Annette Fredskov is all smiles as she crosses the finish line of her second marathon yesterday (Photo: annettefredskov.dk)
I am a worm. I am not worthy. I am worthless and weak.
We all have things we want to accomplish. We all have ambitions and dreams. We all have those "Someday..." moments. But how often do we accomplish them? We all have things that hold us back. Those things that make us say "If I only didn't have this, I'd be able to do this other thing I've always wanted". We all have our excuses.
Not anymore.
A Danish woman named Annette Fredskov has run 366 marathons in 365 days.
Let me repeat: She has run 26.2 miles a day for 365 days straight.
Oh, and did I mention that she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis?
On Sunday, Fredskov completed a full year in which she ran a marathon every single day. That's 42.195 kilometres every single day, regardless of weather or exhausted legs. And on the final day, she upped the ante and ran two. With the 84km Fredskov ran yesterday in ten hours and 44 minutes, she notched well over 15,000km as she completed 366 marathons in 365 days. She went through 20 pairs of running shoes during the year.
Three years ago, she was diagnosed with MS. Today,
as she writes on her website, she has no symptoms and is completely off medication. At first, like many people, she thought that marathons are damaging to the body and that it takes a long time to recover. Now? "Marathons are the best things that have happened for my body and soul."
Now, according to her website, she started running marathons in 2010. So she was no stranger to the sport when she began this attempt. But that takes nothing away from her accomplishment.
All her marathons were registered. Even if the registered them herself. And she always had at least three registered runners with her. On the last day, she decided she was going to do a DOUBLE marathon. That's right--two marathons in one day, kind of as a "I've done it" gesture.
Now surely that must be some kind of record, you say. Well, according to Guinness World Records, the record for the most marathons run on consecutive days by a female is 13, and the most marathons run in a calendar year by a female is 120. If Fredskov's record is made official, she'll have crushed both. But, she says that there are many requirements for getting into the Guinness Book, so she is not registering for it for now.
But you know, the true mark is not just her accomplishment. It's what she did the next day and will be doing now that this is done. According to her Twitter feed, she went for a run the day after completing the 366th marathon -- and plans to run in the World Half Marathon in 2014.
Now, she was asked the same question I was asked, when at 350+ pounds I decided to start running triathlons: WHY??
I will let her answer silence the critics and the skeptics and the naysayers.
Humans can achieve much more than we think. To run a marathon every day for an entire year – most people don’t believe that’s possible. I think it is and that, for the most part, it will be fun. We are the ones who set the limits for our body and spirit. I would like to play a part in breaking these limits. I would like to play a role in finding out how the body and spirit respond to such a challenge. I am curious what will happen.
I would also like to provide evidence that, even with a diagnosis (Multiple Sclerosis in my case), people shouldn’t be held back from living life to its fullest and fulfilling ones dreams.
It is my hope that I can inspire people to live out their dreams.
So now, as I get ready for my second triathlon in two weeks, as I sit here pissing my doctor off by cheating on my diet plan, I read this and I'm like, well you've seen what I wrote at the top of the diary. I am the King of Excuses. I am the Lord of Procrastination. I am the Duke of Lazy.
And now I am lower than the lowest paramecium. Here I am, generally happy with what I've accomplished (but always with my guilt and perfection issues), and now I read this.
Well, shit.
Now I have no more excuses.
What's YOUR excuse?
And now some "gettin' off your butt and doing it" music: