Donald Bierer

Donald Bierer

5
Flags
51
Countries
5
Continents

I ran my first marathon in 1991 at the Napa Valley Marathon when I was a post-doctoral student at UC Berkeley. I made many rookie mistakes during that first marathon: my longest run up to that point had been about 15 miles, and I went out and tried to run my 10K pace and hold it for as long as I could. Needless to say, I crashed badly at 35K and ended up injured. Although I had no intention of ever running another marathon again, I later realized my errors and ran my second marathon a year later in Portland, OR. After noticing that my first three marathons were in three different states by chance, I decided to set running the states as a goal, not knowing that there was actually a club of runners doing that. But in 2007 we had to move to Germany. I therefore decided to postpone my goal of finishing the states and I began to run countries and Summer Olympic sites in Europe, starting with Helsinki, followed by Amsterdam, Antwerp, Prague, Reykjavik, and Berlin in the first year. When I realized that I had already qualified for Marathon Maniacs, I joined in 2011 and have since achieved iridium status. I have been a member of Marathon Globetrotters since the beginning, signing up when the club was launched. In addition, I also belong to the 50 States + DC Club and the Country Club. My short-term running goals are to get to 50 countries, finish the Summer Olympic sites in Europe, and after completing my 100th marathon, join the 100 Marathon Deutschland Club. Then I want to go back and finish the US states.

Marathoning has become my lifetime hobby. Professionally I work as a research chemist at Bayer in Wuppertal, Germany. I am married and have one son living in the US. When I am not running, I enjoy taking care of our Bichon Frise.

5 Continents Completed: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America

51 Countries Completed:

  • Argentina Argentina
  • Armenia Armenia
  • Austria Austria
  • Azerbaijan Azerbaijan
  • Belarus Belarus
  • Belgium Belgium
  • China China
  • Cyprus Cyprus
  • Czech Republic Czech Republic
  • Denmark Denmark
  • El Salvador El Salvador
  • Estonia Estonia
  • Faroe Islands Faroe Islands
  • Finland Finland
  • France France
  • Georgia Georgia
  • Germany Germany
  • Gibraltar Gibraltar
  • Guernsey Guernsey
  • Holy See (Vatican City State) Holy See (Vatican City State)
  • Hungary Hungary
  • Iceland Iceland
  • Italy Italy
  • Kosovo Kosovo
  • Latvia Latvia
  • Liechtenstein Liechtenstein
  • Lithuania Lithuania
  • Luxembourg Luxembourg
  • Malta Malta
  • Moldova Moldova
  • Monaco Monaco
  • Montenegro Montenegro
  • Netherlands Netherlands
  • Nicaragua Nicaragua
  • Nigeria Nigeria
  • North Macedonia North Macedonia
  • Northern Ireland Northern Ireland
  • Norway Norway
  • Romania Romania
  • Russian Federation Russian Federation
  • San Marino San Marino
  • Scotland Scotland
  • Serbia Serbia
  • Slovakia Slovakia
  • Slovenia Slovenia
  • Spain Spain
  • Sweden Sweden
  • Turks and Caicos Islands Turks and Caicos Islands
  • Ukraine Ukraine
  • United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates
  • United States United States