FREEBURG -- Mark Sullivan certainly isn't your run of the mill marathon runner. Most runners, the Freeburg resident said, compete a couple of times a year, giving the body time to heal between the grueling 26.2 races.
Sullivan tried that. Wasn't really for him.
So when his wife wanted to try marathons as well, Sullivan added one in the spring and in the fall to his schedule. Then he just kept adding them, running about one a month in the fall. Before he knew it, Sullivan's total reached 150 and did so in historic fashion last week.
Sullivan, graphic illustrator and part-time running coach, reached the milestone last week when, on Nov. 20, he ran in the Philadelphia Marathon for the 18th consecutive year. He was honored by the city and mayor Michael Nutter as one of just two people to compete in all 18 Philadelphia Marathons to date, joining Bob Koen of New Jersey.
"I was a little surprised there were only two of us," the 49-year old Sullivan said. "They did a search at the 15-year mark and couldn't find anybody, but this year they made a real hard play for it and found us."
The Philadelphia Marathon is the sixth largest in the nation and had a record 27,000 participants this year. Sullivan finished in 2 hours, 47 minutes and 44 seconds, finishing 85th overall out of an international field and second in his division.
Sullivan has run marathons all across the United States but the Philadelphia event is one of his favorites, one of the reasons he returns each fall.
"We lived in Philadelphia growing up and we enjoy going back to the city," he said. "And the city does a really good job with the marathon. It's a really nice urban marathon. Logistically, it is better than others like New York and Boston because the spectators can see and they have vendors, it's just a great place for a marathon."
Sullivan runs between seven and 10 miles every day and now runs up to seven marathons a year and he doesn't run them just to finish, he runs them to compete. His average time for all 150 races is less than three hours.
"I don't run them just to get through them," he said. "Some people go out for the sake of finishing, but I want to maintain my average."
Sullivan has run the past 25 Boston Marathons and will be there again next spring along with some of his students. A part-time running coach, all of the runners he took to Philadelphia qualified for Boston and three of them won age-group titles.
The president of the Susquehanna Ridge Runners Club, Sullivan said he will take it easy for a month or so around the holidays, then gear back up in the spring to run at Boston in April and then in Ottawa the following month.
