Aberdeenshire runners complete 106 marathons in 106 days
Fay Cunnigham and Emma Petrie completed their first run on February 19
Two Aboyne runners have smashed a world record after running 106 marathons in as many days, all in the name of charity.
Emma Petrie, 26, and Fay Cunningham, 35, each lost a parent within the last couple of years and decided to raise money in memory of them.
Emma lost her Mum due to cancer two years ago and ran for Macmillan Cancer Support, whilst Fay's Dad passed away shortly before they began the challenge with Motor Neuron Disease (MND), she ran to raise money for the MND Association.
The fundraiser currently sits at more than £32,000 and will be open for another while as they chase their goal of £100,000. (You can donate here).
"We basically saw the two people that were super influential in getting us active and getting us outdoors have that ability taken away from them", said Fay.
"So the idea was to do a big challenge where we could say to people, push your limits and do what you can while you can, because you never know when it's going to get taken away from you."
The duo had set out to run 100 marathons in as many days, finishing at the Edinburgh Marathon on Sunday on May 29.
That quickly changed, however, after two more attempts at the world record were announced, forcing them to up it to 106 to ensure they broke it.
Fay says that the mental battle was tough to endure, "At the beginning it was really physical, we felt like we'd been hit by a bus in the first couple of weeks with the body trying to adapt.
"Probably after day 50 it became more mental, just the thought of having to put your trainers on every morning, running a marathon through wind or rain or snow, or sometimes the heat, we've had every every type of weather!"
Emma added, "We got over kind of the first hurdle in the two weeks and the body started adapting, it's just trying to stay focused and keep getting out of bed each day.
"People joined us, as did the wildlife and nature, it just kind of kept us going.
"The days turned out usually for the better, but there was one or two where we maybe would have wanted to stay in bed!"