[4] On May 1, 1909, running "against a cold head wind", he finished over six minutes ahead of Alexander Thibeau to win the Missouri Athletic Club's All-Western Marathon in a time of 2:49:10.4.

[7] In March 1912, Erxleben was one of "twenty of the best distance runners in the middle west" scheduled to participate in a 20-mile indoor marathon at Riverview Rink in Chicago, Illinois.

[2] For the third time in four years, Erxleben again won the 25-mile Missouri Athletic Club marathon in St. Louis on May 4, 1912 to earn a spot on the United States Olympic Team.

[8][9][nb 1] According to The Washington Times, Erxleben was also selected by the United States Olympic Committee to represent the team in the 10,000 meters flat,[11] but there is no record in the official report of the 1912 games that he participated in the event.

[8][9] Late in the race, seven Americans ran in the top twelve positions, including Erxleben in ninth, resulting in one report to suggest that they may have acclimatized better to the heat than the Northern European competitors.