About

Camille Herron is an ultrarunner, scientist, coach, public speaker, and model. She is known for running with her hair down, a big smile, and eating tacos to fuel ultramarathons. Her tagline, “Let the magic come out!”, characterizes what she feels inside and making the most of her blessed talents as a human and athlete. She raises her arms at the finish line to symbolize “wings”, in celebration of who she dedicates each race to.

As a child, she was diagnosed with a Central Auditory Processing Disorder, didn’t have all of her hearing, and took speech therapy until she was 9 to learn how to communicate. She was also in the gifted program. Because of her inability to talk, she would smile to communicate her joy and happiness. In 2024, she was late diagnosed as Autistic/ADHD. Her parents put her in dance, sports, and music activities to help her overcome her shyness and develop her confidence. Learning to overcome her disabilities and body quirks have taught her to work hard, be kind, be a good human, and to stand up for herself and others. She has overcome numerous challenges in her life, including almost drowning when she was three, losing her home to a tornado in high school, seven stress fractures in high school and college, and survived a rollover car accident in 2019. She has gratitude for her life and making a difference in the world.

Since becoming a runner in 1995, she’s channeled her Forrest Gump-like focus to accumulate 113,000+ lifetime running miles so far, averaging 10.3 miles per day for 29+ yrs. She is figuratively “running to the moon”, which is 238,855 miles. She started a running streak in July 2021. Being Autistic, she is highly regimented, running twice a day or more most days and accurately maintains her lifetime mileage to six decimal places.

She committed to Ultrarunning in 2015 and is a four-time IAU International Ultrarunner of the Year, six-time USATF Ultrarunner of the Year, and an 8-time USATF Athlete of the Week. In 2024, she was inducted into the Road Runners Club of America Distance Running Hall of Fame.

She is the only athlete who’s won all of the IAU Ultra Road World Championships (50km, 100km, and 24Hrs). She is the first ultrarunner to win both the prestigious Comrades Marathon and Spartathlon. In 2023, she became the first woman to break 24 hours at the grueling 153-mile Spartathlon (22:35:31).

Since 2015, she has set numerous Ultra World and American Records/Bests between 50 miles and 6 Days- shattering time and distance barriers for women. She was the first woman to run sub 5:40 for 50 miles, 150+ km for 12 hours, sub 13 hours for 100 miles, 270+ km for 24 hours, 430+ km for 48Hrs, and 900+ km for 6 days. She is the first and only woman to run 100 miles under 13 hours and has done so on road, track, and trail.

In 2023, she became the first woman to surpass a men’s American Record, when she improved the women’s 48Hr World Record by 14.8 miles to 270.505 miles (435.336km)- which also ranked her 3rd best ever in the world behind only two men. In March 2024, she set 13 American/World Records/Bests between 48 hours and 6 days.

She has crossed over to trailrunning as well, with competitive wins at the JFK 50 miles, Bandera 100km, Black Canyon 100km, Tunnel Hill 100 (Course Record and Trail Best 12:42:40), Tarawera 100km and 100 miles (Course Records for both), and the Javelina Jundred (Course Record in 14:03:23). She has numerous overall wins on road/track/trail, beating all of the men.

Additionally, she is a 3-time Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier (personal best of 2:37:14), 21-time marathon winner, competed on the 2011 US Pan American Team in the marathon (9th place), and set the Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon in a superhero costume (2:48:51 dressed as Spiderwoman). In April 2022, she became the youngest woman to reach 100,000 lifetime running miles.

She has lived a life of integrity, service, and leadership, which she credits as values instilled by her parents and grandparents. She has served on the USATF Women’s Long Distance Running Committee as Secretary since 2012 and was voted the 2021 Contributor of the Year. She is a member of the Pro Trailrunners Association, serving on the Women's Equality and Anti-Doping Working Groups. She served as Team USA Athlete Services Co-Coordinator for the 2015 Pan American Games. In 2023, she was accepted into the US Department of State Sports Diplomacy Program.

She is a passionate advocate for women's health, equality, diversity and inclusion, anti-doping, perimenopause, mental health, and increasing women's sports science studies. In 2023, she helped launch the FURTHER initiative, which included women-focused research, product development, and a 6-day event. In March 2024, she competed as one of 10 athletes in the FURTHER 6 day event and research initiative in which all 10 women ran further than they ever have.

She formerly worked as a research specialist in bone imaging and co-authored manuscripts. She earned her B.S. in Exercise and Sport Science at The University of Tulsa in 2005 (honored as a Top 10 Senior) and her M.S. in Exercise and Sport Science at Oregon State University in 2007. Camille is a native Oklahoman, having graduated from Westmoore High School in 2000 as a Valedictorian. In high school, she was a 3-time All-Stater in Cross Country, 3-time State Champion on the track, an Oklahoma Girl’s State attendee, and made the All-State band on the French horn. She is now based in Tucson, AZ with her husband and coach, Conor Holt.

WORLD RECORDS/BESTS by surface- ratified by USATF, IAU, and GOMU

WORLD CHAMPION

• 2015 50km World Championship (Individual)

• 2015 100km World Championship (Individual)

• 2015 100km World Championship (Team)

• 2019 24 Hours World Championship (Individual)

• 2019 24 Hours World Championship (Team)