Vegans powered by raw food complete year of daily marathons

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.

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

91-Year-Old Woman Breaks Marathon Record

by ALAN GREENBLATT

June 02, 2014 1:38 PM ET

Harriette Thompson meets the press at the finish line of the Suja Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon on Sunday

It took Harriette Thompson more than seven hours to run a marathon Sunday in San Diego. But that was awfully good, considering she's 91 and recovering from cancer.

In fact, she beat the previous record for women 90 and up by two hours and 45 minutes. She also became the second-oldest woman to complete a marathon in U.S. history, according to the running site Competitor.com.

She told the Charlotte Observer before the race that the only time she feels her age is after running a marathon.

"Lots of times, I see young girls coming in and limping, hardly able to move," she said, "and I think, 'Well, that's pretty good that I don't feel that bad.' "

Thompson finished Sunday's race in 7 hours, 7 minutes and 42 seconds. It was her 15th marathon in 16 years. She started running the San Diego race at age 76, missing only last year's because of oral cancer.

Thompson has been battling skin cancer recently. She told reporters she had undergone nine radiation treatments in 11 days, the last one coming just a month before the race. She wore bandages and tights to cover wounds left by the treatment.

Thompson runs every year to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Her brother died from lymphoma in February, Runner's World reports.

"Everybody in my family has died of cancer," Thompson told member station WFAE last week. "It's sort of in our genes."

Thompson is a onetime concert pianist. She says the discipline of playing has helped her running and that she sometimes keeps pace during a race by replaying pieces in her mind.

"I usually think of Chopin etudes, the ones that are technically difficult, because usually they're pretty fast, and it stimulates me to go a little faster, and also helps pass the time," she told WFAE.

Thompson runs, takes yoga and stretching classes and exercises on an elliptical machine. In her retirement community, according to the Observer, she's "one of very few residents who [move] at faster than a strolling pace."

She told reporters that if she's alive and able to compete, she'll run the San Diego marathon again next year.

"If I'm still here next year, I think I'll probably be able to train better and be in better shape," Thompson told the Observer. "If I'm able, I'll try again."

On Monday, she was heading back to Charlotte to spend her 67th wedding anniversary with her husband, Sydnor.

 http://n.pr/1ulkeCG