BEST FOOT FORWARD

Supporters look on as runner Hilde Dosogne celebrates after crossing the finish line of her 366th marathon in Ghent, Belgium on December 31, 2024.

Supporters look on as runner Hilde Dosogne celebrates after crossing the finish line of her 366th marathon in as many days in Ghent, Belgium on December 31, 2024. TOM GOYVAERTS/Belga/AFP via Getty Images

Most people’s new year’s resolutions involve a commitment to a healthier lifestyle and a regular exercise routine. For 55-year-old Belgian woman Hilde Dosogne, it could well be quite the opposite. (Or, at least, you couldn’t blame her.) That’s because Dosogne ran a full marathon every day of the year in 2024—while holding down her day job as an engineer at a chemical company. In her quest for a Guinness World Record, she ran 42.5 kilometers day in, day out, mostly on a flat course in the Belgian city of Ghent. (That’s a little longer than a technical marathon but she didn’t want to leave anything to chance when she submits her application for the record.) In total, that’s than 9,500 miles, or nearly four times the distance between Washington, D.C. to San Francisco. She also ran more than doubled the current female standard bearer: Australian Erchana Murray-Bartlett, who ran 150 back-to-back marathons in 2023. “The mental strain is harder than the physical,” Dosogne told The Associated Press. “Of course, physically, everything has to be okay... But it was more mental to be there at the start-line every day.”