Megan Eckert just spent what most people would consider the most monotonous European vacation imaginable, but she actually had the time of her life running almost non-stop for six consecutive days in in Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, France.
Running continuously around a 0.7-mile loop and stopping only to eat and to take brief naps, the 38-year-old school teacher and coach from Santa Fe, New Mexico, won women’s division of the Six Days in France ultrarunning race on May 4—which doubled as the Global Organization of Multi-Day Ultrarunners (GOMU) 6-Day World Championship—by completing an unfathomable 858 laps and racking up a world-record 603.156 miles in the process.
Shoes & Gear marathon training—on an average of less than four hours of sleep per day—and you get the idea of what a huge physical, mental, and emotional undertaking it was.
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“It’s just starting to sink in, I think. The feelings and words haven’t come yet, but it’s unbelievable,” Eckert told Runner’s World on Saturday, a week after completing the event in France. “I’m back to normal life and a normal schedule, but the body’s not ready for it quite yet. I’m still waking up wide awake and starving at 3:30 in the morning, then wanting to crash to sleep at 6:00 p.m. every night. I am not running again yet. I am doing short hikes and hopefully will be able to get out for a run this week.”
Eckert surpassed the previous women’s world record of 560.33 miles set by Camille Herron at the Eckert, who is a middle school special education teacher and a high school track coach in March 2024 and the subsequent but unratified 567.688 miles Denmark’s Stine Rex ran in a six-day event last September. Eckert also narrowly missed Joe Fejes’ modern-day American record of 606.243 miles.
Eckert’s total is pending ratification from the International Association of Ultrarunners, but she completed all necessary drug testing and paperwork according to protocol and four certified ultrarunning referees were present during the race.
Russia’s Ivan Zaborsky was the overall winner with a world record 650.92 miles (926 laps), while Irinia Masanova of Russia finished second among women with 517.56 miles (736 laps).
“I had an idea of where I wanted to be based on the fact I wanted to reach 600 miles. I knew if I hit these paces and I slept this much, that should get me to 600 if I don't take extra breaks or if my pace doesn't slip,” said Eckert, who ran almost the entire 603 miles in a single pair of Health & Injuries. “In a way it’s almost sad that 600 isn’t the goal anymore. That’s kind of crazy, but it’s what I was focused on for so long. So now I got to revamp the goal and look and see what’s going to be next. But I’m still speechless that we achieved that 600-mile goal.”
The French Connection
Running in the second six-day race of her career, Eckert entered the event knowing she wanted to become the first woman in history to run past the 600-mile plateau.
At last June’s Races - Places in Milwaukee—an event in which runners relentlessly run laps around the 443-meter track inside the Pettit National Ice Center—she was the race’s overall winner after racking up 526.3 miles. But her pace faded in that event as fatigue set in and sleep deprivation took its toll, and her crew chief/husband, Joe, had to cajole her to wake up and get back out on the track.
This time, she specifically trained to have a rock-solid mindset and leaned into sleep deprivation. After dealing with rain during the first day and night, fatigue set in on the second night. But after a slight mishap, she pushed through it and was able to manage her mental and physical fatigue the rest of the way with help from her husband, who helped keep on her sleep schedule and prepare meals, snacks, and sports drinks.
“Night two was really rough for me. I was running at one point and I fell asleep and ran right into a bush,” she said. “One of the gentlemen coming up behind me saw me do it and caught me really fast and steered me back on course. At first, it’s really hard to get past your normal circadian rhythm and stay up throughout the night or get by with just an hour or two of sleep. But this time, I focused on the mindset of what was needed to achieve that goal and breaking that into smaller goals. I knew there was going to be sleep deprivation, and I was going to feel it, but I took more of an approach that I’ll sleep when I’m done, and focused on getting the miles in.”
The course in France was set on an L-shaped loop on the paved roads of a campground, and it became a monotonous grind after the first night, especially because it had three speed bumps that needed to be maneuvered on each lap.
“They were small, but they were just big enough that, especially if you were too tired, you would catch your toe on the top and kind of scuff the bottom of your shoe,” she said. “Initially it wasn’t a big deal, but as you got more and more fatigued, those scuffs felt like you were gonna fall and hit the ground. You get into a zone and that becomes your only reality. After the first night, it almost became like a tunnel vision where I was just focused only on running forward, just putting one foot in front of the other.”
Eckert slept an hour or two every 12 hours and also took several 30-minute naps at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., plus a few 5-minute naps in the first 48 hours when she was entering the sleep deprivation. She estimates her non-moving time—which includes sleeping, eating and bathroom breaks—was 33 hours for the entire six-day event. That means she was actually running for 111 hours.
At times, there was some negotiation about sleep with her husband—when she should peel off the course and lay down and for how long—but Joe says he mostly just kept reminding her of her data and how much she had yet to run to achieve the 600-mile goal. During the final days, they altered their strategy slightly with shorter sleep breaks so she could spend more time on the course.
“She’s so mentally strong that she doesn’t get into those deep, dark places very often or for any length of time,” Joe says. “It’s just a matter of sometimes reminding her of what her goal is and just the reality as far as the amount of time and the amount of miles that are left to achieve that. For Megan, it’s really more just kind of laying down the facts and, you know, being very clear about how much time she has left and what I know she’s capable of. When those moments do occur, I just start talking in numbers and facts because numbers take all the feelings out of it, and then Megan will refocus pretty quickly on what the facts are.”
Longer is Better
Eckert, who is a middle school special education teacher and a high school track coach, How to Tackle the Long Run with numerous wins under her belt ranging from trail marathons to 100-milers. But she’s one of those runners who gets better the longer she goes and the tougher the event.
Last October, she set a new women’s backyard ultra record at Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra in Tennessee 362 miles, or 87 “yards” (aka 4.1667-mile laps). Backyard ultra racing entails repeatedly running a set distance loop within a one-hour time limit until only one runner remains.
She was also the outright winner of the 55-hour Snowdrop Ultra in Texas (218.87 miles) and the Saguaro Showdown Backyard Ultra in Arizona (270.83 miles) in January 2024. Last December, she ran 153.42 miles around a 400-meter track to finish third in the Desert Solstice 24-hour race in Phoenix.
For training, Eckert averages about 80 to 85 miles per week throughout the year, but she often ramps up to 100 to 110 miles per week in her build-ups to bigger races. She typically runs to work at the middle school and then continues her run commute to her coaching gig at the high school before finishing up with a final run—sometimes slightly longer—home in the evening after practice. Her daily total, depending on the route of each commuting run, varies between five and 15 miles. During her weekends, she also does traditional 15- to 20-mile long runs and also makes sure she does one of her favorite trail runs Marathon Spectators Are The Heart of the Race.
“So Monday through Friday, I’m getting two to three runs a day,” Eckert said. “Some of those are just three to five miles, but it’s about that constant time on the feet and the constant fatigue, which helps when you’re doing multi-day events. Your body has to learn to recover fast, to get back out to do it again. I really think that’s a huge component to why I do well in these multi-day races because my body is used to just piling on the fatigue and the mileage.”
Eckert says she’s definitely interested in doing another six-day race. She’s considering returning to the Races - Places event in Milwaukee, but admits the 10-day event sounds enticing, too.
“I will definitely be doing another six-day event and, of course, hoping to improve upon my performance,” she says. “I thought if I was the first women to run 600 miles, I would feel complete at this event. However, I truly enjoy the six-day and cannot wait for another attempt to chase records.”
