The 55-year-old ran 15,444 kilometres (9,596 miles) over the course of a year.
Finally coming to a halt on the last day of 2024, Belgian ultrarunner Hilde Dosogne felt she had done what she needed to take the world record as the first woman to run a marathon every single day of the year.
Weary, but seemingly far from exhausted from the weight of relentless marathon running, Dosogne emerged from the cold, grey light to cross the line as a throng of fellow runners celebrated an extraordinary feat.
“I’m glad it’s over,” she said after crossing the line on Tuesday, leaving the last crash of many behind her when she collided with a spectator during her final run.
On top of the reward for her perseverance in running at least 15,444 kilometres (9,596 miles) in a single year, the 55-year-old also raised some 60,000 euros ($62,438) in funds for breast cancer research.
Now comes the filing of GPS data, photo and video evidence and independent witness reports she had to collect daily to meet the requirements of the Guinness World Records organisation. If approved, the record should be officially hers in about three months.
The 55-year-old would join Hugo Farias, the Brazilian who holds the male record of 366 days, which he achieved in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 28, 2023.
In the female category, Dosogne would be in a league all her own, since the current record by Erchana Murray-Bartlett of Australia stands at 150 days.
One thing is sure: she does not want her feat to become a shining example of healthy living – more one of personal persistence, as she had to fight off the flu, COVID-19, a dozen-plus crashes, blisters and even bursitis. Overall though, the brain took the toughest beating.
“The mental strain is harder than the physical. Of course, physically, everything has to be OK. Otherwise, you can’t run for four hours every day. But it was more mental to be there at the start-line every day,” she told the news agency The Associated Press.
Dosogne was able to do the majority of her marathons on a flat loop around a stretch of water, just outside the university town of Ghent, where a strong headwind could be her toughest competitor.
Even there, she said, she would not take any statistical risks and instead of the 42.195km (26.2 miles) a day, she made sure her run stood at 42.5km (26.4 miles) – just for safe measure.
Dosogne wishes she could have stretched her days the same way.
As a bio-engineer at a chemical firm, she started especially early so she could squeeze in a marathon every afternoon. And because she could not run at top speed every single day, she stuck to an easy 10km/h (6.2mph), which also allowed friends and witnesses to run along.
The only time when her daughter Lucie felt she might not make it was the day she crashed after 27km (16.7 miles), had to be taken to the emergency ward with a dislocated finger, and spent far too much time there to be allowed to finish the marathon by the regulation. The solution? “She started from scratch again,” said Lucie.
“It’s still a little bit crooked,” said Dosogne.
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