Other Voices

Mike Moak of Guilderland Center describes himself as competitive. He says his high school wrestling coach at Voorheesville, the late Dick Leach, inspired that in him. Last month, Moak reached his goal of running a marathon in every state. But it wasn’t enough for him to just complete those marathons; he had to do it in under four hours. Moak is one of only 126 runners — members of the 50sub4 Club — to do so; and he is the second oldest. Moak is 63 and started his quest 15 years ago. A pilot, Moak has traveled with his wife, Heidi, to the various marathons across the United States where they also take in the local sights and eat pasta at Italian restaurants before each race. Moak finished his final marathon on Oct. 12 in Hartford, Connecticut where his extended family — surprising him in matching blue T-shirts that said “Team Smoke” — cheered him on at the finish line. In this week’s podcast, Moak says he was racing Father Time to finish the 50 marathons before he was too old. But he’s not done yet. His next challenge will be to run a marathon on each continent, where he anticipates tigers in Africa and glaciers in Antarctica.