If running a marathon wasn’t hard enough, one woman took her race to the next level by doing it in 7-centimetre high heels.
Irene Sewell completed the 7 Bridges Marathon in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Sunday while wearing high-heel shoes, earning herself a Guinness World Record.
“It was painful. It was really painful,” Sewell told CTV News Channel, despite taking all the extra precautions to limit blisters.
“When I crossed the line, that was the moment I ran for, and that was amazing,” she said.
Sewell first got the idea when she read about a lady in London who attempted running a marathon in heels a few years ago.
While that woman didn’t get the record -- she took off her heels halfway through and finished the race barefoot -- Sewell was still motivated.
“I was reading about her and that inspired me to try this crazy thing,” she said.
Sewell trained for her high-heel marathon for a full year, in both heels and tennis shoes, and on Sunday she finished in seven hours 27 minutes and 53 seconds, which was much slower than she would normally run.
“Because I was in heels I couldn’t fully extend, so my gait was completely different than it is in normal running shoes,” she explained.
But thankfully she made it under the 7.5 hour mark.
“Guinness actually only gave me seven and a half hours to attempt the record and if I was any slower I wouldn’t have gotten it,” Sewell said
Sewell is now recovering well from her big race and is planning on doing a short run, in runners, with her friends on American Thanksgiving.
“Now I’m up and walking and I feel good,” she said.
