‘I can’t believe it’s done.’ Meridian woman runs way into elite half-marathon club
Nate and Tera Gibb had been married about a month when Tera came to her husband with an unexpected idea.
She wanted them to sign up for the St. George marathon in Utah.
The only problem? Neither had ever run a marathon — or even a half-marathon.
“After crossing that finish line, I was like, ‘I’m hooked,’” Tera said. “My husband was like, ‘I’m good. All I need is one.’”
While Nate may not have caught the running bug, that marathon in Utah started Tera on an incredible path that culminated last month at the Revel Mt. Charleston half-marathon in Las Vegas.
It was the last 13.1-mile run the 43-year-old Meridian resident needed to complete her trek of finishing a half-marathon in all 50 states as part of the 50 States Half Marathon Club.
“I just really loved the journey. I can’t believe it’s done,” Tera Gibb said. “Everyone says, ‘You should be so proud.’ But it’s funny, because while you’re in the goal and doing it, you don’t think too much about it — like, ‘Wow, this is so cool.’ You’re just doing it.
“So when you tell people about it and you see their excitement, it relights that in you.”
HOW IT STARTED
Tera grew up in Oregon. Her father was a wrestling coach and both of her brothers had standout high school careers.
“I just always saw them working out so much and so hard,” Tera said. “I was like, ‘Man, I want to work hard. I want to do something cool.’”
So Tera started running every day on her own as a senior in high school. It became a healthy habit, but nothing she ever did in a formal setting until the St. George marathon in 2004.
And she just kept on running, competing in St. Louis, Missouri, and then Kansas, and then Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland.
By the time the Gibbs family moved to Idaho in 2017, Tera had learned about the 50 States Half Marathon Club and decided to set a lofty goal.
THE GRIND
With three young children at home, Tera had to get creative. Some days she’d work out on her treadmill, but getting outside was always a priority.
“It was never lost to me how difficult a challenge this is,” Nate said. “I mean, I’ve seen this woman do 21 miles on a treadmill. Can you believe that? I’ve seen her run 37 laps on a track to try and do this goal. I’ve seen her take the kids and put them in the center of a football field and run countless laps while she was keeping an eye on them. She’s made countless sacrifices.”
As the miles and the states racked up, Tera never relented.
Her family became invested, too, wanting to support her journey. Tera let each of her children pick a half-marathon they would run together as a special trip.
Tanner, 18, chose Alaska. Jocelyn, 16, ran with her in Maine. And Emi, 12, was by Tera’s side in West Virginia.
“I feel like I’ve converted quite a few people to run,” Tera said. “I’ve just had different friends do their first half (marathon). I don’t know if they loved it as much as I did, but they were proud and happy that they did it. To me, that was rewarding that they had fun and enjoyed it. So that’s been kind of fun converting people to my passion.”
AN UNEXPECTED HURDLE
In January 2024, Tera fainted at home and couldn’t stand on her own.
Nate rushed her to the hospital, where doctors ran countless tests and determined that Tera had autoimmune myopathy, a condition in which the immune system attacks muscles, causing inflammation, weakness and fatigue.
When she was discharged from the hospital, they tried to give her a walker.
“I’m not bringing that,” Tera recalls telling hospital staff.
With the help of monthly B12 injections and five months of physical therapy, Tera began to regain her strength. Before she fell ill, she had signed up to run a half-marathon in Fargo, North Dakota, that June.
There was no way she was missing it. The Fargo race was set to be her 39th state.
“I had to walk-jog,” Tera said. “I would never walk in my races, but I had to walk-jog for probably a year with races.”
Nate, an internal medicine doctor, ran the Fargo race alongside his wife as a precaution.
“She came home (from the hospital) with determination to do every little thing that the physical therapist told her to get those muscles loosened up again and to get well,” Nate said. “She took it to heart, and we ran the Fargo half-marathon together.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
It took Tera less than a decade to cross off a half-marathon in all 50 states, sometimes running as many as 10 races in a year.
She kept a racing journal throughout that time, documenting everything from course conditions to the best places to eat. She’s thinking about turning the experience into a book.
“I couldn’t have accomplished this goal without God’s hand in my life and the support of my family and friends, especially my very supportive husband and kids,” Tera said. “I’m so thankful for the amazing people in my life.”
And running was also the impetus for her small business — GCrew Running and Boutique — which features apparel, headbands, medal holders, beanies and more.
There’s no telling where running will take her next.
“They also have a 100 half-marathon club,” Tera said. “So I might just keep plugging away, just keep going.”
