From Florida to Hawaii: 80-year-old Melbourne Beach man completes marathons in all 50 states
Slow and steady wins the race for Bob Sielski, who has accomplished the rare ironman-esque feat of finishing marathons in all 50 states — at age 80.
The energetic octogenarian flew to Hawaii in December and completed the Honolulu Marathon, crossing the finish line in 7 hours, 11 minutes and 55 seconds. After adding Alaska last summer, Sielski's 26.2-mile Hawaii milestone marked the 50th and final state on his list.
"More people have climbed Mount Everest than have completed the 50 states," said Lois Berkowitz, president of the 50 States Marathon Club based in Houston, Texas.
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Sielski lives midway between Melbourne Beach and Floridana Beach on Brevard County's barrier island. He typically traverses 20 to 50 miles per week, and he also swims and bicycles. He calls himself a "30-30" endurance run-walker, meaning that he alternates running for 30 seconds and walking for 30 seconds throughout his races.
"I think a big thing for people that are getting older — and I think it would affect people that were really elite, good runners when they were young — is all of a sudden, you're not finishing in first. You're only finishing. And then, you're finishing 10th," Sielski said.
"And a lot of the people like that, I think, just give up," he said.
"In my case, I was never that good. So it never bothered me then. If I come in last, I come in last. The first time it happened, it bothered me a tiny bit — and that's being in a 5K and being beaten by a 5-year-old. But I've gotten used to that," he said, laughing.
Sielski's cross-country endurance achievement has been verified by the 50 States Marathon Club, which boasts more than 1,800 members who completed marathons in all of the states. He is among 210 runners who achieved the feat last year, Berkowitz said.
"It's a wonderful thing. It becomes an obsession. It becomes a way of life. And it's certainly healthy," Berkowitz said.
"And a lot of us take it to extremes. But we really have a good time doing it, and all walks of life are represented," she said.
Sielski got bitten by the running bug back when he was in his 40s and living in northern Virginia. An avid swimmer, he got sidelined when his neighborhood pool closed for the summer. So he decided to try jogging — "I could maybe run 50 feet or something," he recalled, laughing.
He eventually ran 10K races, then improved his stamina and finished three straight Marine Corps Marathons from 1987-89. The race course leads through Arlington, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
Sielski didn't pick up State No. 2 — California — until 2010, when he ran the Diamond Valley Lake Marathon. But after he moved from Southern California to the Space Coast in 2013, he started racking up races across America.
"I remember running behind a woman from South Africa, and she had a shirt on that had listed all the states that she had run. And her goal was to do 50 states. And I chatted with her for a while. I thought that was very interesting," Sielski said.
A retired U.S. Navy ship-building architect, he meticulously maintains a marathon chronological spreadsheet, which documents everything from registration details to speed statistics to random remarks. Among those adventures, Sielski:
Overcame a sore knee in April 2019 to complete the Salisbury Marathon in Maryland.
Ascended from a thin-aired 7,000 feet elevation to 7,700 feet in August 2017 during the Mt. Sneffels Marathon near Ouray, Colorado.
Navigated the moonlit desert in August 2018 during the Extraterrestrial Full Moon Midnight Marathon near Rachel, Nevada — just outside Area 51, the top-secret Air Force facility of UFO folklore.
Last year, Sielski added Arkansas, Missouri, Delaware and Connecticut to his tally, leaving only Alaska and Hawaii as Nos. 49 and 50. He finished the Anchorage Mayor's Marathon in June, then completed his nation-hopping circuit at the Honolulu Marathon in December.
On Feb. 12, he plans to run-walk one of his favorite races: the Publix Florida Marathon, which starts and ends near Front Street Park in downtown Melbourne.
"After that, I'll be going for the London (Marathon) in April. So I've got to keep up training — but I might slack off for the summer. I don't know: I haven't figured out what I'm doing the rest of the year," he said, laughing.
Mitch Varnes organizes the Publix Florida Marathon, Ron Jon Cocoa Beach Half Marathon and other Space Coast athletic events.
"Running a marathon is daunting for most people — and certainly a challenging accomplishment for most anyone. So to do one in every 50 states, especially completing at age 80, it's just remarkable," Varnes said.
"As for Bob, great guy. We're used to seeing him at our races. We're used to giving him an age-group award. And he's always a class act and a gentleman, and we're always happy to see him," he said.
Sielski serves as a Health First associate chaplain and secretary of the Propeller Club of Port Canaveral. He also donates platelets 20 times per year to OneBlood, which has credited him with donating 41 gallons of platelets since moving to the Space Coast.
He has a ruptured disc in his lower back, a ruptured disc in his neck, and he is undergoing physical therapy for an ailing foot tendon.
"Things happen. That's just part of running. Somebody in Honolulu was holding up a sign that said, 'Your physiotherapist drives a pretty nice car,' " Sielski said, laughing.
"It's an addiction. And I'm not going to give it up. I got a book there that says 'Keep Running Until You're 100.' And so I said, 'Why should I quit when I'm 100?' "
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: 50 marathons in 50 states: 80-year-old Florida man racks up races
