Have Run, Will Travel
STONE HARBOR MOM IS GOING AROUND THE WORLD, 26.2 MILES AT A TIME
Jenn Maher and her family all ran the Merrie Mile the day before she ran the Honolulu Marathon to make it a whole race weekend.
Stone Harbor’s Jenn Maher has quite a hobby on her hands. Maher, an attorney and mother of two, has a goal of completing a full marathon, 26.2 miles … in all seven continents and 50 states.
While that goal might seem insurmountable, she already is virtually halfway there. She has run marathons in 22 out of the 50 states and on four continents: North America, Europe, South America, and her newest addition, Antarctica. Maher ran the Antarctic Ice Marathon on Jan. 22.
Running a marathon takes a lot of training and dedication, which Maher has plenty of. She ran her first track meet when she was just 9 and has kept running since.
“I always joked that I lacked hand-eye coordination, so I wasn’t very good at ball sports and track came easier to me,” she says. “I learned I had a natural talent, so I stuck with it and then as I got older, I just started to really enjoy running.”
Maher completed her first marathon in January 2008, at the age of 24. But it wasn’t until she racked up a few more races that this epic goal came to mind.
October 2018, Maher poses after completing her first international marathon in Amsterdam.
Around the age of 30, while having both of her children, John and Elizabeth, Maher took a little bit of a break from distance running. She slowly started to get back into it and realized that she needed to set goals for herself to make running more enticing and exciting.
“In running, you meet really amazing people that become friends and they all have goals like this for themselves,” she says. “It sounded exciting, so I decided to make my own running goals.”
Her running skills, the need for a goal, and her love of traveling all came together, and her goal of completing a marathon on all seven continents and in all 50 states was born.
Maher notes that she never got the opportunity to travel as a kid and had never visited many of the 50 states before, so this goal presents a cool way to see more and travel around. The first time she ever visited Europe and Antarctica was for a marathon.
“Sometimes my kids come,” she says. “If it works with their schedules, we try to make it into a family trip, which is a great way for them to be able to travel since I didn’t get that opportunity as a kid.”
While the traveling aspect of this goal is a highlight, Maher says meeting people is her favorite. She shares that during these long and grueling marathons, she bonds with the other runners and they go on to have longstanding friendships.
Maher loves this goal and journey for herself and said the hardest part is trying to maintain a balance as a mother and a professional.
“I have two young kids and a full-time job as an attorney, so juggling the planning of the races with the travel and our schedules is challenging,” she says, adding, “on top of the actual training for the marathons and making sure I can complete each one.”
Upon finishing the Antarctic Ice Marathon, Maher proved that she had brought a piece of home with her. At the finish line, she proudly displayed a copy of the Seven Mile Times!