Deb Taylor and Andrea Di Benedetto are all smiles after finishing the Honolulu Marathon on Dec. 8. The marathon completed the best friends quest to run a marathon in all 50 states. (Courtesy photo)
Deb Taylor, 53, of Wiscasset, and Andrea Di Benedetto, 65, of Woolwich, completed their 20-year quest to run a marathon (26.2 miles) in all 50 states on Dec. 8 at the Honolulu Marathon.
“I am just grateful for the chance to do this,” Taylor said. “It has been a good way of spending the past 20 years.”
Taylor and Di Benedetto met while they were both working at what was then Wiscasset High School. Taylor, who had been running shorter distances, wanted to try running a half marathon. She ran into Di Benedetto at a 10K, where Di Benedetto agreed to help her train for it. That began a long friendship, and the two have been running partners ever since.
Taylor ran her first marathon in 2004 in Boston at the age of 34, unsure of what to expect. She was used to running in temperatures in the 50s, but Boston had a fluke heat wave that April with temps in the high 80s.
“I felt miserable,” Taylor said. “I slowly learned that they are all just hard.”
The friends’ first marathon together was in 2004 in Chicago. In total, Di Benedetto has run 66 marathons and Taylor has run 61.
Taylor’s husband Dave “covers the home front,” she said watching their son, Alex, during training runs and marathons. Alex was 3 years old when Taylor and Di Benedetto started training together.
In the two decades they have been running together, Taylor and Di Benedetto have seen each other through life events “good, bad, and otherwise,” Taylor said. She picked up Di Benedetto after her father’s funeral and they ran a marathon, and Di Benedetto was there for Taylor when her teenage son died suddenly.
“A marathon is a metaphor for living your life well. They are hard. How are you going to handle things in life when they get hard?” Taylor said. “They are absolutely life. They are such a part of my life – they helped me get through the hard parts. Building this friendship, it is easy to continue, because our friendship has been so rewarding.”
The two women have trained four days a week for the past 20 years, running between three and 20 miles each training run. The devoted runners run through rain and snow and extreme cold and heat.
Andrea Di Benedetto and Deb Taylor celebrate after running their first marathon together in Chicago in 2004. (Courtesy photo)
“A marathon is the celebration of work we put in when no one else is watching,” Taylor said.
Between training runs for 20 years and their 50 marathons across the U.S., Taylor’s husband calculated she and Di Benedetto have run at least the length of earth’s circumference (24,859.73 miles) and from Miami, Fla. to Anchorage, Alaska (4,989.27 miles).
Taylor, a self-professed slow runner, said the duo’s quest was never about speed. Taylor estimates her fastest marathon was four hours and 20 minutes and her slowest was six and a half hours. Taylor didn’t run in high school beyond staying in shape for team sports. Distance running was a new adventure for her.
Both Taylor and Di Benedetto are vegans, which Taylor said has kept them pretty healthy over the years. Nutrition has never been an issue in any of their marathons.
“Hydration is the bigger thing,” Taylor said.
During most marathons, they run together at the same pace.
“We joke we are like rubber bands. If one goes ahead, we always come back together,” Taylor said.
Both Deb Taylor and Andrea Di Benedetto kept a medal board while completing their 20-year quest to run a marathon in every state. Included are their marathon medals, bib numbers, and map of the United States, which they colored in after completing a state. (Courtesy photo)
Taylor and Di Benedetto did not set out to run a marathon in every state, but the more marathons they ran, the more people they met who had completed the feat.
One day, they said “What a great way to see the country. Let’s do this,” Taylor said.
It is hard for Taylor to pick a favorite marathon. Some of the most scenic marathons were in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming and featured against the backdrop of Grand Teton National Park.
In Colorado, the marathon was all downhill, so Taylor thought it would be easy, but learned it was the opposite, as the constant pounding of running downhill took a toll on their bodies.
Heavy rain during a marathon in Omaha, Neb. flooded a road near mile 13 and the race was canceled midway through. Race directors gave runners an alternative route that diverted them and others around the flood, allowing Taylor and Di Benedetto to check off Nebraska.
The final race in the 50-state quest in Honolulu also ranks high up on Taylor’s list.
“It was beautiful,” Taylor said. “There was a lot of joy in finishing up.”
Taylor and Di Benedetto traveled across the country alone, but Taylor said family and friends were there rooting for them in spirit. The final marathon in Honolulu was different, as they had family there to help celebrate their milestone.
“We feel phenomenally fortunate to see the country like we have,” Taylor said.
