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Dave Hurl crosses the finish line of his 50th-state marathon in Kansas. Courtesy of Dave Hurl

Dave Hurl is a resident of Southwest Roanoke County, an adjunct professor at Radford University and also works with Roanoke City Public Schools. He graduated from East Tennessee State with a B.S. and a Masters Degree and an additional Masters from Radford University. What you may not know about Hurl is that he has run a marathon in all 50 states!

The quest to run a marathon in all 50 states began with a friend, Terry Graham. He ran 30 marathons all over the U.S. with Graham, until Graham's life took him another direction. But Hurl pressed on.

Hurl said he began running after a visit to the doctor which didn't turn out exactly as he'd expected. The doctors told him he was out of shape and that he had to do something about it now. So, Hurl started running.

"I was a closet runner. After the mall closed I'd run around Tanglewood Mall. I swore I'd never do another, it was so hard," Hurl said about his first marathon in 1996.

One of the proudest moments of Hurl's running career has been the opportunity to run in the Boston Marathon.

"Oprah ran it. I figured if Oprah could do it, I could."

In 1997 he ran a marathon in New York, in 1998, Myrtle Beach, in 1999, he ran Myrtle Beach again, and the list goes on. Hurl says he's run as many as six marathons in one year.

Each week Hurl trained for his marathons, running about 15 to 20 miles a week and he started speed work at Patrick Henry on Wednesday nights. Total, Hurl says he runs four days a week and goes to the gym three days a week.

Courtesy photo

Starting out and getting in shape wasn't the only hard part of running a marathon in all 50 states. He ran in many extremes from 103-degree weather in Salt Lake City, to running in three inches of snow in Maryland. He's run on big rocks, cattle bars, bridges and the list goes on. In Wyoming he had to run at an elevation of 7,000 feet.

"My lungs were burning," he said. "It's a good way to see all 50 states, some I probably wouldn't have."

Sunday, Oct. 18, Hurl completed his 50th marathon in Wichita, Kansas, and to top it off, he placed first in his age division (65-69) at 4:19.

"I'm the kind of person when I set a goal, I just do it. You have to train."

Now that Hurl's accomplished all 50 states, he plans to continue to run.

"I'd like to go back and do some that I really liked again," he said. "There's a story with each marathon."