Name the states, and Mandolia Jean-Batiste has been to all of them.
That is quite a feat for a lifetime.
Take it a step further — literally: Jean-Batiste has run a marathon or a half-marathon in each and every state. Plus she has run marathons in countries overseas.
Adding up only the half-marathons, which are 13.1 miles each, the 56-year-old Lafayette resident has run a minimum of 655 miles across the United States in the past decade or so. But remember, there were full marathons she completed within those years, and that figure does not account for the miles and miles of training she endured, nor the smaller or global races she entered.
It was in April of 2022 when Jean-Batiste, a native of Breaux Bridge, accomplished her 50-state monumental goal in Hawaii. The Maui marathon was not only a culmination of years of training and determination but was also a birthday celebration and a joyous occasion with family and friends.
She has a large medal to mark that momentous occasion — her 50th state, coincidentally run during the Maui marathon’s 50th anniversary.
Yet Jean-Batiste is the first to tell you that she was not the first local to run 50 half- or full- marathons in 50 states among her group of fellow runners, who together decided to join a Carencro health club in 2007. That was the year that they met the club’s new neighbor Terry Butts, an ex-marine who was opening a boot camp. He became their trainer and introduced them to the joy of running.
And life was never the same.
“It’s my therapy,” Jean-Batiste says about running. “It clears my head. It gives you a sense of doing something health-wise for yourself. That’s what I get out of it.”
Jean-Batiste, who is a senior account executive with Cumulus Media, has nothing bad to say about the sport.
“There’s nothing I dislike about it. I just love it,” she says.“Some people don’t like to run. I like to run.”
Her only regret was that she did not start earlier. But she has made up for lost time.
And not only has she found camaraderie with new and fellow runners, including Tori Guidry who was the first in their group to run in all of the states, but she is able to confirm that the “runner’s high” is definitely a reality.
In the beginning, Jean-Batiste and her friends were scared to enter even small races. Somewhere along the line, they decided to expand their horizon.
And according to Jean-Batiste, they found themselves asking one another: “Why don’t we start running a race in every state? Make it more fun and travel at the same time?”
They have never slowed since, especially Jean-Batiste who today has a new goal in sight: finishing the Abbott World Marathon Majors, known as the AbbottWMM, and considered the world’s top six marathons. It consists of completing marathons in Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York City and Tokyo.
On March 3, 2024, Jean-Batiste will be running in Tokyo. She completed Berlin in 2022 and London and Chicago this year. After Japan, she will have only Boston and New York left to achieve the global milestone. She is relying on family, friends and the community to help her raise funds to make it a realty.
For Jean-Batiste, there will always be challenges in life. But challenges are what make the difference and strengthen one’s fortitude.
She encourages others to consider running as well, but emphasizes they cannot be hard on themselves if they feel that they are not succeeding.
“You have to build up to where you’re comfortable,” she says. “Just pace yourself.”
According to Jean-Batiste, that means telling yourself: “‘I’m gonna try. Let me run 30 seconds, 15 seconds.’ You start where your comfort level is, not the next person’s.”
She considers herself proof that it can be done.
After all, there was a time when she and her friends were not sure if they could even run a 5K race, the equivalent to 3.2 miles. But 16 years ago when running entered their lives, the 2008 Festival International de Louisiane’s race was right around the corner, and the next thing they knew, they were training for it.
Afterwards, they actually entered their first race.
And completed it.
“It felt so good,” Jean-Batiste recalls. “We all felt good.”
Two years later, there was an opportunity to run a half-marathon.
“But everyone was scared to do it,” she says.
Yet they all knew, she says, they would have to step up their game.
And that they did. Half-marathons and full marathons became part of their journey in life.
Training or not, Jean-Batiste runs several miles on a daily basis. “You have to keep on pumping your own self. Just don’t give up, don’t give up. Start from the beginning. It’s [always] a new day.”
According to Jean-Batiste, the key is to enjoy running.
“I’m not a competitive person,” she says, “but I always challenge myself. I say: My race, my pace.”