Jenn Giebner.

In 2016, Jenn Giebner accomplished something only 5,000 people in the world have done — complete the Abbott World Marathon Majors, which consists of racing in Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City.

It took Giebner two years to accomplish.

Impressive is an understatement, but Giebner wanted more.

This past year, she decided to join the elite of the elite, completing the Abbott World Marathon in a calendar year, joining just 29 other people in the world to accomplish the grueling task.

“Earning those medals are a real privilege in itself,” Giebner told the OBSERVER. “The medals each include some honors that I’m proud to now be a part of. My first Six Star Medal was earned with no time constraints. With that in mind, I entered my first group of elites with less than 5,000 owning a Six Star Medal. My second Six Star Medal earned me a few other spectacular groups as less than 30 people have two Six Star Medals in the world, and less than 50 people out of 7 billion people in the world have been able to accomplish this goal in one year’s calendar time.”

The first race was the Tokyo Marathon in February, followed by the Boston Marathon and the London Marathon in April. The Berlin Marathon was in September, followed by the Chicago Marathon and New York City marathons in October and December, respectively.

Of course the journey to complete the one-year goal didn’t come without some obstacles along the way.

After completing the Tokyo race in February with a time of 3 hours 48 minutes, Giebner had discomfort in her foot.

“I was happy about (my time), although, I knew something didn’t feel quite right with my foot,” she said. “I had a stress fracture occur during that time. When I came home from Tokyo I had an MRI and basically was told not to run, which was very difficult for me knowing that I had Boston and London marathons coming up in April.”

The Boston and London marathons are just a mere six days apart.

“I went to the Boston Marathon first and had a miserable run,” she said. “The weather, the stress fracture, just made for a miserable day, but I knew in order to keep my dream alive of completing the series in one calendar year, that I needed to cross that finish line. And I did, it was around five hours. My slowest marathon to date, but knowing I did it on a fractured foot, with the most unpleasant of weather conditions, I was quite happy with that. Six days later, I was running the London Marathon. The weather in London was perfect, however, my foot still was not, I did run faster than Boston, my time there was a 4:14. I was very happy with that time, but even happier that now my feet could get a break.”

On top of the fractured foot was the nearly impossible task of running two 26.2-mile marathons in a matter of a week, which involved flying across seas.

“I would try to sleep on the plane, but that usually didn’t happen,” she said. “Saturday, I would head straight to the expo to get my running number and chip timer for the race. The races are on Sunday mornings very early. So my Saturdays in London and Berlin were basically expo, eat, get running stuff prepared and then bed. (Then) wake up early Sunday and run the marathon.

“Sunday afternoon and evening were spent having nice dinners and enjoying time with friends that I made,” Giebner explained. “Monday of course was travel back day. I think my body just got used to going and going. It didn’t have enough time to become acclimated to anything. Fortunately, for me, I was able to adjust and make the runs happen. I think my training and healthy lifestyle helped me to have the energy to get those two races within six days accomplished. I wouldn’t recommend traveling to London, Berlin, or Tokyo for a long weekend, but that is the way that I had to do them. I hope that traveling in this way, shows people how important completing this goal was for me. I keep saying, someday I will get to travel back and have more time to enjoy everything that I saw so quickly,”

Returning from London, Giebner was immediately put into two boots with no running allowed for six weeks. Giebner actually waited eight weeks before training for the Berlin Marathon. Even with a shortened amount of time to prepare for Berlin, Giebner finished that race in a time of 3:40 and followed that up with a best-of-the-year-time of 3:33 in Chicago. And just a few weeks ago, Giebner finished the Abbott World Marathon Majors with a time of 3:45 in New York City.

“I was very happy with all of my times and finishes in 2018, especially with overcoming an injury,” Giebner said.

For the second time in the London Marathon, Giebner ran for the Action on Pre-Eclampsia charity, Pre-Eclampsia is a pregnancy condition characterized by high blood pressure and signs of damage to another organ system, often the kidneys.

“They are a wonderful organization that I support whole heartedly,” Giebner continued. “I actually had an experience on my way by train the morning of the London Marathon. My friend Tom and I were waiting to catch a train and I was wearing a sweatshirt with my name on it and the charity’s name that I was running for. A girl walked over to me with tears in her eyes and thanked me. She said that this disease affected her personally and she needed me to know how appreciative she was. That touched my heart. It was in that moment that I knew I was really helping others. I mean, I have always loved trying to raise money for charities, but you never really see or get to meet the people you are helping. This was a wonderful moment for me, it made the day extra special for me.”

While running for an admirable cause, Giebner is also running to set an example her students at Pine Valley Central School to show them nothing is impossible.

“I wanted to set good examples for my students at Pine Valley Central School,” she said. “I want to show them by my example that it is never too late to set goals and then to go out and do the work necessary to achieve those goals, I also like to implement as much as I can into my curriculum about the journeys that I’ve been fortunate to have traveled. We talk about history, currency, geography, and so much more. I’ve brought back photographs, artifacts, food and candy to share with my students. That has been very rewarding for me.”

With two Abbott World Marathon Majors added to her list, is a third one in the future, becoming one of possibly only 15 people in the world to hold that title?

“It’s crossed my mind,” Giebner said with a laugh. “I would only need to do the overseas marathons again. I’ve already got enough of the USA ones to put towards a third Six Star Medal.”

But in the meantime, Giebner concluded, “I do have some exciting plans in mind for the future that aren’t all about running. I’m still going to run for sure. That will continue as long as my body allows it, I will just cut back a bit. A day just doesn’t feel complete to me unless I can lace up and work up an awesome sweat from a great run. I do have a few marathons planned for 2019. I will be back in Boston in April, Chicago next October, and NYC in November. I’m seriously in love with the World Major Marathons. For now, I’m going to rest a bit and enjoy the holidays with family and friends.”