A runner for all continents: Austin's Pat Shea joins an exclusive world marathon club

When Austin runner Pat Shea crossed the finish line of the Blackmores Sydney Marathon in Australia on Sept. 18, he joined an exclusive club. He’s now one of only about an estimated 900 people who have run a marathon on every continent.

A high school miler in Albany, N.Y., in the 1990s, Shea later ran cross-country at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., a Division II school at the time, but didn’t really get serious about running again until 2013.

Always a goal setter, Shea started chasing personal bests, notching respectable times of 1 hour, 18 minutes, 26 seconds for the half-marathon and 34:20 for the 10K. But bigger goals beckoned.

More:Golden: Sam Ehlinger's promotion at Matt Ryan's expense signals changing of NFL guard

“I’d run in high school and college, but took a long running break,” said Shea, who's 47. “Then around 2013, I realized how much I missed running. I used to think I always had to set new personal bests, but the second time around, I realized there were plenty of other goals. That’s when I decided to run a marathon on each continent.”

Another Austin-area runner, retired Hays High School math teacher John Ferguson, also has accomplished the feat. He completed his seven-continent marathon quest in 2008. “Being able to see exotic destinations while running marathons was priceless,” he said. “It was a fun series of adventures.”

For Shea, a financial analyst for the University of Colorado who moved to Austin from Denver a year ago, it was a quest that began in June 2017 at the starting line of the Stockholm Marathon in Sweden. It was his first international marathon experience.

“For the first time, I felt that international flare,” Shea said. “What stood out most was the finish in the Stockholm Olympic stadium where the 1912 Olympic Games were held. I’d have to say that was the coolest finish of all my marathons. You could feel the history from 100 years ago. The roar of the crowd — being cheered by European fans. I learned that fans are fans no matter where you are in the world.”

After checking off Europe, Shea toed the starting line of the TCS New York Marathon five months later in November 2017, and it was special.

More:Player of the Week/Game Balls

“I ran 2:56:37 — my best time of the seven-continent journey,” Shea said. “I remember going through all the boroughs, each with its own personality. And the crowds in Central Park were epic, just crazy.”

Seven months later, in May 2018, he traveled to Asia to run the Singapore Sundown Marathon. Singapore was unusual for a number of reasons, he said, not the least of which is that it was the hottest marathon he's ever run. “Singapore is right along the equator and always hot,” he said.

The race also was run at 1 a.m. to mitigate rising temperatures.

“I thought it would be fun to run a marathon in the middle of the night, so I actually practiced running late at night in Denver where I was living at the time,” Shea said. “In Singapore, I went slow to deal with the heat.”

While each marathon has had its own highlights, Shea said that the Patagonia International Marathon, which he ran in September 2018, was the most beautiful one of all.

“Patagonia was just breathtaking, but it was a tough course. And it was super windy,” Shea said. Patagonia also was memorable for the biggest hill he has ever encountered in a marathon. It was 471 feet in elevation, he said, according to his Garmin.

“I actually finished fourth in that race," he said. "I’m very competitive and was running third late in the race, but I just had to stop and take some pictures because it was so beautiful. The course was extremely remote and they were so eco-friendly that you had to bring your own hand-held water bottle for the aid stations where volunteers would fill it with water or sports drinks.”

In September 2019, Shea ran the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon in South Africa. “It’s one of the most beautiful cities in the world,” he said. “You’ve got two oceans — the Atlantic and the Indian oceans, and beautiful scenery the entire course.” Though Shea didn’t sleep a wink the night before the race, he ran his fastest time of the international marathons, posting a 3:05:34.

He waited out the worst of the pandemic and resumed his marathon itinerary on Feb. 9 this year, running the Antarctica Marathon on King George Island. Antarctica proved to be especially challenging. For starters, there’s the journey to the continent. Shea traveled to Ushuaia in Argentina, where he then embarked on a two-day boat ride to get to the continent.

More:Penalties a problem for Texas, but Steve Sarkisian won't shift the blame to referees

Ushuaia, at the tip of South America, is often referred to as the “end of the world.” Travelers to Antarctica must cross the Drake passage, known to have some of the roughest seas on the globe.

Fortunately, Shea didn’t fall victim to the seasickness that plagued many of the other passengers and arrived on King George Island to find relatively mild conditions: clear and 37 degrees. The course, however, was another story. Melting snow had caused the dirt trails to turn to mud.

“It was super muddy and very slippery,” Shea said. “At one point the mud even sucked one of my shoes off, and I had to go back and get it. We had to run through cold streams and it was hilly as well.”

Despite the course challenges, Shea placed second in 4:09:43, behind the winning time of 3:58:07.

Last month, he flew to Australia to run the Blackmores Sydney Marathon for No. 7.

“It was pretty emotional finishing up,” he said. “I was completely exhausted by the final four miles, but there was nothing to stop me from completing the last continent. Waiting through those COVID years — five years of focus and work, all coming to an end. What I’ve learned from this journey is that when you set your mind to something and want it badly, there’s nothing that will get in the way or stop you.”

With the finish line in sight, Shea said he heard the crowd cheer his name — "Pat" was printed in bold on his race bib.

“I got choked up at that point,” he said. “That’s when I realized that we’re all human beings and we support one another, and there’s something special about that. That’s a really good feeling, that deep down, people care.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin runner Pat Shea joins exclusive seven-continent marathon club