7 marathons in 7 days? Tampa couple is running around the world

Jill and Dougin Walker have big plans for the new year.

The Tampa couple will compete together in the World Marathon Challenge, running seven marathons on seven continents in seven consecutive days with more than 60 competitors.

"I don't really see us training for this," said Jill, 59. "The amount of Ironmans we do pretty much every weekend, our bodies are like 'Let's go, what are we doing this weekend?'"

The 2027 World Marathon Challenge begins Jan. 30 with a marathon in Antarctica.

From there, competitors travel around the globe to run in Cape Town, South Africa; Perth, Australia; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Madrid, Spain; and Fortaleza, Brazil before finishing with their seventh marathon in Miami on Feb. 5.

Jill and Dougin Walker will each run 183.4 miles while completing all seven marathons within 168 hours.

The husband-and-wife endurance athletes are no strangers to travel.

The Walkers are part of a five-person club whose members have completed every Ironman triathlon in the world.

They once competed in an Ironman challenge in Vietnam, and the following weekend they were in Jacksonville for another one.

In 2023, the couple completed six Ironman races on six continents in just six weeks.

The World Marathon will bring them to Antarctica for the first time.

Dougin, 61, said the travel for the World Marathon will be interesting, but they'll adjust with some ease because of how much they already travel.

"Jill's really good at sleeping anywhere, so she's fine," Dougin said. "I'll probably have more of a sleep-issue hangover by the end of the trip."

For the Walkers, taking on endurance challenges together has become something of a way of life.

Their wedding was during an Ironman in Cozumel.

They stopped after the first loop of the bike course, got married in a 30-minute ceremony and then returned to the course to finish the race.

"We just fit perfectly," Jill said. "We both go to bed at the same time because we want to go to bed at the same time, not because the other one is. We both wake up super early. We both love any kind of adventure."

A marathon experience like this is also a social event. "I'm looking forward to meeting everyone, making new friends, and we have a couple of other friends that will also be doing it," Jill said. "That'll be fun, too, to be doing it with them."

What's next for the Walkers after the World Marathon? More endurance challenges lie ahead.

They will travel to South Africa for the 100th Comrades Marathon in June 2027.

"It's the big event in the running world," Dougin said. "We thought it'd be really cool to be there for that. It's one I wanted to do for a while."

Both are longtime Boston Marathon runners; Jill is planning to complete her 15th consecutive Boston Marathon next year, and this will be Dougin's 12th.