Montgomery 11-year-old becomes youngest to run half marathons in all 50 states
Aiden Jaquez, a sixth grader at Thompson, breaks record in Des Moines
Aiden Jaquez spreads all his medals on the table in front of him.
Medals of many shapes, colors and sizes.
Every one of them holds a story.
Some are more unique than others. There is the red medal in the shape of a leaf. Another, gray and simple with green lettering, is homemade. His favorite is one of two dolphins from Sarasota, Florida, his first race.
They all add up to one amazing achievement.
On Oct. 20, Jaquez, an 11-year-old from Montgomery and a sixth grader at Thompson Middle School, became the youngest person to run a half marathon in every state.
With about 200 people there to cheer him on – including his mom, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great-grandparent and friends from the 50 States Half Marathon Club – Jaquez completed the IMT Des Moines half marathon in Des Moines, Iowa.
"I felt happy that I set a world record and I did it," Jaquez said. "I was super excited for my finish. It was great. I was cold, but it was a beautiful course."
It's a long time coming.
Jaquez's grandmother, Montgomery resident Kathleen Taylor, always took him in strollers while she ran her races. Now she runs all the races with him.
At 2 years old Jaquez ran his first race. He did his first 5K when he was 4, his first 10K when he was 5 and first half marathon when he was 6, in Sarasota.
Taylor said Jaquez has been fascinated by the Guinness Book of World Records since he was 3, and wanted to find ways to get in. The previous record-holder for half marathons in all 50 states was Syrafina Mohammed, who completed her 50th half marathon in 2016 at age 12.
"The average kid doesn't want to break a record. We've been buying him those Guinness books since he was 3," Taylor said. "He's never wanted to quit. It took four and a half years to get the half marathon record and never once did he want to stop."
At first, Jaquez only wanted to run half-marathons in all 50 states. But that goal changed when he learned he could break the record.
He's now run 55 half marathons – two in Illinois, two in Texas, two in Florida – and one in Iceland. "He asked if he could go to Iceland and I said 'why Iceland,'" Taylor said, "and he said 'because I want to save the puffins [birds].'"
He's had his share of experiences along the trails.
In Rolla, Missouri, Jaquez started a race in 68-degree weather, and took his sweatshirt off. By the time he finished, it was 39 degrees and raining.
In Oregon, the first half-mile of a race was across the Bridge of the Gods, a 1,858-foot-long cantilever bridge suspended 100 feet in the air.
"I ran as fast as I could across that bridge," Jaquez said.
He's seen the Rocky Mountains in his adventures, and the Smoky Mountains, and this year Niagara Falls. In Utah, the first 12 miles of the course was straight downhill.
"That hurt," Jaquez said. "I had pain in my thighs for weeks."
Baseball, his first love, figures into scheduling his races.
Jaquez, who plays second base and shortstop for the Oswego Panthers, is in his fourth year of travel baseball. Practice starts in January, and he has tournaments in April through July. Jaquez did 17 half-marathons this year, three of them in August and three in September. Earlier this year, he played in a baseball tournament in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, then flew to Wyoming for a race.
Jaquez set his personal record of 2 hours, 9 minutes at a race in upstate New York on Labor Day weekend. But his runs are mostly about having fun.
His favorite thing to do is pet dogs along the way. In Des Moines, he jumped in a puddle to win a bet with his uncle Teddy.
In Des Moines, Jaquez's mom did decorations, and 50 States Half Marathon Club members made 20 signs to put on the course the night before.
"I think as things got closer we appreciated it more," Taylor said. "He's had fun. This is something that he's wanted to do."
Jaquez will keep doing local races, but he's probably done for now trying to break records. He has a different sport in mind for next year.
"Football," he said. "I've been wanting to do football since I was 7, but I didn't have the time because I ran."