KGUN 9NewsNational News

Actions

Runner completes marathon world record with a broken knee

Unidentified marathon racers running
Posted
and last updated

British runner Kate Jayden broke a world record for most consecutive days to run a marathon distance by a female by running 26.2 miles every day for 106 days. The Guinness Book of World Records confirmed the record on Tuesday.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Jayden discovered that she fractured her knee at some point during her journey. Jayden said the injury will require her to undergo surgery. She told BBC News that she may never run again.

She said she noticed the pain 46 days into her attempt. But she pushed through for another two months, completing her last marathon on April 15.

"It was such an incredible sense of pride that so many people had followed the journey to break the record and engaged so much with the causes that led me to take on the challenge, so the record being verified officially was just an amazing day," she told Guinness Book of World Records.

According to Guinness, she initially set out to run 100 marathons in 100 days, which would equal 2,620 miles. The distance roughly represents the distance between Aleppo, Syria, and the United Kingdom, which she said is a route often used by refugees.

Her goal was to raise money for refugees fleeing Syria, among other charities. She raised nearly $52,000 for charity.

"I believe in a world where people shouldn't have to make a choice between cleanliness or hunger no matter what their circumstances are," she wrote.

She accomplished the feat while juggling a full-time job.

"Knowing I'd need to continue for six hours after eight-nine hours of a work day was overwhelming at times, but discipline and commitment to the reasons I began, overtook when motivation waned," she told Guinness.