Marathoner makes Guinness book

CORONA, Calif., Dec. 12 (UPI) -- A Southern California woman has set a record for competing in the most marathons in one year, officials say.

Guinness World Records lauded 52-year-old Yolanda Holder of Corona, Calif., for raising the bar for most marathons completed in one year, the Los Angeles Times reported.

She power-walked through 101 races this year, breaking the previous record set in 2002 by an Italian who competed in 100 marathons.

Holder says she has put out $25,000 on travel, accommodations and entry fees, and simply trying to arrange a schedule for herself can be daunting, the newspaper said Saturday.

"I package the marathons very tightly," she said. "The logistics of getting to all of them is harder than doing the 26.2 miles. This year I traveled all over the country to compete."

Holder's engineer husband occasionally accompanies her.

"He goes to the bigger ones or to ones that are in cities he hasn't visited in a long time," she said.

This year, the marathon she favored most was the one held in Long Beach, Calif., Oct. 17.

"Everybody was having such a good time. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. They had a 7-hour cutoff -- which means you couldn't finish if you took longer than that. I finished at 6 hours and 42 minutes because I was so busy taking pictures," Holder said.