“World records always break me” – Camille Herron earns more praise for brutally honest reaction

Camille Herron rightly received the plaudits this week after another incredible ultrarunning display.

The American star collected no fewer than 12 more world records at the innovative and inspiring Lululemon women’s-only ‘Further’ event in California.

They included logging over 560 miles to set a new women’s six-day best. And social media posts of her running watch showing the incredible stats (over 42,000 calories is a lot of tacos!), prompted thousands of congratulatory comments including this one from Kilian Jornet: “You’re a machiiiiine 🔥🔥🔥🔥 Congrats!!”

‘I was losing any control I had of my organs’

But just as impressive was her nearly no-holds barred description of what a feat like that asked of her body, especially as her joyous persona when running can sometimes disguise the effort required.

Writing on Instagram a couple of days later she explained: “I don’t feel well right now. World Records always break me in every way.

“6 days was an extreme overload that went beyond typical muscle/brain fatigue/pain. I was losing any control I had of my organs. The medical team was doing tests and helping me keep it together.

“My bladder/urinary tract went first. They put me on an antibiotic cause of a UTI. It helped a little, but I had to normalize incontinence. Then my bowels lost control the last 2 days. It felt like bumper cars inside, with my bowels in spasms from the jostling of running.

“My lips/tongue/mouth hurt from consuming massive quantities of food/beverages.

There’s things that happened out there I can’t talk about.

“Somehow I found a way to stay positive, happy, and to keep going. It was worth the pain and suffering.”

‘We are here for all this honesty!’

It was a stark reminder of the reality of what’s required to rewrite the record books and was applauded just as much as the numbers themselves, fellow ultra runner Sophie Power’s response being typical.

She said: “We are here for all this honesty! It is the story that is often never told, of what it actually takes to achieve these incredible feats.

“It is so empowering to those of us who strive for a fraction of what you achieve that it IS hard for you too. But you fight through. The whole FURTHER team have shown us women can do hard things!”