AUBURN — Mike Brooks said he’s good at putting one foot in front of the other.
He’s very good.
Last month, Brooks, a retired firefighter and former two-pack-a-day smoker, hit a rare milestone: He’s run a marathon in each of the 50 states. Five times over.
Brooks finished marathons in Missouri and Iowa in one weekend to wrap up the feat.
He’s run in 23 states for the sixth time already, nearly halfway on his way to a six-peat.
“It’s just like habit-forming, I have such a good time doing it,” said Brooks, 69.
He began running marathons just before turning 50 in 1995.
“The first time I did (all 50 states) I said, ‘I want to get them done,'” he said.
As time has gone on, he claims he’s gotten choosier. Smaller races are more enjoyable. Scenic marathons — up Pike’s Peak in Colorado, avoiding snow in July in Montana’s beautiful Gravelly Mountain — are usually toughest, but tough hasn’t always been scenic.
The Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 10-day marathon, running 491 miles’ worth of circles in a New York park, was probably the worst.
“Transcend into another state of mind — I transcended into another state of pain,” Brooks said. “The only thing that kept me going, I knew every mile I did was more money for Camp Sunshine. I said, ‘Look, I’m in pain and I’m suffering and I chose to do this, but the kids at Camp Sunshine didn’t, they can’t stop and get away from it.’ It keeps you going.”
In his running career, he’s raised about $50,000 for the Casco camp for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families.
Brooks, who on Monday was sore from having run a marathon in Manchester, N.H., the day before, estimated that 10 people in the 1,000-member 50 States Marathon Club have run all 50 states five times.
“I’ve been doing ‘series’: You do five marathons in five states in five days, that’s something new they just started,” Brooks said. “It wears on you and you get real slow. My big toes don’t bend, I’ve got a bad knee. I used to be competitive, especially with myself. I’m not like that anymore. Finish and have fun, that’s the only goals I have.”
kskelton@sunjournal.com
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- Mike Brooks of Auburn is on the treadmill at the YMCA in Lewiston earlier this fall doing a 12-hour fundraiser for the Dempsey Challenge. Brooks, a retired firefighter, started running marathons nearly 20 years ago and recently hit a running milestone: He’s run five marathons in each state in the country.
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