Camille Herron broke the women's world record for 100 miles this weekend in 12 hours, 42 minutes, and 39 seconds at the Tunnel Hill 100 in Vienna, Illinois. Her time is the fastest over 100 miles for both men and women in 2017. Her time broke the prior world record by more than an hour; Gina Slaby set the old record at 13:45:49 last December. Before Slaby, Ann Trason held the women's world record at 13:47:41 since 1991.

The 35-year-old Herron sustained an impressive 7:38 mile pace in what was her first-ever 100 miler.


Earlier this year, she became the first American to win the Comrades Marathon in South Africa in more than 20 years.

In an interview with Meghan Hicks for IRunFar.com, Herron said she only had two months of training heading into the race due to tearing her MCL earlier this year and sustaining a concussion as well as some other minor injuries.

"I think my number-one goal next year should be to be healthy," she said in the interview. "If I can stay healthy and train consistently, then I feel the sky is the limit on what I can do. Even with this record, I had two-plus months of fairly consistent training, but that's only two months. What if I string together four or six months?"

She also mentioned using an unusual fuel in the latter stages of the race: chugging a cold beer at mile 80.

"I lost some time in the end with stopping and having a beer in the dark, but I had enough time to play with, I knew I was going to be okay," she said in the interview with Hicks. "The beer was a nice treat."

Next year, she plans to defend her Comrades Marathon title and win the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, a double feat that no American has accomplished since Trason did it in 1996 and 1997. Herron also hopes to break Trason's world record for 100K, which is 7:00:47, at the World 100K Championships. Herron won the World 50K and World 100K titles in 2015.