Randell Hansen grew up in Rockville Centre. He participated in track and field in seventh grade at South Side Middle School, but didn’t pick running back up until years later. He now lives in Sacramento, California and has found a strong running community. He ran the Tokyo marathon on March 2, completing the Abbott World Marathon Major series.
Q: What made you want to run the Tokyo marathon?
A: After I did a marathon in Eugene, Oregon on May 1, 2011, I was encouraged by how much time I changed off from my previous races by almost a half hour. And I decided, why don’t I try to do a map of all 50 states. Plus I love to travel, so it’s given me a chance and opportunity to visit more places that I have not been to.
When I finished doing my 50 states back in October of 2022, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I learned about the Abbott World Marathon Majors series, where it included six cities: Boston, Chicago, New York, Berlin, London and Tokyo. So as I was already halfway through that circuit from the US cities when I was doing the 50 states, I said why not?
I did Berlin in September 2023, I did London in April last year, and I finished it up here in Tokyo.
Q: What was it like racing in Tokyo?
A: It’s not just a fun event, but what’s always consistent is just all the crowd support, all the people cheering on. Whether they know you personally or not, just the fact that they’re your big cheerleaders. When they catch their eye, and they give you that emotional boost, it also helps with the physical boost as well.
Q: How does it feel to have this accomplishment under your belt?
A: It feels just great. It still feels so surreal. I did all this with marathon finish times in under three and a half hours.
And the fact that I’ve done this in all 50 states, and then done the Majors. I just can’t believe I’ve done it, that I’m part of this really small group of people that has accomplished it. I feel very good about it.
Q: Do you have any future goals for your marathons and for running in general?
A: There are some places in the U.S. whose courses I would not mind doing. In fact, I got to be acquainted with a second cousin of mine in Atlanta, and I would like to rerun the Atlanta marathon and have her cheering me on.
My wife and I, we still like to travel internationally. I would love to experience other cities’ races. As a matter of fact, they added Sydney, Australia to be a seventh city [in the Majors series]. So definitely a trip to Australia is in the works.
But I definitely want to stay active because physical health is also so important for mental health. I want to continue to exercise, mentally and physically, and to be fit and strong and cognitive all the time. I look at this as like an investment in my health in the long run.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who’s considering running a major marathon?
A: Take it one step at a time. Start with a 5k race first, and work your way up incrementally to like a 10k marathon and a full marathon. If you want to do a full marathon, I think it’s safe to give yourself at least a year of training just for the body to get acclimated to doing that type of distance.
I also definitely advise proper training, nutrition and conditioning, cross training at a gym. If a gym has trainers that will work with clients, like what I did here with California Family Fitness.
Another thing is join airline and hotel programs so you get the points to help cover any costs or events if you want to travel to other places.
Always have fun, have a good time. Take it all in, savor the moment.
AloJapan.com