My 100th Marathon — Lubbock, Texas (Mayor’s Marathon)
🏁 The Milestone
My 100th marathon happened in Lubbock, Texas.
It wasn’t planned.
It wasn’t hyped.
It wasn’t even on my radar as a milestone race.
But it ended up being one of the most memorable finishes I’ve ever had.
📊 By the Numbers
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Race: Mayor’s Marathon
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Date: April 24, 2022
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Finish Time: 4:39:37
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Bib: #22
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Overall: 41 of 62
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Sex Place: 32 of 47
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Age Place: 3 of 4
Only 62 runners showed up that morning.
And that’s exactly why this race mattered.
🏃 Small Race, Big Moments
At big marathons, you’re a number in a sea of people.
At Lubbock, you actually meet people.
You talk while you run.
You hear stories.
You remember faces.
One runner in particular stuck with me.
At the finish, I noticed a guy wearing a shirt that said:
“From Meth to Marathon.”
I walked up, shook his hand, and congratulated him.
It was his first race.
This was my 100th.
I told him something I genuinely believe:
“Your accomplishment today is bigger than mine.”
He had traded one addiction for another —
and this one saved his life.
He looked at me and said:
“Running saved my life.”
His family was there — emotional, proud, hugging him at the finish.
That’s not something you get at a massive race.
That only happens when the field is small —
and the stories are big.
(If you watch the video embedded in this listing, you’ll see their banner near the end that reads “From Meth to Marathon,” along with a scripture verse. You can’t make this stuff up.)
👟 Running Together
Becky and I ran this race together, like we usually did.
This was her 93rd marathon.
We were still deep in COVID-era racing in 2022, but that year ended up being big for us.
We ran 10 marathons in 2022 alone.
Before Lubbock, we had already run:
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Phoenix
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Mesa
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Oakland (a wild one in its own right)
Lubbock was our fourth marathon of the year —
and somehow, without planning it, it became my 100th.
Our finish times were the same, because we crossed together.
🚗 Why Lubbock?
We drove from Rio Rancho, New Mexico — about 325 miles, roughly 5½ hours.
Would we ever say:
“Hey, let’s just drive to Lubbock for the weekend?”
Probably not.
But that’s one of the best parts about running marathons.
You end up in places you’d never visit otherwise.
The race website described it as:
“A near-perfect loop with a scenic tour of the whole city.”
And it was.
You run:
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through Texas Tech’s campus
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past an old military base
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through downtown Lubbock
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across neighborhoods you’d never see from a car
And you eat great Texas BBQ afterward —
because when you run marathons for fun, you don’t count calories.
🎽 The Hat, The Shirt, The Story
I still wear the Lubbock marathon hat on training runs.
One day in downtown Albuquerque, I was wearing the race shirt when a guy walking by said:
“Man… you’re not buying that shirt anywhere.”
He was right.
You earn those shirts.
I didn’t tell him I’d run 100 marathons.
I didn’t need to.
The shirt already told the story.
🏝️ Why This Story Lives on Runner Freak
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