Women’s indoor marathon world record lowered to 2:57

American Nichole Porath was supposed to run the New York City Marathon in November. Instead, she went west in December and battled tough conditions to a 2:57 at the California International Marathon.

An Olympic trials qualifier and 2:44 PB marathoner, Porath decided to tackle yet another marathon last Sunday in Minnesota. But marathoning is next to impossible in January, so the Zoom! Yah! Yah! Marathon is held indoors.

Porath equaled her California time with a 2:57:34, becoming the first woman to break the three hour barrier en route to a new world record.

The 29-year-old had to overcome quite a bit of adversity in the process. The course itself wasn’t run on a competition style track, but on a fitness track instead, where runners made their way around a 282m course 150 times.

To make matters worse, Porath developed a nasty blister, which popped and bleed through her shoe. Nevertheless, she held her pace and squeezed under the three hour mark, breaking the previous world record by more than 10 minutes.

Read a complete recap of her experience and see a photo of her bloody foot here.