An Ohio State student will attempt to break a world record by completing 11 marathons in 11 consecutive days in October.
Kalyn Jolivette, a senior in biology, will attempt to break a record held by Michelle Atkins of the U.K., who completed 10 marathons in 10 consecutive days in May 2008.
Jolivette said she is running the marathons to raise awareness for cystic fibrosis, an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system.
PHOTO COURTESY OF AIMEE WEISSKalyn Jolivette will attempt to break a world record in October by running 11 marathons in 11 consecutive days. Jolivette runs about 100 miles every week to train for her upcoming marathons.“Over the years I have found that if you want to raise any kind of awareness, you have to do something crazy to get people’s attention,” Jolivette said.
Jolivette plans to run the marathons Oct. 8 through Oct. 18. The Columbus Marathon will be the final marathon of the series that Jolivette will participate in.
Because there are no marathons during the 10 days before the Columbus Marathon, Jolivette will organize her own public marathons, titled “The Columbus Challenge to Cure Cystic Fibrosis.”
Six weeks ago, Jolivette applied for the record attempt with Guinness World Records. Guinness researched the record to make sure it was official and discovered who holds the current record. In order to officially break the world record, Jolivette must follow guidelines set by Guinness World Records. The marathons must be official and open to the public and must be 26.2 miles long, Jolivette said.
The idea was delivered to Jolivette by Barb Phillips, her friend who suffers from cystic fibrosis. Jolivette has the will, the power and the enthusiasm to break the record, Phillips said.
“All the money that she raises doing her marathons is getting us one step closer to the cure,” Phillips said.
To train for the marathons, she has been running an average of 100 miles a week.
Jolivette, who has experience running marathons, says the training is nothing new. She has completed five marathons and participated in Run Across Ohio, where she averaged about 21 miles a day. After four months of training, she will be ready and able to break the record, she said.
Jolivette said she will need all the help she can get to organize the other 10 marathons, and said anyone interested in helping or running should contact her at [email protected].
Allyson Simcox can be reached at [email protected].
