Becca Pizzi

Rebecca Pizzi (born 1980) is an American marathon runner from Belmont, Massachusetts.

She graduated Belmont High School in 1998, and Mars Hill College in 2002, competing in track and field and cross country running in both institutions.

Her 2000 Mars Hill cross country team was the first such team from Mars Hill to compete at the NCAA National Championship meet.

She was part of a South Atlantic Conference championship team for each of four years, serving as the team captain during her senior year.

After college, she was a coach for the Team In Training leukemia fundraising marathon program.

She had run it fifteen times by 2015, as well as 45 marathons in 27 states.

After college, she started the Belmont Track Club.

Pizzi credits her father, who ran competitively for the University of Massachusetts, for her running inspiration.

She started running with him at the age of six, completing her first race that same year.

She ran her first Boston Marathon at the age of 17, her longest race before college, and had run it 15 times by 2015.

Her running goal is to run a marathon in every state, and she had run 45 marathons in 27 states by 2015.

Before the World Marathon Challenge, she had never had an injury in 30 years of running.

Pizzi returned to Belmont after graduation, where she started the Belmont Track club.

She runs weekly with the Boston Bulldogs Running Club, an addiction recovery support group.

Pizzi works two jobs, owning a day care and managing an ice cream parlor.

She was a single mother of a young daughter (she continued to run while pregnant, until 2 days before giving birth).

Following in her footsteps, her daughter ran her first race at the age of six.

Pizzi says that as soon as she heard about the World Marathon Challenge, she knew she had to run it.

Only one American, Timothy Durbin, and only one woman, Marianna Zaikova of Finland, had completed the series of seven marathons on seven continents (Union Glacier, Antarctica; Punta Arenas, Chile; Miami, Florida; Madrid, Spain; Marrakesh, Morocco; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Sydney, Australia) in seven consecutive days.

Pizzi had never been to any continent besides North America.

She first consulted her daughter, receiving criticism from her daughter's friends.

Her daughter approved, saying: "Mom, finish strong."

In preparation, which she started January 1, 2015, Pizzi ran 70–100 miles a week before her daughter woke up, then did further training at nighttime, including yoga and cross-training that totaled 30 hours a week.

She also continued to work at the ice cream parlor and day care.

By the time of competition, she got more sleep on the plane flights during the challenge (seven hours per night), than during her preparation (five hours).

Her race preparation received national and international coverage.

The entry fee was $36,000.

Pizzi had to ask for additional time in order to find sponsors to help cover the cost.

Ultima Replenisher, a maker of electrolyte-replacement drinks, Dr. Cool ice wraps, and Lyon-Waugh Auto group, a local car dealership, together covered 75% of the cost.

The first two also provided their products to help her run.

A Belmont bank hosted an autograph signing session for her departure, donated money in her name to the Belmont Food Pantry, and followed her progress via its website.

On the first marathon, January 23, on a glacier in Antarctica, the sub-zero temperatures made Pizzi's iPod freeze and burst.

She would later say it was her least favorite run because of the cold, but also her favorite and most memorable run because of the beauty and silence.

Her standard running partner, a Boston attorney, ran with her in Chile.

In the North American marathon, in Miami, Pizzi was watched by friends, including the owner of the ice cream shop she manages, and her running coach from Mars Hill.

She ran the last six miles with a nine-year-old girl whom she has mentored.

In 2016 she was the first American woman to complete the World Marathon Challenge, a series of seven marathons on seven continents in seven consecutive days, for which she holds the current record.

She finished each race well ahead of all the other four women runners, and ahead of nine of the eleven men competitors.

In 2018, she became the first woman to complete the World Marathon Challenge twice, again winning the women's overall race, and six of the seven individual marathons.

Starting running at age six with her father, Pizzi ran her first race that year and her first Boston Marathon at age seventeen.