Amy Neugebauer of Beach Lake has run 108 marathons, including the world’s six majors twice: Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City. (COURTESY OF AMY NEUGEBAUER)
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Amy Neugebauer of Beach Lake has run 108 marathons, including the world’s six majors twice: Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City. (COURTESY OF AMY NEUGEBAUER)
Amy Neugebauer didn’t have an athletic background growing up. She didn’t start running until her mid-30s when her aunt and uncle, Renee and Dennis Buckingham, got her into it.
“I started dabbling with local 5Ks and before I got into marathoning, nine miles was my longest distance running with my aunt,” Neugebauer said. “For whatever reason, she thought I would be able to run a marathon.”
Aunt Renee convinced Neugebauer to run the Steamtown Marathon in 2009. She finished in 4 hours, 21 minutes, 30 seconds.
“I did one 15-mile run prior to going to the start line,” Neugebauer said. “I had it in my head if I had to walk, crawl, roll — however I had to get across the finish line — I was going to do it. And I did it. I went slow and steady.
“I fell in love with it and never stopped.”
Indeed, she has kept going. The 53-year-old from Beach Lake, who is a counselor at Honesdale High School, is running in Sunday’s 29th Steamtown Marathon. It is her 109th marathon. According to race officials, she is one of 13 entrants in this year’s race who competed in 100 or more marathons.
She reached the milestone in January at the Bermuda Marathon. She also completed each of the six world major marathons twice: London, Tokyo, Berlin, Boston, Chicago and New York City. She plans to run the New York City Marathon on Nov. 1 for Team Allied Services.
“I try not to think about that, how much money I’ve spent on travel and running shoes,” Neugebauer said.
“I just love the challenge of it. It’s very social for me and you feel accomplished. I’m friendly with a gentleman I met in London who lives in Hawaii. Another friend of mine lives in Wisconsin that I regularly keep in touch with. I just love the social aspect of it and that runner’s high that you get.”
Neugebauer is part of a running group in the Honesdale area that calls itself “Sunday Runday.” Many of them accompanied Neugebauer to Bermuda for her 100th marathon.
In fact, she helped seven of them prepare for Steamtown, which is their first marathon: Chris Novoa, Katie Rossini, Nick Marano, Erica Verola and Brittany Kimble from Honesdale; Diane Loughlin from Pleasant Mount; and Cassie Daniels from Tafton.
“We have a chat group and we kind of text where we’re meeting and miles that we’re doing,” said Neugebauer, who is a Road Runners Club of America coach as well as a Level 2 CrossFit coach. “People jump in for all different distances.”
Although she has run marathons all over the world, Steamtown will always be near and dear to her heart. Not only was it her first marathon but also her 50th. She ran her PR at Steamtown in 2011 in 3:28:26.
“The people along the course and it’s close enough to home that you can have friends and family come to it,” Neugebauer said. “I just like the course. I like point-to-point courses. The downhill in the beginning. Cooper’s Hill feels like Mount Everest at the end, but you know you’re so close when you get to the top that the end is near.”
Never could Neugebauer have imagined that she would become so involved in running marathons. How has she been able to do it? Besides the support from her husband Greg, who she calls her biggest cheerleader, she considers herself lucky to remain healthy.
“I was nonathletic in high school. I didn’t know I would fall in love with it. But I did,” Neugebauer said. “Fortunately, knock on wood, everybody always asks me what my secret is. I haven’t really had any injuries as many as I run a year. I recover quickly. I haven’t had any injuries that I’ve had to work through.”
Sunday’s Steamtown Marathon gets the starter’s cannon at 8 a.m. at Forest City High School. It makes its way through the Upvalley and Midvalley and concludes at Courthouse Square in downtown Scranton.
Here is a list of runners entered in the 29th Steamtown Marathon who have run 100 or more marathons: 306 Joe Guilyard, Pennsylvania. 250 Debbie Vitanza, Bristol, Tenn. 226 Myron Sidloski, Dallas. 208 Ed Ferrell, Aledo, Texas. 150 Dan Reeves, Clermont, Fla. 145 Jennifer Toti, Norwich, N.Y. 144 Gary Thompson, Lockport, N.Y. 130 Sadie Smith, Kirkwood, Mo. 121 Adrian Fedorco, Wheeling, W. Va. 119 Anthony Cerminaro, Jermyn. 111 Jim Crist, Allison Park. 108 Amy Neugebauer, Beach Lake. 105 Stephanie Danahy, Winchester, Va.