Running Around The World (in 7 Days)
If all goes to plan, a 37-year-old mom and International Race Manager for Spartan Race, Kelly Allen McLay, will be free to board a February 6 flight in Miami and head to her home in Beverly, Mass., a suburb of Boston. This wouldn’t be a big deal if it wasn’t preceded by her participation in the World Marathon Challenge, a remarkable play on the number seven: Seven days, seven marathons, seven continents.
McLay’s adventure will start this week (schedule posted below). She along with other racers will first venture to Novo, Antarctica, for marathon number one. The field will then travel to Cape Town for a marathon in South Africa, with the rest of the week’s schedule including marathons in Perth, Dubai, Lisbon, Cartagena and Miami.
McLay has an edge going into Novo. This past November, she won the women’s race in the Antarctic Ice Marathon. Dressed in two layers of clothes, a storm jacket and ski goggles, she says the event delivered on the promise of being extraordinary. “Everything’s white,” she told the Salem News. “You lose perspective because you have nothing to compare it to. There was this one section where you could look for miles and see nothing but just a white expanse. And the quiet. It was just my feet hitting the zone. I hit a very Zen mode.”
On the four-lap, 10k-per-lap-course, she clocked a time of four hours and 56 minutes. McLay, who had a baby 11 months prior, had no intention of winning. “My only goal was to finish,” she says.
The final lap was tough. “You have to be prepared for the worst,” she says. “The last three miles were into a headwind.”
Winning the Antarctic Ice Marathon concluded a long journey toward a goal of running marathons on each of the Earth’s continents. Soon, she’ll be attempting to repeat this feat in a single week. McLay will share her adventure on Spartan.com and Instagram. Stay tuned!
The Schedule of the World Marathon Challenge.
| 28-Jan | Recommended Arrival at Cape Town, South Africa |
| 29-Jan | Pre-Departure Briefings for Antarctica |
| 30-Jan | Flight to Marathon location at Novo, Antarctica. Marathon in Antarctica |
| 31-Jan | Marathon in Cape Town + Flight to Perth |
| 1-Feb | Marathon in Perth + Flight to Dubai |
| 2-Feb | Marathon in Dubai + Flight to Lisbon |
| 3-Feb | Marathon in Lisbon + Flight to Cartagena |
| 4-Feb | Marathon in Cartagena + Flight to Miami |
| 5-Feb | Marathon in Miami |
| 6-Feb | Free to Return Home |
Commit in 2018. Download The Spartan 2018 Race Schedule. as your blueprint. #noexcuses
