• Features

Multi-marathon man on track to run races in all 50 states

• By Lori Feeney
• December 3, 2020
• 1747

Josh Zwick of Bolivar is a man on the move and on a mission. He plans to run a marathon in each of the 50 states before he turns 50. At age 47 Zwick has 33 marathons in 30 states under his belt.

That’s a lot of miles: 864.6 miles to be exact.

“I always feel like I need a purpose to what I’m doing,” Zwick said, “a reason other than just running another race. And I didn’t have that until two years ago.”

It was then Zwick ran across a Facebook post by a schoolmate saying his 12-year-old nephew in Broomfield, Colorado had a brain tumor.

“I asked the family if I could run my marathons on Gabriel’s honor,” Zwick said.

And so began a quest to complete 50 marathons in honor of a kid with cancer and a relationship which, though separated by 1,300 miles, is as close as it gets.

“When I finish a race, I get two medals: one for me and one for him,” Zwick said.

Gabriel Tyler enjoys getting them, and Zwick said the teen seems inspired by each race completed. Zwick, however, keeps things in perspective. “I tell him marathons are tough, but so are you,” he said.

A graduate of Tusky Valley High School and the University of Mount Union, Zwick works for the City of Alliance Wastewater Treatment Plant. He began as a chemist 14 years ago, then became the lab director and is now assistant superintendent.

Not a lifelong runner

You may think someone with such a lofty marathon goal would have been running races his entire life. You would be wrong. Zwick said he didn’t start running until he was 22, and then he just did it to have something to do after work.

“I’d run around the block, which around here is about a mile,” Zwick said.

Then one day a former classmate saw him running and asked him if he wanted to train for a marathon with her.

“I said, ‘That’s a far cry from a mile run,’" Zwick said. "But she said she’d feel much better if she had someone to train with her, and she thought I could do it. So I said, 'Sure, why not?'”

Zwick started to follow an online training schedule and gradually built up mileage. The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon was his first.

“My friend got hurt, so I ended up running it by myself,” Zwick said.

The temperature that day was 3 F above zero. Many races would cancel under such conditions, but because the marathon was a qualifying event for the ‘96 Olympics in Atlanta, the race was held.

“I finished in under four hours,” Zwick said. “I didn’t know at the time that was pretty good.”

Then he stopped running for 18 years. The year he turned 40, Zwick said he wondered if he still had it in him to complete a marathon. He trained all summer, and the month he turned 40, he ran the Akron Marathon, completing it 16 minutes faster than the race he ran at 22. He’s been hooked ever since.

Those closest to his heart

Zwick has run the big marathons in Boston, Chicago and New York, but the smaller ones are the ones he loves.

“Those big races are iconic, but I prefer the smaller ones, mostly the ones where you’re donating to a cause,” he said, mentioning the most recent marathon he ran in Arkansas that raised money for a village in Kenya.

Zwick keeps a map display on a wall at home, coloring in each state as he runs it and keeping track of his best time.

“Gabriel has one just like it at his house, and he also colors in the states as I complete them,” Zwick said.

His best time so far was 3 minutes 12 seconds, logged at the Jack and Jill Downhill Marathon in North Bend, Washington. He said the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in Las Vegas was his worst time ever.

“It was so windy people were quitting,” Zwick said.

As a member of the 50 Sub-r Marathon Club, Zwick has to run every race in under four hours, which so far he has done.

Zwick credits Randy Rufener and Dave Lautenschleger, two friends who run with him, for keeping him motivated. They run two to three times a week.

“I think it just pushes you to do better when you’re with other people,” Zwick said. “I owe a lot to them because I don’t know if I’d still be running if had to train solo all the time.”

What could be next?

So where does a guy go after running a marathon in every state?

“I’d like to run a race on all seven continents,” Zwick said. “They actually have a marathon in the South Pole. It would cost about $10,000, but I’d love to do it. I’d also love to run the race on the Great Wall of China.”

Zwick said at one time he hoped to become the oldest runner to complete a marathon. “Then I found out the guy was 99,” he said.

Zwick and Tyler have met on two occasions: once when Zwick took time out of a family whitewater rafting vacation in Colorado and another time when he drove to Broomfield after running a marathon in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Zwick plans to see Tyler, who is now cancer-free, again when he finishes his quest with a marathon in Colorado.

“And guess what?” Zwick said. “He’s going to run it with me.”