Connecticut doctor back home after running 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (WTNH) — An emergency room doctor at the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain just returned to Connecticut after running seven marathons in seven days on seven continents — including Antarctica.

Dr. Lisa Bienia Kenton just finished running 183.4 miles in seven days to raise money for her niece and nephew who have a chromosomal disorder. Covering that much ground in just a week doesn’t allow for much time to sleep.

“We average about three hours a night,” Dr. Bienia Kenton said. “So, 21 hours we slept total for the seven days.”

It’s called the Great World Race. 60 runners started in Antarctica, then South Africa, then Australia, then the United Arab Emirates, then Portugal, then Colombia and finished in Miami.

“In Antarctica, it was -30°C with a 30 mile an hour wind chill,” Dr. Bienia Kenton said. “So that was by far the most grueling and kind of gnarly things we experienced. Like, sometimes you don’t even know if you’re moving forward.”

Dr. Bienia Kenton is part of an elite group of female runners — only 166 have run a marathon on every continent and only a fraction of them have done it in seven days.

“I met a lot of great, strong women,” Dr. Bienia Kenton said. “A lot of moms, same demographic as me, and we kind of just powered each other through.”

She had support from her husband and sons, who encouraged her to do the race. She trained by running to her son’s baseball games and around the field before returning home. She said her husband got her time off work to run the race after talking to her boss, who met her in Miami and ran the last marathon with her.

She said the experience of running the Great World Race left her body bruised, but it changed her life.

“I left there with this life, inner self or inner feeling of confidence, like I can tackle the world,” she said. “And maybe that’s going to wear off over time, but right now I’m riding that high.”