Jeanne Stawiecki completes the Antarctica Marathon, next up Mt. Everest; not bad for someone who took up exercise in middle age

LifeTwo encourages its readers to challenge themselves by setting goals that require dedication and self-improvement. No one has set harder goals or improved themselves more than Jeanne Stawiecki who entered middle age a smoking, non-exerciser and then set the goal to run a marathon and climb the tallest mountain on every continent. She is now just one mountain (granted it's Mount Everest we are talking about) away from achieving her goal. [Read LifeTwo's interview with Jeanne which explains her motivation by clicking here.]

Jeanne just completed the Antarctica Marathon, setting a new world record for females, completing marathons on seven continents in 141 days. This breaks the previously set record by 68 days. She now sets her sights on Mt. Everest. If successful, she will become the first woman in the world to summit the highest peak and complete a marathon on each of the seven continents. At age 56, she may well also be the oldest woman to reach the seven summits.

Jeanne completed the marathon in 5:22:08, placing fifth out of all female runners and first in her age group. The winning female completed the course in 4:54:50. The course on King George Island off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula is particularly challenging. It loops through the scientific research bases of Uruguay, Chile, China and Russia, brings runners across streams and huge mud flats and up a large glacier twice. Runners also faced temperatures of 15 degrees F., snow, and gusts of wind to 40 miles an hour.

About Jeanne Stawiecki:

Optimistic despite several health issues that set back her schedule, Jeanne leaves on March 29 for Mt. Everest to complete her quest to become the first woman in the world to run a marathon and summit the highest peak on seven continents -- an endeavor she is financing herself through hard work and determination.

Jeanne Stawiecki grew up in a Massachusetts factory town. Wanting more out of life, Jeanne worked to put herself through nursing school, where she was told to take up smoking to relieve stress. A self-described former 2 pack a day smoker and a poor performer in sports for as long as she can remember, Jeanne did not begin exercising seriously until she turned 44. After deciding to give up smoking for financial reasons, Jeanne started exercising to prevent weight gain. At first, Jeanne could only walk -- and not very fast without getting winded. Gradually she began to run part of the route and, later, the entire route. Distance running became a way for Jeanne to relieve stress, but after a number of years, she became bored with running. Taking up climbing in her 50's at a colleague’s suggestion, Jeanne had never been out of the country until she did her first climb in 2002. Having made the decision in middle age to turn her life around, today Jeanne is the vision of health and athleticism.

Adapted from a press release from Conover and Company.