Updated: 15 minutes agoRunners pass by Westchester Lagoon during the 2024 Mayor’s Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday, June 22, 2024. “I don’t really consider myself a competitive runner at all,” she said. “I’m just a middle-aged mom who just gets out here and has fun.”
Linda Martinez, from Dallas, Texas, grabs a cup of water during the 2024 Mayor’s Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday, June 22, 2024. She ran Paris in 2022, and despite her assertion she is “doesn’t really go out with any sort of plan,” she has now completed marathons in 44 states and has done 69 in total, including a number of majors.
In the men’s race, winner Nate Wellington had a very similar approach, visiting friends in the state and running the marathon without great expectations.“I figured it’d be a great place to come run and the course was gorgeous,” he said. Runners pass by a flock of geese and goslings at Westchester Lagoon during the 2024 Mayor’s Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday, June 22, 2024.
“I was with him for a little bit and then felt a little hotter than I felt like going out,” Wellington said. “I could see him in the distance and figured I’d just kind of chip away and ended up catching up to him.”