Photo provided to the Times Observer With a 3:35 finish at the Carlsbad Marathon in California earlier this month, Jim Roberts became the 145th person to run a marathon in each of the 50 states with a finish time for each race under four hours.

Less than 1 percent of the American populace has run a marathon.

About 1,700 people have run a marathon — 26.2 miles — in each of the 50 states.

The number to run a marathon in each state with a finish time under four hours? Less than 150.

With a 3:35 finish at the Carlsbad Marathon in California earlier this month, Warren’s Jim Roberts became the 145th member of that elusive club. Roberts, 51, has been running marathons for decades. His first was at the age of 16.

What lit that fuse? The marathon sounded like “quite a challenge. I blindly thought I could just go and do it. It was quite a powerful experience.”

Photo provided to the Times Observer Jim met up with his wife, Lisa, who was running the half marathon, on the course during the Carlsbad Marathon earlier this month.

He continued to run marathons “here and there” before taking the better part of a decade off in the late ’90s and early 2000s.

He got back into the marathon game as part of a group of four. He, Brad Nelson, Marty Durnell and Chris Johnson, would pick a place to go run a marathon. The states started stacking up and the idea of running a marathon in each state started coming into view.

“It seemed like such an insurmountable goal,” he said. “I didn’t really know if I’d ever get there.”

For a long time, he wouldn’t even say out loud that it was goal. But it was something he was chipping away at. Eventually, he got to the point where he wanted to see just how far he could take this thing. That’s included 53 marathons in the last 11 years.

State No. 50 was in Hawaii three years ago. There were 10 states he’d have to revisit to join the “50sub4 club,” though.

Photo provided to the Times Observer With a 3:35 finish at the Carlsbad Marathon in California earlier this month, Jim Roberts became the 145th person to run a marathon in each of the 50 states with a finish time for each race under four hours.

It came together in 2022 after an outstanding 2021 that saw Roberts run within five to six minutes of his personal best that was set in 1995, the first time he qualified for the Boston Marathon. He ran nine marathons last year, the most he’s run in a single year.

“I wasn’t a good marathoner when I was younger,” he said. “I’ve always done better at the shorter stuff. Of course, now being older it’s just injury management and putting in the work.”

That work paid dividends earlier this month.

The course in California had a couple different turns that served almost as mental checkpoints. He realized, as each turn passed, that he still felt good.

“Nine miles is too early to think like this,” he said, but he still felt good at miles 15-16. “At 20, I was like, unless something catastrophic happens….” He knew he had time on the clock to be able to slow it down and still come in under four if it came to it. “It’s good to have that feeling.”

Decades of running have gone into this goal but Roberts said the emotions at the finish weren’t as powerful as he thought they might be.

“The journey is probably more important than the end point,” he said. “Knocking off each state is pretty powerful.” The effort for the 50th under four hours was complicated by a bout with COVID two months before and the stress of knowing that this was the last state. “At times during the race, (it was) very emotional. I was very excited.”

He said the three-and-a-half hours on the course thinking about joining the 50sub4 club was “probably more intense than the actual moment of finishing.”

This one was also special because he was able to see his wife, Lisa, on the course. She was running the half marathon.

“It was so cool to see her on the same course. I saw her three times,” he said. They even ran together for a bit. “That makes a big difference (having) someone that supports your goals.

“Lisa likes to travel as much as I do,” he said, “likes to run as much as I do.”

Roberts says it’s been weird to try to answer the logication question: What’s next?

He’s got fewer marathons on the calendar in 2022, such as the Berlin Marathon later this year.

Along with Boston, New York and Chicago, and London he’d like to run all the World Marathon Majors. Berlin is one of those. Tokyo will be challenging due to the pandemic.

The Paris Marathon is also “high on the list.”

“(I’ll) probably take other looks at what other friends are doing and join in for a race there,” he said. “There’s still things left to do. It can be whatever.”

The 50 state adventure gave him a new way to see the country.

“It’s cool looking back on all the stuff I’ve been able to do,” he said.

There’s something mystical about the challenge of the marathon. But running as a lifestyle brings much more practical benefits.

“I’ve always said running is my stress management and hopefully a key to longevity too. Really, movement makes people feel better whether they like it or not,” Roberts, a health and physical education professor at Edinboro, said.

And that’s the takeaway for people that might think a marathon is out of their reach.

“Find something that you really enjoy doing and then it doesn’t seem as crazy to do this,” he said. “I need to run the crazies off. To me, in a way even as I get older, there’s no better feeling than being in shape,” to “feel powerful in your own body, in your own skin. Some people probably don’t get to experience that or don’t get to experience it often.”

His marathon advice is that there’s “no substitute for putting in the work. You might think you have. If you haven’t, it will exploit you.”

But for people who might just be starting out with the sport?

“Start slow, stick with it, expect road bumps. Keep plugging away. Keep making progress. Certainly anybody can run a marathon, can finish a marathon, truly.”