad woman and still can't get sub 5:30. image And he does most of them in fancy dress too.

    I've shown him your comments and he says thanks.  We just take it as being normal now lol. image

  • I'm at number 52 and will get to 100 by the end 2013....well, thats the plan! My average finishing time would be somewhere around 3.40 and could/can run a 3.45 marathon week in, week out.

    22 for the year so far with another 2 to do in just over 2 weeks time (consecutive days!).

    Some people have managed to complete their 100 in LESS than 2 years.

    BTW, it is an impressive feat, but there is nothing to stop you walking them all.

  • Well done Sean! Good luck for your 2-in-2 days soon, and the remaining 76 after that. Do you have any special ones lined up in that mix?

    100 marathons in less than 2 years, wow , just .... wow!  image 

  • The 100 Marathon Club is for people who have prove-able stats to show that they have run in 100 or more legitimate marathon events  (possibly ultras will count too.?).   However, there are plenty of people (me included) who run but rarely do races.  In the last 18 months I have run over marathon distance probably about 75 times..   I don't bother to count anymore.   Yesterday I did 36 miles, just for 'fun'.   No event, just went out and ran.   Prior to that, my last 5 runs totalled to about 350 miles...  I did work it out once, but have lost the actual figure but that is a reasonable guess.

    However, I have only actually run in about 12 proper marathons....

    I run for fun...  not to accumulate t-shirts, medals or prove anything competitively.

    In the summer of 2010, between May to September, I was running at least marathon distance every weekend, and often every Saturday and Sunday too.

    Its really not that hard once you get your fitness levels up, can recover quickly and you learn about nutrition and hydration.   These things are far more important that the number of events completed....

  • It is the logistics and cost more than anything. People going for 100 marathons do *not* race them all, and it's not unusual to not race any, because the training you would need to do for a good time would take time away from notching up more marathons.

    On holiday I did the Hoover Dam marathon, just trotted round very slowly stopping at all the aid stations (and loos!). I ran for a bit with this chap that everyone seemed to know. Hi Larry!! Lookin' good Larry!. I mean everyone. Eventually someone asked
    Which one is this then, Larry?
    "796!" he said.
    Mystery solved.
    He's a lawyer - I guess that really helps with the air fares! He was off that night to do a marathon the next day on the other side of the US.
    The guy who won the marathon, Larry said, wins one every 2-3 weeks, but has never gone under 2:30 - because winning marathons is actually part of his job (long story) and if he took time out to taper....

    I should add that Larry finished in well over 6 hours (it was a bloody hard course, I finished in over 5!). So he wasn't racing it.

    He did say he had won one once though! Turned up and there were only 7 people on the start line that day and he was the fastest! So going for 100 marathons might not get you the best times but don't rule out a bit of bling along the way!
  • On no. 22, with 2 more this year. Just 78 to go image. Maybe, just maybe I might get to do it. Each one is a very special thing. AND anyone who has run 1 marathon has done something very impressive.

    Dark Vader - I admire your resolve. I would never go much further than 20 miles I fear if it weren't an 'event'. Big plus for you, you save loads of dosh on entry fees and also dont have a ton of old bling that you can't bear to part with.

    G - I'd rather run 'em than walk 'em.....my strategy = get 'em over as quickly as possible, which clearly is a bad strategy!!

  • xine267 - glad you started this thread - I'm fasinated by people who have achieved amazing feats like this. I've done a marathon myself, but doing 100 seems crazy. As most people are saying, it's possible if you don't race them but cost / travel time would be high.

  • Bloke in my Running Club, achieved his 100th in June of this year.

    He seemed to get quicker aver the 5 years it took him to achive the 100, and he was able to do 35 (ish) in a 12 month period.

    For myself, I'm up to 25, but do enjoy walking them as well. Especially the LDWA events, as I like to enjoy the scenery (and the food image)

    As for cost, to do around 25 ~ 30 next year will set me back around £2.5k as I do like to stop over before an event.

    I suspect that in later years the cost of fuel will become prohibitive and it will take me a further 4 or 5 years to hit 100.

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