Dave Phillips is just two marathons shy of having done one in all 50 states. Just Hawaii and Alaska are left.
Phillips was 45 years old at the time and having trouble getting up and down the court. The games were once a week, which was part of the problem.
Phillips needed a more constant source of exercise in his life in order to keep playing hoops.
“Then one day I saw a story in the Post Bulletin about marathon training,” Phillips said. “A class was being offered in Rochester and I wondered what it was all about. So I decided to check it out.”
Phillips’ life hasn’t been the same since. That running class turned into 10-mile runs with the Rochester Running Club, which then stretched to 15 miles and peaked at 20 miles.
Soon, it was a breeze for Phillips to get up and down that basketball court. But he didn’t stop there.
The native of New York and former writer, editor and now retired owner of the Spring Valley Tribune took it the next step, adding 6.2 more miles to those 20 miles. He was now a marathon man. And much later, he’d become not just any marathoner, but a marathoner on a mission.
Starting in 2016, after he’d run a marathon in 26 states, the latest South Dakota, his quest became to complete a marathon in all 50 states. Twenty-three years later, now at 68, he’s just about there. He’s got just two left.
After his mother got a look at him following that first marathon, Rochester’s Med City Marathon in 2000, she’d have never guessed that he’d ever run another one much less nail one in every state. That includes Massachusetts, Phillips qualifying for the prestigious Boston Marathon and then running it in 2010.
“My mom came up to me after I’d finished the first one and she said, ‘You look green,’” said Phillips, who’s married, with two grown children. “I could definitely feel that first one. When I first started training (for the Med City Marathon), my body would be sore. I’d come into the house looking stiff and my family would laugh at me. They’d say, ‘You did that to yourself.’”
Phillips’ running ventures have gradually become comfortable. His maiden 26.2-mile voyage was followed by another marathon early the next summer, the Mad City Marathon in Madison, Wis. His coloring was good when that one ended, not green. And then he’d tick off another 26.2-miler a few months later, the Twin Cities Marathon.
Just like that, his lifetime marathon total had risen to three. And from then on, it’s been “game on.”
“I’ve always been driven to accomplish goals,” Phillips said. “And (trying to run a marathon in all 50 states) makes it more like a game. I love games. I used to play basketball and tennis. I look at it as I’m not just out there running another marathon, but I’m checking off another state. I keep becoming one state closer.”
Knowing that he was advancing in age, Phillips had to pick up the pace in order to feel secure about doing a marathon in all 50 states. So, beginning in 2012, he nailed two in three days, one in Wyoming followed by another in Montana.
“That went pretty well, too,” Phillips said. “I didn’t suffer any problems. My times were slower so I could make it happen.”
He’s only continued to ramp things up since. In 2021, he completed five marathons, then did seven last year. In 2023, he’s gone up another level. In June, he banged out four marathons in five days in the New England states.
It’s put Phillips at 48 marathons in 48 states. The final two to check off will require marathon trips — to Hawaii and Alaska.
“I plan to do Hawaii in January and Alaska next summer,” Phillips said.
What happens with Phillips after checking off those final two boxes is to be determined. His game — 50 marathons in 50 states — will be over.
It might just be time to inflate that basketball again.
Whatever he chooses, it will be accompanied by a new attitude, one built through being a marathon man.
“I’m always willing to try new things with an open mind,” Phillips said. “Some of them have been disasters, but when I took the plunge on long-distance running 23 years ago, it has given me a whole new perspective on life.”
ROCHESTER RUNNING CLUB
Dave Phillips got his running start by joining the Rochester Running Club.
The club offers marathon training in the spring and the fall. The spring training is centered on doing the Med City Marathon and Grandma’s Marathon (Duluth). The fall training is centered on the Twin Cities Marathon and the Chicago Marathon. Aid stations are provided for runners during those sessions.