Maria Chevalier on 48 Marathon States, Running Double Boston, and Doing Hard Things Anyway

Maria Chevalier has run a marathon in 48 states, finished the Boston Marathon 17 times, and a few weeks ago ran it twice in the same day, starting at 3 a.m. in reverse from Boston to Hopkinton, resting for a few hours, and then lining up with everyone else for the actual race. 52.4 miles total.

But the distance is almost beside the point. What makes this conversation worth listening to is how Maria thinks about hard things and why she keeps choosing them.

She's navigated four wrist reconstructions that ended her music career before it fully started. Nine DNFs at Vermont 100 before finally finishing on the tenth try. A medical history that took away choices she thought were hers to make. And through all of it, she kept finding a way to keep moving forward.

This conversation goes deep and is a must listen!

Topics covered:

• How running found Maria after she couldn't make the team in any other sport
• What drew her to the 50 States and why she's two away from finishing
• Why road marathons and trail ultras attract fundamentally different people
• The dashboard effect — why people share their most vulnerable things on long runs
• Her DNF at Vermont 100 at mile 65 and quietly finishing her first hundred in Boulder months later
• Nine DNFs at Vermont before finishing on attempt number ten
• Wrist reconstructions that ended her path to a music career
• Learning she couldn't have children and how she found her way through it
• Why she stopped listening to people telling her what she couldn't do
• What she told her surgeon in the pre-op room that says everything about who she is
• The Gap and the Gain — looking back at progress instead of forward at the gap
• How Double Boston came together with Mount to Coast and the Trail Animals Running Club
• What it felt like to start a marathon at 3 a.m. and feel fresh enough to run another one
• What's coming up: Vermont 100, Manchester Monadnock 55, and the final two states

This episode is supported by:

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Vacation Races - The Rocky Mountain Half and 5K in Estes Park, Colorado this August. Run both and earn the Elk Double. Use code FTLR when you register at vacationraces.com.