In an extraordinary feat of human endurance, Irish athlete Caitriona Jennings has rewritten the history books by smashing the women's world record for running 100 miles.
The 45-year-old from Donegal completed the monumental distance in 12 hours, 37 minutes and 4 seconds at the Tunnel Hill 100 Mile race in Illinois, averaging an incredible pace of 7 minutes 34 seconds per mile throughout.
The Record-Breaking Performance
What makes Jennings' achievement even more remarkable is that she had never previously run beyond 60 miles in a single session. 'The hardest part in the race came after 60 miles because I hadn't even got to the point where I could say: 'Right, just one marathon to go now,'' she revealed.
Her coach, Terry McConnon, attributes her success to an amazing engine and capacity for pain, qualities demonstrated when she completed the London 2012 Olympic marathon despite running with a stress fracture in her foot.
Jennings' commitment to pushing boundaries saw her training before work and during lunch breaks, alongside weekend runs of 48-64 miles to prepare for the ultimate challenge.
Balancing Extreme Sport and Everyday Life
Perhaps even more astonishing than her running feat is Jennings' immediate return to normality. After breaking the record, she jumped on a red-eye economy flight from Chicago to Dublin, landing at 5am before cycling straight to her office job at a company that trades and leases planes to global airlines.
Jennings is part of a growing trend of women in their 40s excelling in ultrarunning while maintaining regular careers and family lives. In October, Sarah Webster, a 46-year-old vet from East Sussex, broke the women's 24-hour world record by running 173.1 miles at the world championships in France.
Similarly, Jasmin Paris made history last year by becoming the first woman to complete the infamous Barkley marathon, training from 5am to 7.45am before her children woke up and she started work.
The Psychology of Extreme Endurance
When asked about the mental challenges of ultrarunning, Jennings acknowledges that 'you need to sustain a certain amount of pain because that's just the nature of the game.' She credits her success to a strong desire to win and willingness to suffer to achieve her goals.
The theme of pushing personal limits is explored in the new film Run Again, which follows singer Dave Pen's attempt to complete the 268-mile Spine Race along the Pennine Way. 'People say are you mad?' he questions in the film. 'But it's not madness, is it? It's living.'
Author Adharanand Finn describes ultrarunning as a metaphor for life in his book The Rise of the Ultrarunners, citing Spanish athlete Azara García de los Salmones' tattoo that reads: 'The devil whispered in my ear: 'You're not strong enough to withstand the storm.' I whispered back: 'I am the storm.''
Inspiring a New Generation of Female Runners
Jennings hopes her achievement will encourage more women to explore ultrarunning. 'I would like for other women to see what I'm doing and realise it's not actually that difficult,' she says, expressing frustration when people claim they couldn't possibly achieve similar feats.
She describes the sense of accomplishment from completing such challenges as 'a drug that's very safe and healthy', emphasising how ultrarunning provides an escape from modern screen-dominated lifestyles and reconnects people with nature.
'As humans we're not really designed to be on screens all day,' Jennings reflects. 'We crave being in nature and having breaks from the noise in our heads.'
Her world-record performance stands as powerful testament to what ordinary people can achieve with dedication, proper training, and the courage to probe the boundaries of human potential.
