Breastfeeding mom becomes first woman to win brutal 268-mile race

Jasmin Paris, a scientist and breastfeeding mother, has become the first woman to win the Montane Spine Race -- one of the toughest endurance contests in the world. What's more, she completed the race distance of 268 miles in 83 hours, breaking the previous record by 12 hours.

A 35-year-old pursuing research at Edinburgh University, Scotland, Jasmin has participated in ultra-marathons before but this was her first crack at the Montane Spine Race.

Jasmin had to compete against more than 130 people from 15 countries, including previous year's winners. In addition, she had to take a few stops for pumping breast milk for her daughter, besides eating and taking a quick nap, which cost her about three hours in all.

“I had thought I would have stopped breastfeeding by this point and tried when Rowan was one, but over Christmas, she got two viruses and I had to go back to feeding her multiple times throughout the night to soothe her,” she told the Guardian. 

Jasmin had to carry a backpack weighing more than 5 kg which contained her emergency supplies and food. To be able to carry that much weight all through the race, she trained herself to carry her baby and run. “My coach told me to get a weight vest to practise running with a backpack. But I thought, I have a baby, I’ll take her. It was decent training,” she said.

The gruelling race started giving her hallucinations in the last few hours but the thought of being reunited with her daughter kept her going. Though she's become famous by winning the race, she isn't planning to let it affect her. Jasmin is already looking forward to getting back to her research and writing her thesis.