Run 48 States

Run 48 States - Independence Hall

Run­ning in the Fam­ily is run­ning all 48 con­ti­nen­tal states in the USA!

With the start of a new decade, I’m tak­ing on a new chal­lenge. I’m going to run all 48 con­ti­nen­tal states, and I’ll track my progress here on Run­ning in the Fam­ily.

No, I’m not going to leave my fam­ily and assume a nomadic lifestyle. And no, I’m not going to drag my fam­ily along. I’m going to run all 48 con­ti­nen­tal states vir­tu­ally by track­ing my mileage and plot­ting a course that cov­ers the entire con­ti­nen­tal US.

Why run 48 states?

Because the other two are too hard to reach! (sorry Alaska and Hawaii)

Jok­ing aside, the pur­pose of this adven­ture is to get to know the heart­land bet­ter. I’ve trav­eled exten­sively and have run in places like Tokyo, Shang­hai, Frank­furt, and many oth­ers. Run­ning always gives me a unique per­spec­tive. One that you don’t get dri­ving by in a car, or on guided tours. On this vir­tual tour of Amer­ica, I’ll share a view of Amer­ica from a runner’s per­spec­tive — and hope­fully meet some great peo­ple and see some fan­tas­tic sights along the way.

Run 48 States - Desert MesaHow do you run 48 states virtually?

As I run here at home, I’ll track the dis­tance of each run, and then plot that dis­tance on the Run 48 States map. I’ll write about the inter­est­ing places I vir­tu­ally run through on this blog as I go, so you can fol­low along and take part in the journey.

Run 48 States - Boston HarborHow do you know where to run?

That’s where I need your help! I need you to leave com­ments on the blog as I go, or on this page, with your sug­ges­tions for where I should run. I’ve only phys­i­cally been to 32 states, so I need your help and input to get the small-​​town back-​​road insider infor­ma­tion that only true locals could know. So please give me your suggestions!

Run 48 States - Niagara FallsWhat route will you take?

I’ll start right here in New York State at the Corn­ing Museum of Glass in Corn­ing, NY. I’ll head north to the Fin­ger Lakes, then over to Nia­gara Falls. From there I’ll skirt along the Great Lakes and the north­ern states all the way out to Seat­tle. From Seat­tle, I’ll mean­der my way across the coun­try weav­ing back and forth to hit the best run­ning des­ti­na­tions in each state based on your input. Fol­low along on the Run 48 States map!

Run 48 States - Golden Gate BridgeHow can I fol­low along?

The eas­i­est way is to either enter your email in the Sub­scribe box above, or sub­scribe to our RSS feed from the home page. By sub­scrib­ing, you’ll be able to mon­i­tor my progress across the coun­try through all 48 states. You’ll also get my other Run­ning in the Fam­ily blog posts. Sub­scribers will auto­mat­i­cally be eli­gi­ble for prize give­aways that I’ll be announc­ing in the future to cel­e­brate sig­nif­i­cant mile­stones along the way, so make sure you sign up! I’ll also be post­ing cumu­la­tive stats on the stats page, so you can see how many miles I’ve cov­ered — or you can check out the Run 48 States map to see the entire route.

Run 48 States - The AlamoHow long will it take?

The longer the bet­ter! This is not a race. I’m not out to see how fast I can get across the coun­try. My goal is to vir­tu­ally run through as many truly inter­est­ing and unique places as I can. The more great sug­ges­tions I get for fan­tas­tic places to run, the longer this trip will take! My best guess right now is that it will prob­a­bly take me at least 5 years, if not the whole decade to hit each state.

Run 48 States - Statue of LibertyHow far will you run?

Who knows?

As I said above, that depends on how many great sug­ges­tions I get from you on fan­tas­tic places to run. It’s roughly 3000 miles from coast to coast, and I’ll have to go back and forth sev­eral times to hit all 48 states. I haven’t worked it all out (again, I’m hop­ing to get my des­ti­na­tion list from you), but I would expect it to take at least 15,000 miles to hit all 48 states.

Again, I’ll be track­ing my progress, so I expect to be able to answer this ques­tion after I’m done.

Run 48 States - Washington DCAre you crazy?

That’s prob­a­bly another ques­tion to ask me when I’m done.

I hope to run for the rest of my life any­way, so I might as well put those miles to use. I intend to con­tinue this as long as I keep run­ning, as long as I keep find­ing great places to run, and as long as it keeps being fun!

So come along and join me as I run 48 states!Run 48 States