If it weren’t for some wayward sheep, Deb Thomford might never have become a globe-trotting marathoner.
The longtime Rochester Running Club member capped her worldwide running quest this spring with four medals waiting for her at the finish line of the Tokyo Marathon on March 5, 2023. In addition to the usual finisher medal, she received a Seven Continents Club medal, a Six Star medal for completing all six world major marathons and a Guinness world record medal for being part of the largest field of runners earning Six Star medals in one marathon.
Thomford never envisioned where running would take her when she was introduced to the sport as a result of Title 9, the federal law that requires equal opportunities for females in school settings. The law ushered in girls’ athletics, including track and field, which Thomford was first able to compete in during her sophomore year of high school. She continued through her senior year, but put away her running shoes after graduation in 1975.
In 1990, Thomford was re-introduced to running, although the reason wasn’t due to sweeping legislation that made a major impact on society; it was some rambunctious sheep that escaped from her neighbor’s pasture and ran up her driveway.
“I chased them back and I ran out of breath just coming back to the house so I decided I would try to start to exercise,” she said.
She had three young boys at the time, so she started running up and down the driveway when they were taking naps. She gradually expanded her running and soon her brother-in-law suggested they run Grandma’s Marathon.
Her debut marathon in 1991 at Grandma’s was impressive as her time qualified her for the Boston Marathon. She ran the Twin Cities Marathon in the fall of 1991 and then Boston in 1992, finishing in 3:22. She continued running marathons, including several more in Minnesota and some of the bigger marathons, such as Chicago in 1995 and Marine Corp in 1997. Thomford, who worked at Mayo Clinic until she retired recently, ran marathons more sporadically after those initial ones as she had decided to go back to school.
However, she eventually ramped up her marathon running and started her first quest — to run marathons in all 50 states. She accomplished that feat in 2013 while running up to eight marathons a year. Not only did she finish all 50 states, she ran each one in under four hours, becoming the first woman in Minnesota to run sub-four-hour marathons in all 50 states and the eighth woman in the United States to do so.
Once she completed that goal, Thomford, who said she has an affinity for checklists, decided to tackle continents. Although there are many fewer continents than states, that goal took a little longer than planned, but not for lack of trying. Covid put a pause in Thomford’s running just as it did for millions of other runners.
The reason the Tokyo Marathon had a Guinness record field is because so many major marathon runners also had a pause in their quests. Nearly 3,000 runners earned their Six Star medals March 5, a record number due to covid precautions delaying their progress for several years. For example, the Tokyo Marathon had either shut down or barred overseas runners from competing since 2020.
A pause in races due to the pandemic is about the only thing to slow Thomford down since she started running marathons in 1991 as she has remained injury-free through all those years.
The closest she came to an injury was in Tokyo when she fell and scraped her knees at about mile 15. A Japanese man came up to her to tell her she needed to go to the medical tent. She relented, though, not wanting to take the chance that she could get disqualified for getting outside help. She kept on running, but the man went to the tent and got some bandages for her so she could put them on her knees.
“He was very kind,” she said. “There were many nice people there.”
His kindness helped her get to the finish line to accomplish her dual goals of seven continents and six majors.
“That was just very nice to get my checklist done,” she said. “There was a large mass of people running, but there was so much excitement because it was actually happening after all those years.”
Her most challenging marathon trip was to South America and Antartica when she combined two continents in one excursion in 2018. She ran a marathon in Chile and less than 24 hours later, ran in Antartica.
“That was a brutal thing, but it was OK,” she said. “We flew down to Antarctica, set up, did the run, slept in tents overnight and then went back to Chile.”
The temperature was mild, even by Minnesota standards, as it was in the 30s during January, which is summer there. The wind was relentless, though.
“There was a lot of sleet and it was coming sideways. I had my sunglasses on, but the sleet was coming on the inside of my glasses,” said Thomford. “That was about a six-hour marathon that day. We did loops, and it was just muddy and gravel, big stones — it was not a running surface at all. Little penguins were out there along the side, though.”
The marathon was on King George Island, which is also the site of several international research stations. That marathon was organized by Marathon Adventures out of Minneapolis with an international field of about 60, including Chinese, Portuguese, Polish, Canadian and runners from other countries.
Next was the Victoria Falls Marathon in Zimbabwe, Africa, in 2019. The scenery was amazing as the marathon started at 6 a.m. with runners crossing the Zambezi River from Zimbabwe to Zambia as the sun rose.
“It’s like, oh my gosh, this is so cool,” she said.
A marathon in Sydney, Australia, came in 2022 after several delays due to covid precautions. She finished that one at the Sydney Opera House.
Her most memorable international marathon was in Europe, where she has run several countries. The Jungfrau Marathon in Switzerland in 2016 was one of the hardest marathons she has ever done, but also one of the most beautiful marathons she has ever run.
“It was more like a 15-mile run and an 11-mile hike; the last 11 miles you are going up this mountain, basically. It was so hard, but it was stunning. The scenery there was unbelievable.”
She remembers coming out of the woods to a glacier and finishing on the mountain with alphorns, which are like six- or seven-foot bugles, playing.
Although her marathon goals have taken her to a variety of terrains and cultures, she has kept a familiar profile with her Asics brand of running shoes, which she hasn’t wanted to change because she has been running injury-free, and her “lucky” pink running jacket that she got around 1995.
Her quest for the six majors was her last goal. The main reason is because they are harder to get into with such large fields and some are through lotteries, in which she didn’t always have good luck.
Now that she is done with those checklists, she looks back fondly on all the adventures she encountered in fulfilling her goals.
“It’s been a good thing — mentally, physically, all of it,” she said.
Now that she has accomplished marathons in 50 states, seven continents and six majors, will she continue to step up to the starting line for 26.2-mile races?
“I think halves are looking better for me,” she replied. “I feel like my body is wearing out. I won’t rule it out, but I think it’s time to change to a different race.”
Written by David Phillips, who will be featuring area runners periodically for the Rochester Running Club.