A couple in their 60s set world record in Australia after running a marathon each day for 366 consecutive days
Janette Murray-Wakelin and Alan Murray rose at 4am each day and ran 366 consecutive marathons with no days off.
By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney
A couple in their 60s have finished running a marathon each day, every day, for the past year.
The pair ate up to 30 bananas each a day as they completed a trek of almost 10,000 miles around Australia.
The couple, both raw vegans from New Zealand, ended their journey with an extra marathon to their home in Melbourne at 5am on New Year's Day to set the world record."You don't stop doing something that works," she told Fairfax Media, adding she was not exhausted and could "run forever".
During the run, the pair skirted a cyclone, floods, a bushfire and a hail storm near Perth, during which they took a half-hour break and drank a vegetable smoothie before continuing through the heavy weather. Ms Wakelin-Murray missed the birth of her fifth grandchild, Marlo, in June, but was running in south Queensland when a motorcycle rider called out her name and revealed he was a cousin she had not seen in 45 years. He apparently said: "Good to see ya" before rushing off to work. The couple's standard day involved rising at 4am and eating 10 bananas, a grapefruit, and a date smoothie for breakfast, then another 10 bananas at 8am, a green smoothie at 9am, a fruit salad at the 19-mile mark, three oranges at the 23-mile mark, before finishing at 4pm and eating an avocado, vegetable juice and a salad for dinner.
"The first few weeks we were sore, breaking ourselves in," Mr Murray told ABC Radio. "After that it's actually become easier every day. I really don't think we've had any days when we didn't think we could make it. But we had a few longer days through extremes of heat. We had some 44 [C] degree [111F] days going up into Canberra." The run is understood to have beaten the world record set in 2011 by a Belgian, Stefaan Engels, who ran 365 marathons in a year. Ms Murray-Wakelin and Mr Murray were assisted by volunteers who helped with supplies and driving a support van. They used the run to raise money for charity.
During the run, the pair skirted a cyclone, floods, a bushfire and a hail storm near Perth, during which they took a half-hour break and drank a vegetable smoothie before continuing through the heavy weather. Ms Wakelin-Murray missed the birth of her fifth grandchild, Marlo, in June, but was running in south Queensland when a motorcycle rider called out her name and revealed he was a cousin she had not seen in 45 years. He apparently said: "Good to see ya" before rushing off to work. The couple's standard day involved rising at 4am and eating 10 bananas, a grapefruit, and a date smoothie for breakfast, then another 10 bananas at 8am, a green smoothie at 9am, a fruit salad at the 19-mile mark, three oranges at the 23-mile mark, before finishing at 4pm and eating an avocado, vegetable juice and a salad for dinner.
"The first few weeks we were sore, breaking ourselves in," Mr Murray told ABC Radio. "After that it's actually become easier every day. I really don't think we've had any days when we didn't think we could make it. But we had a few longer days through extremes of heat. We had some 44 [C] degree [111F] days going up into Canberra." The run is understood to have beaten the world record set in 2011 by a Belgian, Stefaan Engels, who ran 365 marathons in a year. Ms Murray-Wakelin and Mr Murray were assisted by volunteers who helped with supplies and driving a support van. They used the run to raise money for charity.
Janette Murray-Wakelin, 64, and Alan Murray, 68, rose at 4am each day and ran 366 consecutive marathons with no days off, covering almost 10,000 miles as they ran around the Australia mainland and the island state of Tasmania.
Ms Wakelin-Murray said she was looking forward to a day off and planned to sleep in, do some gardening and spend time with her grandchildren – but planned to run the following day.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10545857/Vegans-powered-by-raw-food-complete-year-of-daily-marathons.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10545857/Vegans-powered-by-raw-food-complete-year-of-daily-marathons.html
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