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Her motivation is fairly simple.

“I hate sitting around not doing anything,” said Mahoney, 25.

Always active

Mahoney has always been athletically active. She played golf as an undergraduate at York College of Pennsylvania and occasionally went for distance runs. But as the requirements for nursing school became more demanding, she craved an activity that was better at helping her find stress relief.

She started running.

In college, she ran her first half marathon without ever having run longer than 3 miles. “I’m just going to try it,” she told her mom. She finished in about 2-1/2 hours.

After Mahoney started her position at Duke about 3-1/2 years ago, she found that her work schedule was demanding but also flexible with three 12-hour shifts per week. She wanted to find something to fill up her days off.

She began running more consistently and ran a half marathon in Durham. Knowing how much Mahoney loves travel, too, her mom suggested finding road races in travel destinations. Suddenly, a lightbulb went off, and Mahoney had decided she could run a half marathon in every state.

“It’s a great way to travel and to see places that you probably wouldn't see,” said Eileen Miller, Mahoney’s aunt and godmother who has tagged along for two half marathons so far. “If I were younger, I wish I had thought of it myself.”

17 and counting

In April 2024, Mahoney had a weekend off and searched for cheap flights. When she found a $70 fare to Houston, she also found a half marathon and realized she could check Texas off the list.

“And then I found one in November, December and January, so I was like, ‘I might as well, keep going,” Mahoney said.

Virginia, Kansas, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Texas and Wyoming all were crossed off the list in 2024 – seven straight in seven months before taking a break during the summer heat.

Tennessee and Maryland came in fall 2024.

In all, she’s done 17 half marathons.

“I have like a couple of big ones planned for 2025 that are bigger races that you have to sign up for in advance, but I’m still planning on doing the ‘last minute, get on the plane and find a race,’ too,” Mahoney said.

That means Mahoney must constantly remain in half marathon-ready shape, which she does by averaging about 20 miles of running per week that features at least one longer run. She’s bettered her pace and now typically completes 13.1 miles in about 1 hour, 50 minutes – averaging about 8:30-minute miles.

She has plans for races in January, February and March of 2025, already. And she has her eye on a “” event in December that would knock off Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico in four consecutive days.

“She's very driven,” Miller said. “I have never seen her say she's going to do something and not do it, so I'm quite certain that she will get there.” 

The biggest obstacle now might be finding people who want to run with her.

Mahoney persuaded her boyfriend to run with her in Virginia. “He said he’ll never run again,” Mahoney said.

A college roommate’s fiancé ran with her in Kansas and Wyoming. Her brother trudged through those 13.1 miles in Nashville to celebrate their birthdays.

Lately, Mahoney’s friends have jokingly made a request.

“Please,” they tell her, “don’t come visit my state. I’m not running a race with you.”

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