Chau Smith has already run 70 marathons during her time as a jogger – so for her 70th birthday, she decided to do something extra special.

That’s why Chau ran 7 different marathons on all 7 continents in the time span of only 7 days in January.

The challenge, known as the Triple 7 Quest, took Chau to Perth, Australia; Singapore; Cairo; Amsterdam; Garden City, New York; Punta Arenas, Chile; and King George Island, Antarctica. Immediately after every marathon, Chau would jump on an airplane to the next destination, catch some sleep at the hotel, and start another marathon the next day.

Though the differing climates proved to be a struggle and Chau suffered from severe sunburn, she still completed the challenge.

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In the months preceding the marathons, Chau would use whatever time that she didn’t spend running her dry-cleaning business in Independence, Missouri to train.

“It took me eight months to really train,” Smith told CNN. “The last four months, I really put in long, long runs. Every week, I ran from 15 miles to 130 miles.”

Chau plans on attempting to run the Triple 8 Quest – the same series of marathons, but including the microcontinent Zealandia – with her running company Marathon Adventures.

(WATCH the video below)

 

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1 COMMENT

  1. I hate to be that guy, but King George Island isn’t part of Antarctica. It’s 120 km away from Antarctica. What she has done is impressive, but she’s done 6 continents and 1 island. (and the reason she “cheated” is because the only way to do a legit marathon on antarctica is to go to McMurdo and that’s not accessable by tourists)

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