LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City man who recently completed his quest of running marathons in all 50 states before the age of 50 credits a pair of gloves "delivered from the heavens" with getting him through his first one.

Forty-nine-year-old Austin Braithwait, whose final stop was a June 22 race in Duluth, Minnesota, ran his first marathon in Kansas City, Missouri, during an ice storm.

When Mile 16 rolled around, his hands were "freezing" and Braithwait was ecstatic to spot what looked like a pair of gloves lying in the middle of the course. Braithwait, then 26, was convinced one of...