Lawyer Runs 51km Daily for 750+ Days Straight

Imagine running a marathon, then adding another 9 kilometers, then doing it again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, for over 750 days straight. That's exactly what Shannon-Leigh Litt has been doing.

The 47-year-old criminal lawyer from Whangārei, New Zealand, started her journey on January 1, 2024, aiming to break the world record of 200 consecutive days running an ultramarathon. After hitting 100 days, she realized she could keep going much longer.

Now she's chasing 1,000 days, with her final record run planned for September 26, 2026. That's nearly three years of running 51 kilometers every single day.

Litt fits her runs around her demanding legal work, which means some mornings she starts at 5am. Other days, when court starts early, she begins running at 1 or 2am. A fast run takes her about five and a half hours.

She's even found creative ways to combine work and running, using AI to convert legal documents to audio so she can review cases while pounding the pavement. Some nights she sleeps ten hours, other nights just four or five.

The journey hasn't been easy. While sick in Bali, Litt seriously considered quitting. "I was just saying to friends 'Oh I'm not going to keep going,'" she recalls.

But she pushed through, realizing external factors shouldn't derail her goal. About 30% of the time the runs feel easy, another 30% they're okay, but 30 to 40% of the time it's genuinely hard.

Why This Inspires

Litt's advice for anyone attempting something similar is beautifully simple: don't get intimidated by the distance. "You don't have to be fit at the start, you just have to have that mental strength and know that you will get fit throughout the process," she says.

She's noticed something powerful about movement and mental health. "When you're moving, you're like meditating, very hard to be down when you're moving," Litt explains. She encourages anyone feeling down to get out and start moving.

Social media has brought both support and skeptics. Some people simply don't believe her accomplishment is real. Litt understands the disbelief because she once felt the same way about 100km runs when she was 25.

She's been documenting everything for Guinness World Records, providing watch data, video footage, and witness verification. With about 240 ultramarathons left until she hits 1,000, Litt remains cautiously optimistic.

Litt hopes to dedicate her final 100 runs to charity, possibly partnering with the Mental Health Foundation. After it's over, she plans to slowly taper down, maybe running marathons for a week, then 30km days, until the habit fades.

She's already thinking about life after the record, wanting to return to jazz dance from her younger days and maybe try pole dancing. Her message to others remains constant: "Everyone's an athlete who gets out the door."