Group of Tri-State women run 50 marathons in 50 states

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - Running is an exercise, that anyone can do. It’s a great workout, and there’s no limit on how far you can go.

“I’ve always been interested in running, I played soccer when I was a kid,” said Ellen Van Royen. “I ran with my dad when I was in first, second grade.”

Some people may just run a mile, and there are some people, who run marathons. That’s 26.2 miles -- quite the feat, and it’s a process. Most people start running half marathons, and work their way up, and the training itself, takes time.

“My brother, we started running together, and we decided to do the half marathon together,” said Laura Hudson. We do the training; you ran so many miles in the middle of the week, and the Saturdays you built more miles, and so we decided to do that together, and that’s how it started for me.”

“You run at least 3 days a week, if not more, and you build up your miles, so it’s a commitment,” said Miki Fields.

A commitment that these three say is well worth it, in the end. Finishing a marathon is an amazing accomplishment, and these three ladies say, that feeling of crossing the finish line is exhilerating. So much so, that they decided to run, not one, not two, but 50 marathons! Laura Hudson, Miki Fields, and Ellen Van Royen, have run many of them together, and get this, they’ve now run one, in all 50 states. They actually belong to the 50 states marathon club, of which, just over 5,000 people in the world, are a member.

“The experience was each state had their own individual highs, lows, expectations. Crossing that finish line was different for every single marathon,” said Hudson, who completed 50 marathons. “Sometimes you’re crying, sometimes you’re excited, sometimes you’re like well there’s another one done, so every one was a little different. A big accomplishment, kind of a load lifted off your shoulders.”

“It’s a lot of pain while you’re doing it often times, but when you cross that line, you forget about that and it’s an amazing experience,” said Van Royen, who along with Fields & Hudson, belongs to the 50 States Marathons Club.

“When you get done with that run, even if you don’t wanna do it, it felt good, and then when you cross that finish line, you just wanna go and do it again,” said Fields, who met both Hudson and Van Royen, through running.

And essentially running across the country, has allowed them to travel places they may otherwise never have, and strengthen their life-long friendships.

“I never would’ve visited every state otherwise,” said Van Royen. “I never would’ve gone to Idaho for example, and it is just absolutely beautiful. I’ve seen just some amazing sites.”

“You share everything, the cars, the hotel rooms, just different things like that,” said Hudson. “So, it was a quest that we did together as friends.”

“You do need to get along, because you ride on a plane with them,” said Fields. “You’re in a car with them, you eat with them, you sleep with them, but the best part is when you accomplish it, and you get across that finish line and you’ve got friends waiting for you.”

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