JOIN THE CLUB/Marathon Cruises

Run, Walk — or Waddle Fun is the only goal for these marathon cruisers.

By Clark Norton

Longtime Runner’s World columnist John Bingham, author of No Need for Speed and Running for Mortals, didn’t start running until he was 43. Until that time, he admits, he was a sedentary, overweight, smoker/drinker who could barely jog down his own driveway. Now, nearly two decades later, he’s in shape, trim, and well known in running circles as "The Penguin" — parlance for someone who runs for the sheer joy of it rather than to rake in fast times and blue ribbons.

If you share a love of running — or distance walking — for pleasure, and would relish the chance to complete the equivalent of a marathon while treading some of the most beautiful ground on earth, then Bingham has a theme cruise (or two) for you. Along with his wife, business partner, and sometime co-author Jenny Hadfield — a running coach and fitness expert — Bingham is the force behind two runners' cruises, dubbed the "Great Alaskan Marathon Cruise" and the "Caribbean Islands Marathon Cruise."

Over the past four years, Bingham and Hadfield have led three of the Alaska cruises, most recently in July 2010, and two of the Caribbean cruises, all on Holland America Line ships. Another Caribbean cruise is slated for February 2011, aboard Holland America’s Eurodam.

During the course of each cruise, the runners (or walkers, if they prefer that mode) pound out a total distance of about 26.2 miles — the length of a full marathon — spread over four Alaskan or Caribbean ports. While the routes are typically six or seven miles each, they range up to half-marathon size (13.1 miles). Most of the cruise marathoners are in their 40s and 50s, though it’s not unusual to see 30-year-olds striding alongside 70-year-olds. One repeat cruiser and dedicated power walker is 81.

To keep the field at manageable size, Bingham and Hadfield limit the number of sign-ups to 100 or so per voyage; after 115 people registered for the most recent Alaska cruise, they stopped taking reservations. "Our goal was never to have a thousand people and take over a whole ship," Bingham says.