Words by Andy Waterman
Photos by Sam Lhermillier
When we last spoke to Meg Eckert, it was the height of summer 2024. It wasn’t long since she’d run her first six-day – the six-days in the Dome in Milwaukee – where she won overall with a total of 526 miles, and she was beginning to look at what comes next. The experience in the Dome sparked a passion for the six-day format, and Meg’s fall and winter were geared towards developing the fitness, experience and fortitude needed to excel over 144 hours. And excel, she did. On May 4, 2025, at the six-days of France, Meg broke the world record, covering 603.155 miles (970.685 kilometers) – 40 miles more than any woman had run before. Her shoes for this remarkable run? The Mount to Coast R1.
We recently caught up with Meg on the Mount to Coast podcast to find out about that race in France, and the steps she took in between her two six-day races to achieve that 600-mile run.
“I had a ton of fun,” she says. I crewed and paced at Badwater, I was out at the Big’s US World Championship Backyard and ended up with 87 yards, which is a women’s world best, then I went to Desert Solstice on the track, and I dabbled in a few local 50K’s. I did a little bit of everything.”
Enjoyment isn’t something we talk about a lot in running, but for most of us, it’s what keeps us coming back. For Meg, there’s uncomplicated authenticity to her passion for running, whether that’s racing over multiple days in Europe, or simply run-commuting to work, saying hi to people in her neighborhood. “Even in the six-day itself, there’s no pressure,” she says. “I set personal goals, but it’s always about enjoying myself.”
Although Eckert had the six-days of France on her calendar, it didn’t occupy much of her attention until three or four months out. “That’s when I really started focusing,” she says. “My training didn’t change too much. It was more my mindset. Those mornings where I would run commute to work, I continued doing that. But I gave myself less excuses. It was definitely more of a mindset approach. And when we got to France, I focused on positive affirmation: ‘you are going to have a good day two.’ That made a world of difference.”
Training for multi-day running events is in its Wild West era. While coaches and sports scientists have a good idea of what constitutes perfect marathon or 5K training, when it comes to seeing how much distance you can cover in 144 hours, where raw athleticism is dwarfed by the challenges of sleep deprivation and the necessity to keep processing calories, opinions are mixed. Can you train yourself to forgo sleep? And if you can, is that useful, or does the negative impact on training outweigh the positive? For Eckert, training is holistic, with no gimmicks or unorthodox hacks – just lots of miles. “Time on feet is extremely important,” she says, “so I’ll be running three times per day: 7am, 3pm, then again at 6pm. I also think my part-time job as a cross country and track coach is really beneficial as those track meets are 14hrs long, you’re on your feet constantly and there’s a lot of problem solving. That translates pretty well. But going out for a night run in the middle of the night? I don’t think there’s any benefit to that.”
For Eckert, confidence comes from racing. “At Big’s Backyard, you’re sleep deprived the entire time. I feel like I do well with sleep deprivation, but that’s been a learned thing over time, through racing.”
The race in France was Eckert’s first time in Europe, and her first outdoor six-day race. For someone who lives in the desert, the wild swings in the weather in France proved difficult – as they were for everyone in the race. “I’m familiar with weather,” she says, “but when you’re 7hrs into a six-day race and the course is flooding and the water is up to your ankles, it’s such a different ballgame. We had an extreme downpour on day one, and then we had four days of heat – the penultimate day felt 90 °F – and then on the final day it rained again! I had gloves on plus a wind jacket and my body just couldn’t regulate the temperature. There’s so much to consider. You never know what you might need.”
When Eckert lined up for her first six-day race, 600 miles was the goal. Now she has achieved that goal, the temptation might be to move on to other ambitions, but it turns out she’s not done yet. “I’m already excited to do another one,” she says. With 1000km so close, and with a renewed interest in multi-day racing, you can see the appeal. “I think 1000km, I think it’s doable,” says Eckert. “The unofficial American record was set in the early 1900’s and that was 621 miles, I believe, so that unofficial American record will be my next aim.”
For Eckert, the attraction of the multi-day events, besides the race itself, is the community. “They’re an incredible community,” she says, “and you see the same people at different events. With the growth we’re seeing, I hope it encourages a few more people into that realm.”
For more on Meg’s pacing, the art of crewing a multi-day event, and the approach to being adaptable, check out this episode of the Mount to Coast podcast, where she and Matthieu each speak about their record-breaking runs, and dive into the details of what makes them tick.