The pursuit of the world record for most marathons in a year took Belgian runner Stefaan Engels all the way across the world. He ran in seven different countries and covered nearly 9,569 miles (all on foot) in the process. Finally, the journey is over. Stefaan Engels ran 365 marathons in 365 days. Not bad for a man with asthma who was told not to run as a child!
“I recover quickly. I don’t run fast and my heartbeat is slow, below 100 if I run 10 kilometres, but it is more a mental story. The problem was thinking about running a marathon every day. I just told myself to run that day and did not think about the next day or next week,” said Engels of his unusual mental strength. “There were a lot of moments when I thought ‘today, I won’t finish’. It is time for other things. It is time to give my body a rest.”
Engels, dubbed Marathon Man, already had a world record for exercise and endurance before he started his marathon of marathons. In 2007-08, Engels competed in 20 Iron Man triathlons, setting a record for the most Iron Mans in a year’s time. The old record for marathons was a paltry 52 in 52 days, set by 65-year-old Akinori Kusuda of Japan.
Tags: Stefaan Engels, man runs 365 marathons in 365 days, a year worth of marathons, unusual records, world records, man runs a marathon every day for a year, man runs 365 marathons in a year, endurance, exercise records, marathon runner breaks record, Marathon Man, man runs 9569 miles in a year