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“Every day the 1alarm goes off early. You get up, you go out, no matter what it’s like. You run for a couple hours.”

And this past January, the 54-year-old Harleysville resident reached a 2goal he set out to accomplish more than a decade ago: 50 3marathonsin all 50 states.

“Each medal took about four hours or a little less. But yeah, overall it was 15 years to earn the whole thing. So yeah, 4big deal.”

It’s a 5journey that has taken him quite 6literally across the country and just as each medal is different, so too is each experience. Crossing 7finish lines as the sun shines and as the leaves turn from the mountains of Montana to the desert of Arizona and across the Alaskan seas.

“Yeah, that’s actually been the, the neatest part about it, it’s just getting to see this country, all the states and a lot of them I’ve never been to. But yeah, there’s flat ones, there’s hilly ones, there’s 8high altitude, low altitude. I mean there’s a lot of different 9challenges.”

And two months ago he finished the Maui Oceanfront Marathon in Hawaii with his daughter by his side. State number 50.

“What was the feeling like when you crossed the finish line in Maui, knowing you completed your goal?”

“10Emotional, just thinking about now it’s kinda hard not to get 11choked up. But yeah, when you put that much work into something for 15 years and your whole family’s there and, you know, just to, just to think that I can’t believe I did it, you know.”

As for his next challenge, this summer, Keith plans on running clear across the state of Pennsylvania from Lake Erie to Penn’s Landing to raise 12funds and 13awareness for Destiny Rescue, a children’s charity.

“How long is that gonna take you?”

“I think I can do it in 30 days.”

“And how far is it?”

“460 miles.”

“And how do you train for something like that?”

“Just run a lot.”

Well, he’s got that part down for sure.