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What it takes to take the World Marathon Challenge
Sean Barie reports
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Back in 2009 Kelly-Ann Jenkins laced up her first pair of running shoes.
"When I started, I couldn't really even run a mile," Kelly-Ann remembers. "It was pretty difficult, and I hated it, but I just kept getting up every day and going for a run."
Eventually, the lawyer from St. Petersburg entered her first races. A year later, she ran her first marathon in New Orleans.
"I was afraid I wouldn't finish," she remembers thinking. "I was afraid of getting injured. I was afraid of the unknown. I didn't know what it would feel like."
But Kelly-Ann Jenkins did finish and from then on, she was hooked on the sport. Over the next 13 years Kelly-Ann ran another six marathons, including competing in the Boston and Berlin marathons.
But none of those races could prepare Kelly-Ann for the race she just finished earlier in February.
"It's hard to train for it in St. Pete. Even if I travel somewhere cold, nothing really compares to Antarctica," joked Jenkins.
Yes, Kelly-Ann ran 26.2 miles in one of the harshest environments on the planet. Not only that, but she continued to run a marathon for the next six days after her race at the South Pole, each one also on a different continent.
"I just kept thinking that I'm never going to finish this and not only am I never going to finish this, but how am I going to run again tomorrow?" said Kelly-Ann.
Kelly-Ann did, however, finish every race in Antarctica, South Africa, Australia, Dubai, Spain, Brazil, and Miami.
"I absolutely would do it again. I would," she said.
Kelly-Ann admits that the mental toll of her world tour far outweighed the physical. To help her stay focused, she gave people the opportunity to donate to her cause to raise money for multiple sclerosis patients by picking songs on her never-ending playlist.
"A friend of mine picked the song 'I'll Make a Man Out of You' from Mulan and it was stuck in my head the entire race in Cape Town," said Kelly-Ann laughing.
Now, Kelly-Ann continues to run back on her home route in downtown St. Pete with a new outlook on her sport and with $25,000 raised.