"Marathon Man" runs 365 Marathons in a Year

As it says, where there is a will there is a way. It was the will of Stefan Engels, rather a strong will which has found its way to establish a unique world record of running 365 consecutive marathons over the course of a year. When it is said so, it’s meant a new marathon in a new day. Now, it is really a wow thing! Isn’t it?

49 years old, Belgian runner Stefan Engels set a Guinness World Record after crossing the finish line of his 365th consecutive marathon on Saturday. He began the extreme physical challenge a year ago in Barcelona. He has run the distance of 9,569 miles over the period of 365 days in Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Canada, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S.

Stefan, who is dubbed as the “Marathon Man” was diagnosed with asthma when he was a child. He was advised by his doctor not to exert himself and take part in any form of sports.

Stefan was denied by the national army to join them, which was his life dream. Disheartened but not discouraged Stefan thought to do something different in order to achieve his pursuit to take life as a challenge. He chooses something which was not advisable to him; he has set this deviating and onerous challenge for himself to overcome his ailment. He ran his first marathon at 25 and till today he has successfully completed copious marathons and triathlons all across the globe.

Stefan is heedless in deciding his menu. He ate whatever he felt like to have. In comparison of 3000 calories which is averagely lost by a normal human being, Stefan lost 6000 calories everyday. He has to change his pair of shoes after every 25 days as they went chopped off.

While affirming his intention to set an example for others who underestimate themselves, Stefan says, “I wanted to inspire people by showing that if I could run a marathon a day for an entire year, than anyone could run or bike a little each day or do something about their physical problem.”

Previously, it was Akinori Kusuda from Japan who holds the record of running most 52 consecutive marathons. He was 65 years old when he had accomplished this task.