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| Sean Marchal, former Darke County resident and 1985 Graduate from Greenville High School |
- There have been 44 persons to ever serve as President of the United States.
- There have been 530 people ever launched into outer-space.
- As of 2013, Mt. Everest has been successfully climbed by nearly 4,000 different people.
A long time and a much storied journey indeed. Marchal remembered being in either 2nd or 3rd grade when his teacher, Kathy Kilgallon, used him as an example to support an early civics lesson on the requirements of the U.S. Presidency. “Mrs. Kilgallon randomly pointed at me and said Sean Marchal is the kind of boy who could grow up to run the country.” Marchal laughed, “Funny, at the time I never thought she meant I would run the country one marathon at a time.”
At age 35, Marchal ran his first marathon in Oklahoma City in April, 2003. “At the time I had no plans to run a marathon in each of the 50 states, I had no idea it would lead to something like this.” Marchal says he took 18-months off after his first marathon before attempting another. “Some time after my first marathon, I was in a discussion with some other runners and they thought that based on my finishing time in Oklahoma City, I might be able to one day qualify for the Boston Marathon. I recall thinking, the Boston Marathon? Isn’t that for really good runners and professionals?” Marchal said his marathon madness really began when he became fixated with qualifying for the Boston Marathon.
It took Marchal six more full-marathon attempts before finally meeting the Boston Marathon qualification standard in Phoenix, AZ in January, 2006. Marchal would go onto complete the Boston Marathon the following April. After Boston, Marchal said the marathon bug had really taken hold. “I figured heck, I already run races in several other states just trying to get to Boston, might as well do one in all fifty.”
When asked to identify his favorite race/state Marchal responded, “Wow…that’s difficult. There are four or five races that definitely stand out. I’d say New York City because of the huge fan support; the Phoenix, AZ race where I first qualified for Boston; the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis, MN because I posted a personal record (PR) of 3:09:58; and of course Boston…for obvious reasons.” Marchal has run the Boston Marathon a total of three times and on his last trip there in 2010, he dropped to one knee just yards from the finish line and proposed marriage to his then running partner (and now wife). “That was a very special moment…running is what brought us together, and running the Boston Marathon side-by-side is something we’ll cherish for a lifetime.”
In response to the question of what was the hardest marathon he had ever accomplished, Marchal said emphatically, “Green River, Wyoming! It had a starting elevation of around 6,000 ft and climbed up to nearly 8,000 ft at its highest point. The altitude made it difficult to breath.” Along the lines of difficulty, Marchal also noted he has run four sets of “doubles” while chasing his 50 state goal. A “double” is completed when a runner finishes back-to-back full-marathons over a two day period, usually on a Saturday/Sunday. “Completing four sets of back-to-back marathons, each in sub-4 hours is something I take great pride in” Marchal commented. “Completing a double in two different states in one weekend is an honor badge of sorts among runners.”
Marchal plans to continue his running after finishing his 50-in-50 journey in Chicago. “I’ll still run…I’ve already qualified and been accepted into the field for the 2014 Boston Marathon and I plan on making that my last full-marathon...I want to go out on top. Beyond that, I’ll still do 5K’s, 10K’s and half-marathons…running is in my blood. But what I’d really like to do is get involved in coaching Track & Cross Country at a local High School. I feel I have a lot I can contribute in both the development of runners and young adults. Besides, I think Coach Marchal has a nice ring to it.”