Scott, Julia and Emma Wilson relax after finishing a half marathon in April in Maui, Hawaii.
Submitted photo
Scott Wilson was 35 when he tore his ACL and MCL playing basketball.
Julia Wilson was 35 when she started running.
So when Scott recovered from his injury, the husband-and-wife duo started doing triathlons. Some of those triathlons were half Ironman events, where the running portion is a 13.1-mile half marathon.
“She has always been running half marathons for years and years, and I was playing basketball a lot. But that’s a young man’s game. I had torn my ACL and MCL, and she got mad me because I was still playing basketball. I needed a competitive outlet, so we started doing triathlons. Then, we got into the longer triathlons.”
Scott, now 52, has done 10 half and two full Ironmans and was on a cycling team that did the Race Across America in 2012. Julia, 51, has done six half and one full Ironman.
Along the way, they competed in a few other half marathons in different states. They currently have completed at least a half marathon in 47 of the 50 states and plan to run the other three in 2025.
“I think it was her idea,” Scott said. “She’s the adventurist one, and she said, ‘Why don’t we do one of these in every state?’ At that point, we had already done probably 13 or 14 states, so we were like, ‘Heck, yeah.’ That gives us a reason to go to every state.”
Scott played basketball growing up in Greenwood. As a senior, he started running cross-country and track.
Julia played one year of soccer and softball at Mount Notre Dame in Cincinnati before having knee surgery. She then swam and played tennis.
“He was a runner in his youth,” Julia said. “I had never run in my youth. I didn’t even know I could run. I was probably in my mid-30s when I started running, and then it was just a 5K or even a mile, and eventually, I kept building and building.”
Their half marathon adventures are a mixture of road and trail courses. Although their races in 47 states have been mostly spread over the past 15 years, they hit the Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine trifecta on three consecutive days last summer.
Drew, Julia, Emma and Scott Wilson ran a half marathon June 29 in Glacier National Park in Montana.
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This summer, the Wilsons have hit Montana in late June and Minnesota and South Dakota in late July.
“People ask us that a lot, which ones stick out, and mine is probably the Boston Marathon, just because it’s the Boston Marathon,” Scott said. “Then, that night race in Zion (National Park in Utah) was incredible because you’re running at night with a headlamp, and you saw the sun come up. There have been so many cool ones, but those are the two that stand out to me.”
“It is really hard to pick a favorite,” Julia added. “I always think about the Bird In Hand in Amish area, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It was just gorgeous farm hills, and they started with hot air balloons, and Amish people manned all of the drink stops.”
They have plenty of memorable stories to tell from their trips, such as the one in Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada a few years back when Scott took a break less than a mile from the finish line.
“I kind of have a rule as I’ve gotten older and become less competitive — if anybody ever offers me a beer on the course, I’ll drink it,” Scott said. “I had three-quarters of a mile left. I had to climb out of a canyon that we were running in, and these ‘ol boys were on the side. They had a fire going, and they were drinking beer and I stopped, and I said, ‘Hey guys, is this the beer station?’ And they started laughing and said, ‘Hey, do you want a beer?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I do want a beer,’ so I walked over, and I had a Budweiser with them.
“We had a great talk, and they said, ‘Are you still in the race?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I just have about three-quarters of a mile left,’ and they were like, ‘We were trying to ask people what was going on, and nobody had even stopped to talk to us.’ I said, ‘I like beer more than I like winning.’ I said, ‘Gentlemen, that’s the best Budweiser I ever had in a race,’ and they were laughing. They said, ‘Do you want another one?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I think I do want another one,’ so I had a second one.
“Then they said, ‘Who are you here with?’ and I said my wife Julia, and they said, ‘Well, what does she look like?’ and I said, ‘She’s wearing a pink tank top and a white visor,’ and they said, ‘Well we’re going to look for her, and we’re going to cheer for her.’ So I finish, and I’m up there waiting for her, and Julia finishes and I’m telling her the story, and she said, ‘All these guys came by on motorcycles, and they were yelling my name.’ That was a fun one.”
Scott, Emma and Julia Wilson relax after finishing a half marathon in Rhode Island.
Submitted photo
Scott, who ran a personal record 1 hour, 24 minutes in his late 30s, usually runs between 1:37-to-1:42 for the road half marathons. Julia’s PR is 2:00:57.
“We have had quite a few where we’ve ended the race in our campground,” Julia said. “Those are great because it might be a point-to-point where you take a bus to the start. We just did one in Glacier National Park (in Montana) where it actually ended in our Lodge.”
While Scott is often one of the faster competitors in their races, Julia runs at her own pace, often with their daughter Emma.
“We always start together, get a little selfie by the start line and then my mom, and I will do the beginning part together and then one of us will drop off.” Emma said. “But we can’t keep up with my dad. He’s a speed demon. But the most fun part for me is, every single time we race, I know that at the finish line, my dad is going to be there waiting for me. That’s kind of a cool thing.”
Emma, a former soccer player and diver at Columbus North and a Butler graduate, has done 43 of the half marathons with her parents.
“I was like, ‘I’m done with soccer. What am I going to do next?’ and my parents started running half marathons, so they kind of inspired me,” Emma said. “Then, they decided that they wanted to do at least a half marathon in all 50 states, and I thought that was really cool and I was ready for my next journey, my next adventure, so I kind of joined in with them.”
Scott and Julia’s middle child, son Drew, has done eight of the half marathons. Their youngest son Max, who is a senior at Purdue, plans to do his first one with the family next summer in Alaska.
“Drew runs the ones that he says are the cool locations,” Scott said. “Then Max is going to run his first one when we do our 50th, and his goal is to beat me. So he has a big plan and is going to be training.”
Julia, Scott and Emma Wilson get ready to begin a half marathon in April in Maui, Hawaii.
Submitted photo
Scott credited Julia with doing all of the planning for their trips.
“She does hours and hours of prep work, and a lot of times, Emma and I will be like, ‘Where are we going Friday?’ and she tells us the itinerary,” Scott said. “Emma and I will have to say, ‘Is it a trail half marathon, or is it a road one?’ She just plans it all. She’s awesome.”
Emma hopes to catch up to her parents by doing half marathons in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois and Nebraska. Emma, Scott and Julia plan to conquer Idaho and New Mexico next year before completing their journey in Alaska.
“They’ve remembered it for half their lives, us trying to do these 50 states, and I think they’re all really excited about going to Alaska next summer and celebrating it,” Scott said.
