Pam Piligan’s journey to completing marathons in all 50 U.S. states was itself a marathon, spanning two decades and countless hours of training, traveling and running.
All that work paid off when the Vienna resident crossed the finish line at the base of the majestic Teton Mountain Range in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Saturday, Sept. 28, allowing her to fill in one final state on her home map of Navy Federal Credit Union’s branches.
“This is a branch map, and every time I would do a state, I would color it off,” Piligan, the credit union’s chief marketing officer, said. “So, my celebration was going home and coloring in the last state and getting there, and it felt really nice.”
The first state to get colored in on Piligan’s map was Virginia, where she ran the Marine Corps Marathon for her 40th birthday. That race, which loops around the Potomac River from Arlington to D.C., was not only the first leg in her 50-state quest, but her first marathon ever.
Piligan says she didn’t seriously start running until she was required to pick a physical education class in college, but after graduating, she only managed to run sporadically. Then, with her birthday coming up, she decided to attempt a 26-miler, fully expecting it to be just a one-off challenge.
“I lived in Atlanta then and picked [the Marine Corps Marathon],” she recalled in an interview with FFXnow. “[I] said if you’re only going to do one, do one of the ones here in town that’s known for being really fabulous and a beautiful course and super-organized.”
After running about three marathons over the next decade, Piligan began pursuing the 50-state milestone in earnest approximately 10 years ago, aiming for at least four a year.
“You quickly do the math, and you’re not going to live long enough if you do one or two a year,” she said.
Planning was critical, since some states, like Wyoming, only have a few marathon options. Now 60, Piligan says she also took at least three weeks in between each marathon and tried to limit the time she took off from work to travel.
However, after a flight delay forced them to run a 6 a.m. marathon in Montana just three hours after landing, Piligan and her husband decided that it’s often worthwhile to just take a vacation day. That was more challenging for her husband, a teacher, but they still reached the 50-state milestone together.
Despite having almost 60 marathons under her belt, including one in the pouring rain in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Piligan admits feeling nervous in the lead-up to the Jackson Hole Marathon, a popular option for the final leg.
“I probably shouldn’t have been nervous that I could complete it, but it’s just like, ‘Don’t talk about it until it’s over,'” Piligan said. “And Jackson Hole was beautiful, but it was a 6,000-foot elevation.”
In addition to coloring in her Navy Federal branch map, Piligan plans to celebrate her accomplishment with yet more running. After tackling the Army Ten Miler in Arlington last weekend, she will return to the race that started it all for a victory lap: the Marine Corps Marathon, which is coming up on Oct. 27.
Aside from it being Piligan’s first, that marathon remains a favorite for the course, which winds around the National Mall in D.C., and her memory of running it with her younger brother in honor of their dad after he died.
Other highlights from her cross-country adventures include seeing the Badlands and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, and visiting Indianapolis for the first time outside of work trips.
“[I] just realized what a nice town that was, and clean and nice and green energy investments and stuff, so lots of happy surprises in lots of those places,” Piligan told FFXnow.
Piligan, who has worked at Navy Federal for seven years now, credits the company for supporting her marathon efforts and generally prioritizing employees’ physical and mental health.
The offices in Vienna — the credit union’s corporate headquarters — and in Pensacola, Florida — home of the largest campus — boast fitness centers, and workers get reimbursed for gym memberships. Navy Federal also sponsors various running events, including an annual charity 5K.
Now that she has joined the elite 50-state marathon club, Piligan hasn’t settled on any new goals yet, but she anticipates continuing to run, if only because she finds it helps her manage stress and process her thoughts.
“Maybe other people will be motivated to do it, and they realize that if a 60-year-old lady can do it, they probably too can accomplish it,” she said.
