Martha Corazzini (ginger26.2)
Runner of the Month
August, 2006

"What? Are you crazy?"

Martha Corazzini, also known as "Ginger" on the Las Vegas Marathon Message Board, is used to hearing words like these. It's part of the deal when you've made running a major part of your life in the way Martha has.

A native New Englander, Martha moved to New York City and began running about fourteen years go. Like many runners, she started just to stay in shape. She'd join the thousands of others in Central Park on the weekends and soon, began training with the New York Road Runners. It wasn't long before she started racing and would become a "race junkie" with her third race being a 30K. She would soon participate in the New York runner's right of passage and complete the New York City Marathon, her first, in 1993.

Over the next few years Martha would run marathons across the country including Honolulu, Rock and Roll, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Each marathon started to become just the thing she would do between long training runs. That was until a friend pointed out that if she'd just increase the frequency of her marathons, she would be able to avoid the long training runs almost entirely. No long training runs? Just marathons with aid stations, fellow runners, a medal and a t-shirt? It all made sense: find more marathons. That's where Martha's "A Marathon a Month" streak began.

Naturally, running a marathon every month brought Martha from one state to the next where she would meet others with similar goals. Before long, she was checking states off the map without even trying. If she wasn't a 50 State Club member, she was sure acting like one. After spending some time denying the obvious, Martha finally made the decision to become an official member of the 50 State Club, with twenty states already under her belt. Her quest would see her running a 3:49 Boston qualifier in St. George, Utah, taking a wrong turn at the Mercedes Marathon forcing her to run an extra four miles and even sharing the course with the moose of Alaska at Humpy's Marathon.

Today, Martha lives, works ("virtually") and trains in Las Vegas with her boyfriend Z and two Shih-tzus, "Sunny" and "Buddy." This year alone, Martha has completed ten marathons: New Orleans, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, Charlottesville, Fargo, Vermont City, South Bend, Bangor and Rio de Janeiro. It gets better, though because Martha also has plans for seven more: Tupelo, Minneapolis, Rhode Island, Detroit, Outer Banks, North Carolina, Maryland and either Honolulu or Las Vegas- the two share a date this year and Martha's having a hard time deciding.

Martha will celebrate New Years this year in a way that very few can. Crossing the finish line at the Texas Marathon on January 1, 2007 will be a major milestone in her running career. Not only will she have completed a marathon in every state, she will also be completing her 100th marathon.

Martha doesn't want to call anything finished though, she wouldn't want to "jinx" it. Taking one race at a time has always been her strategy, and she doesn't want to get ahead of herself. Whether she likes it or not, though, Martha "Ginger" Corazzini is already so, so far ahead.

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