Yukoner Keith Thaxter is busy this month; he just ran the Saint George Marathon and is in Chicago awaiting the city's marathon this weekend.

The Saint George Marathon, in Saint George, Utah (a couple hours from Las Vegas), is a standard length at 26.2 miles, but Thaxter, who is a bit of a veteran when it comes to marathons was a bit stiff and sore after running because a significant portion of the course is downhill.

"It's very demanding,” Thaxter said. "I was more sore after this than I was after 72 (kilometres) after the road relay.”

The slope helps racers speed up a bit, Thaxter says as it requires less physical strength to push faster but the result can be sore muscles at the end of the day.

Despite that, Thaxter enjoyed the run.

"It's a great little marathon,” he said.

Thaxter came in at exactly three hours, not a second more. He had hoped to come in a bit sooner.

"I wanted to run one second faster,” he said. "(But) for me it was still a personal best.”

Thaxter says he ran the first half in about one hour 35 minutes and the second in one hour 25 minutes.

The marathon had 7,000 runners and is constantly becoming more popular. This year a lottery was held between 10,000 runners to chose who would get to start.

Thaxter calls the course a "destination marathon,” that would be good for anyone thinking of beginning their marathon running careers.

"It's right in the sort of heart of the Red Rock mountains so it's very scenic,” he said.

Thaxter even offers up his advice and experience to any racers wanting to start on the path of marathon running.

He has experience travelling to different races across North America, and knows inexpensive places to stay and other travel secrets key to marathon runners.

Travelling around the United States is part of his greater goal, a lofty one – to run a marathon in every U.S. state.

With his run in Utah and his upcoming race in Chicago, he is crossing two more off his list.

His biggest challenge isn't getting to each state, its trying to stay away from ones he loves, like California.

"It's easy to go and re-run some of the ones in California,” he said. The runner has friends in the state and loves a few of the many races put on there each year.

So far, Thaxter has competed in 56 marathons overall, and is about halfway through his goal.

"I think I'm at 24 states after Chicago,” he said.

Thaxter says that travelling can be lengthy to some of the more obscure states such as Rhode Island, where his itinerary may include several flights and a drive to get to races, but he's enjoying the journey and scenery.

"There's so many nice places to visit,” Thaxter said.

While on his two marathon trip through the U.S. Thaxter has brought his work with him instead of having to coming home in between.

When he isn't catching up on work he's doing practice runs in Chicago, preparing for the race and taking a chance to see the windy city.

The Chicago Marathon that takes place this weekend will welcome 45,000 runners and is one of the world's major marathon events.

Thaxter isn't the only Yukoner participating in running events this weekend.

About 22 runners are in Victoria, B.C. to run either the half or full marathon at the 30th Annual Royal Victoria Marathon, including Rodney Hulstein. Hulstein was the fastest runner of leg four of the Klondike Road Relay last month.

For more information on the Victoria Marathon, and to track the Yukon's results, go to www.royalvictoriamarathon.com