Tired of running in men's shadows, Erchana Murray-Bartlett is smashing through to nab a world record and knock out 150 marathons in a row.
The 32-year-old nutritionist is on the home-stretch of a 150-day marathon pilgrimage from Cape York to Melbourne, running 42.2km each day to raise money for environmental advocacy organisation The Wilderness Society.
With just 10 days left, she has 140 straight marathons under her belt and more than 5900km.
She beat the Guinness World Record for the most consecutive daily marathons run by a woman - 107, and is set to cross the finish line at Melbourne on January 16, having run 6330km via a circuitous route.
"It was a lifelong dream to run the length of the country ... (but) it was kind of sitting on the shelf because I was racing in road marathons, and I was getting good," Ms Murray-Bartlett told AAP.
Devastation struck her in 2019 when, during the Berlin Marathon, a hip injury stopped her in her tracks at 37km.
She recuperated and flew to Tokyo in 2020 ahead of the Olympics, but COVID-19 hit and kept all but an elite group of local athletes from competing.
She was in the best shape of her life, but had nowhere to go with it.
"That's when I directed my attention to this," she said.
Ms Murray-Bartlett set off on her 150-day marathon mission on August 20 last year, and bagged her world record at Newcastle in NSW on December 4.
She has so far raised more than $73,000 for The Wilderness Society.
Coincidentally, she was running at the same time as marathoner Nedd Brockmann, having started a few days before his 4000km charity run from Perth to Sydney began. He finished in October.
Ms Murray-Bartlett wants to strive towards a spectrum of marathon runners achieving great things - particularly as "the only chick out here".
"Watching (Nedd's) run absolutely blow up - it was a very difficult time for me, wondering what the difference was," Ms Murray-Bartlett said.
When young girls only saw men including Mr Brockmann achieving incredible things, it sent a subconscious message it was only men who could do them, Ms Murray-Bartlett said.
"When anyone sees someone of the same gender do something, they subconsciously think, 'well, Erchana did it, so there's no reason I can't go faster than her."
She has 10 days left of camping, waking up as early as 4.30am to avoid the heat, and of running "off the beaten track" in a bid to showcase Australia's natural beauty.
Her legs have almost "stopped talking" to her, however, she's sure crossing the finish line in Melbourne will be worth it.
An Instagram following of more than 18,000 people will be cheering her on through her page "Tip to Toe 2022".
All of them are invited to join her runs, and she often sets them up in loops rather than from point-to-point so people can run as much as they are able.
"Even this morning in King Valley (in Victoria) there was a couple of other people joining me, and I was like, 'how did you even get here'?" Ms Murray-Bartlett said.
"It's incredible. I'm very humbled by it."
