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Christchurch-born Sophie Woods has become the fastest person ever to conquer the long-distance European hiking trail, Via Alpina, traversing 2000km in just 28 days.
The track runs from Trieste to Monaco, and is equivalent to climbing Mount Everest from sea level 12 times.
Woods' journey spanned eight countries, began at 3am every day and included up to 19 hours of running.
She annihilated both the women's (38 days) and men's (35 days) records, despite being a late bloomer to running.
"I definitely was not always a runner. My parents used to have to write me sick notes for cross country when I was at school," she told Checkpoint.
"I played a lot of team sports, but I hated running and I hated hiking. We used to do so much of it when I was a kid."
"But I started running in my mid-twenties just to lose some weight and kind of just fell in love with the sport and then fell in love with trail running because you get to go and be in the most incredible environments and just moving through them with your own body is a really special experience."
Woods said her record-breaking feat had yet to sink in.
Dubbed 'Freight Train' by her husband - as is American custom to adopt a trail name - Woods said the run was not without its challenges.
"Dealing with two heatwaves was pretty intense, and you're climbing thousands and thousands of metres each day," she said.
"Ultimately, the climbing isn't really the problem, it's the descending that absolutely does your body in."
Woods said she ran through a thunderstorm at one point, which was "terrifying", and was forced to divert trails to avoid wildfires.
She also said in the first week her body had swollen to the point it felt like she was going to pull every muscle.
However, Woods said it was never too hard to find the positives.
"I mean, who gets to do this?
"Like to be in a position where you're not only fit enough, but also have the support and belief of everyone around you to go and attempt to run through the Alps for a month.
"Even when things were bad, all I would say is like, nothing grows in the comfort zone, and I would look up and I would see these incredible views. And how could you not enjoy that?"
Woods said there was never a point she considered quitting.
