Fairbanks’ runner aims for a sub-4-hour marathon in all 50 states

Jane Lanford is a strong supporter and active participant in Alaska International Senior Games. She wore this T-shirt at a marathon in Tennessee, the last marathon she September 2020 — AlaskaPulse.com ran Outside before the coronavirus hit. Photo courtesy of

Jane Lanford.

This homemade gift from a friend helps Jane Lanford keep track of how many marathons she has run. Lanford has seven to go: Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Ohio, West Virginia, Connecticut and New Hampshire. Photo courtesy of Jane Lanford

A mission of miles

Fairbanks runner aims for marathon in all 50 states and a future as a fitness trainer

By Kris Capps AlAskA Pulse

Jane Lanford went from being a self-described klutz growing up to an athlete who is very close to running sub-4-hour marathons in all 50 states.

With only seven states left, this will be her crowning achievement after 40 years of running. This passion has also led her to a retirement career that she hopes will become her legacy — helping others stay fit and live healthier lives.

First race

Lanford, of Fairbanks, was 25 years old when, on a whim, she joined a friend on a 3-mile run. Before that, she had never really considered running as fun or exercise. To her surprise, she kind of enjoyed it.

“Then there was a little race of about 4 miles, so I entered it,” Lanford said. “I figured I didn’t have to tell anybody. It was fun. I was the second out of three women in the race.”

It was that moment, however, that

Left, Jane Lanford is a member of the 50sub4 Marathon Club. Members must run at least 10 marathons in under four hours to be eligible to join. Lanford has to run marathons in seven more states to complete her goal. Right, Jane Lanford’s personalized license plate. Kris Capps photos

ignited a passion for running that continues today.

After serving two years in the Peace Corps in Micronesia and then moving to Saipan, an island in the northern Mariana Islands, she decided to get more serious about running. She was a journalist at the time.

“It turned out there was an expat there from San Francisco,” she recalled. “He was a lawyer and an extremely good marathoner. “

His finish times were consistently 2 hours, 30 minutes for the 26.2- mile courses, she said.

“I started running and he was happy to coach me and take me under his wing,” she said.

They trained for the Guam Marathon, which would take place 120 miles away. They hoped she would do well.

“I ended up in 3:35.57 and I was the women’s winner,” Lanford said. “It’s a pretty high bar for your first marathon. There were just over 100 finishers and 10 of us were women.”

The poster from that 1981 race still hangs on her living room wall, along with memorabilia from many other marathons.

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F606356-1 Since then, she has run at least one marathon every year.

“I’ve been fortunate enough not to be injured and still able to do that kind of running,” she said. “Only in recent years have I really ramped up how many a year I’m doing.”

The most marathons she has ever run in one year is nine.

“I’m up to 114 marathons and six ultras,” she said. An ultra is any race longer than a 26.2-mile marathon.

She even bounced back after a torn meniscus in her knee required surgery, costing her 13 months of running.

Over the years, Lanford has entered the Equinox Marathon in Fairbanks 20 times. She placed in the top 5 women six times and holds the women’s records for age 50-54 and 55-59. She received the Spirit of the Equinox Award in 2000, which she treasures. She also has run the Boston Marathon three times.

But amid all that success, she found herself searching for a new goal.

“I decided to do all the marathons in Alaska,” she said. “I thought there were nine. I have since done 20 different ones. Some come and go, most are extremely tiny.”

She was preparing to head to her 21st Alaska marathon. Running races, she discovered, was a great way to visit places like Kodiak and Dillingham and Prince of Wales Island. New races kept cropping up, so she never ran out of Alaska marathons.

Then she heard about a couple of Alaskans who were not only running marathons in every state but running them in less than four hours. That’s a pace of about a 9-minute mile.

“At the time, that was easy for me,” she said.

But in order to be eligible to join the official Sub-4-Club, she had to run 10 marathons in less than four hours. She sat down and put together an Excel spreadsheet, which she still updates regularly.

“It turned out I had exactly 10 states in 2011,” she said. “All under four hours, no problem.”

She evaluated her situation.

“I’m already 56 years old and need 40 more states under four hours,” she recalled thinking. “I know it’s going to be a crunch.”

She started searching for marathons that were on reasonably flat terrain and in cool weather, avoiding any race held in temperatures warmer than 60 degrees.

“It’s been great,” she said. “I have found all kinds of friends to travel with me. I’ve visited parts of the country I hadn’t been to. It was just fascinating and fun getting to visit all these places.

“I was knocking out the marathons pretty well and suddenly, I started getting older,” she noted.

Her times were increasing to the 3 hour, 50 minute range.

“I did a whole bunch of them in 2018-2019 in the 3:50s,” she said.

Above, Jane Lanford has three bedspreads made out of T-shirts from the many running races she has entered over the years. Left, she received a pair of Nike VaporFly shoes as one of her retirement gifts from Usibelli Coal Mine. The unique running shoes, she said, have shaved minutes off her finish time. Kris

Capps photos

Of all the awards she has received, these plaques honoring her volunteer work are her most prized. Kris Capps

photo

Jane Lanford finishes the Shelby Forest Loop Marathon, near Memphis, Tenn. in February 2020 with a time of 3:50.48. Photo courtesy of Jane Lanford

Then, she got a little help from technology.

“Nike invented a new kind of shoe, the VaporFly, purported to take 4- to 5% off runners’ times,” she said. “That’s like a 10-minute advantage. I thought, that can’t be.”

She had long ago switched careers and spent many years working as a certified public accountant. Retirement was pending from Usibelli Coal Mine and she strongly hinted the perfect retirement gift would be a pair of $250 Nike VaporFly shoes.

She got them, wore them, and promptly shaved several minutes off her time. As she scanned the feet of other runners, she realized many of them were also wearing these same shoes.

“I have been reborn now,” she said. “My times dropped to 3:50 and 3:51 instead of 3:58.”

Alas, the coronavirus interrupted her marathon mission and she doesn’t know when the next marathon will happen. So she just tries to stay in shape for future marathons in Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Ohio, West Virginia, New Hampshire and Connecticut.

“Two of them are repeats,” she said. “I ran over four hours in Iowa and West Virginia, so I’ve got to redo them.”

As always, the biggest competition is herself, not the other runners, she said. But she does love the camaraderie of runners she has met over the years.

“I have friends no matter where I go,” she said.

Social running

Lanford can’t really explain the passion she felt when she discovered running and the passion she continues to feel for running.

“I seem to be blessed bio-mechanically for running,” she said.

She confessed that she gets away with “pretty low mileage training,” running about 25 to 30 miles a week, year round.

“Any good coach will tell you, that’s not enough,” she said.

Yet, that is what seems to work for her.

“In recent years, I just stay trained up because I’m doing them frequently. I’ll get a couple 20-milers in before the marathon, and fewer, shorter runs during the week, like 3- to 6-miles, and make sure I build up to longer and longer runs on the weekend.”

She loves the social aspect of running.

“I seek out people to run with,” she said. “I live on Murphy Dome and I make the trip into town just to meet somebody to run with if I can.”

“I try to have a running buddy as much as I can,” she said. “Anymore, they’re faster than I am.”

Next goal

Lanford is 65 years old and she has finally settled on her next goal, a way to share her passion for running with others.

She recently became a certified personal trainer, focusing on fitness. She’s not really sure yet what form this new path will take, but she hopes to work with older people.

She is already a staunch supporter and participant in the Alaska International Senior Games. She is also a strong believer in volunteering and delivers Meals On Wheels to homebound seniors one morning every week.

“I want to leave some kind of legacy, to convince people to have a little healthier life,” she said. “You’re never too old to try something new.”

“I just hope I can inspire people to stay fit or try to stay fit,” she said.

Reach staff writer Kris Capps at kcapps@AlaskaPulse. com