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While some teachers spent the second week of September easing into their school routines, Megan Eckert<\/a> was making more ultrarunning history.<\/p>\n The New Mexico middle school math teacher shattered the six-day women\u2019s world record and the American men\u2019s record by running 636.482 miles, completing her feat on Wednesday morning in Balatonf\u00fcred, Hungary.<\/p>\n The 40-year-old entered<\/a> the Global Organization of Multi-Day Ultramarathoners Six-Day World Championship aiming to break both records. She finished as the event\u2019s overall winner, beating Norwegian Simen Holvik, who logged 584.631 miles.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the longest and the shortest thing,\u201d she told Runner\u2019s World<\/a> after the race. \u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable. There\u2019s so much that goes on, so many ups and downs. But we had a good time. It\u2019s going to take a long time to process.\u201d<\/p>\n This was the second time she has broken the women\u2019s world record: she set it for the first time last year by running 603.155 miles at the world championships in France. The men\u2019s American record (606.243 miles) had stood since Joe Fejes set it in 2015.<\/p>\n Eckert surpassed both marks by more than 30 miles. The results are pending ratification by the International Association of Ultrarunning<\/a>.<\/p>\n The feat involved 1,140 loops around a 0.5581-mile flat and paved track. Eckert maintained an average pace of 4.420 miles per hour over the 144-hour stretch, which included pauses for rest, food and logistics.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t even know six-day runs existed until a few years ago, but I fell in love with them the minute I found them,\u201d she told the Guardian recently. \u201cWhen I\u2019m training for a big goal like the American men\u2019s record, I don\u2019t dwell on fear because I get so excited about how the goal is pushing me to train harder \u2013 and how I get to go and run with a community who\u2019s turning the same 144-hour race into our own little world.\u201d<\/p>\n