For American Liz Warner, an impending 30th birthday milestone was an opportunity to plan something that would mix her passions for adventure and social change. In January last year, with 10 marathons already under her belt, Liz launched a fundraising project: Run to Reach, with the aim of running 30 marathons in 30 countries before her 30th birthday, whilst supporting different female-focused NGOs (non-government organisations) in each country.

With only 5 left to run before her birthday, Liz, who lives in Paris, spared some time to tell me about the project and her experience so far.

© Mark Colon/World Marathon Challenge

In February 2019, British runner Susannah Gill became the fastest woman to complete the 777 World Marathon Challenge, running a marathon on each of the 7 continents in 7 days – in a total time of 24 hours, 19 minutes and 9 seconds. She ran in minus temperatures in snowy Antarctica and through the night in Australia. Her average marathon time was a speedy 3:28, despite running the 7 marathons back-to-back on blurred time zones.

Susannah’s written a book about her experience, Running Around the World – How I Ran 7 Marathons on 7 Continents in 7 Days, which has just launched. Between training, work and book publicity, she made time to answer my questions about this incredible endurance feat, along with what she’s been up to since.

Last time I chatted to Laura Jones for Lessons in Badassery, she was two marathons in to her huge ICANRUN7 challenge to run seven marathons on seven continents within a year. Pretty remarkable for someone who dreamt up the challenge when she could barely run a kilometre without stopping!

Since then, Laura has completed her epic marathon running challenge and has finished some of the most gruelling marathons in the world – including the highest marathon on the planet, the Everest Marathon, as well as the brutal Yukon Arctic Marathon, which saw her compete in eyelash-freezing temperatures of -40°! After finishing her challenge with the Kilimanjaro marathon in March this year, Laura filled me in on her massive running journey.