It’s common courtesy to make room for a mother who’s pushing three kids in a stroller. But, Cynthia Arnold is a mother who leaves you with no other choice. That’s because she’s a force of nature. The 34-year-old from Polson, Montana broke the world-record for the fastest half-marathon run with a three-child stroller.

She ran the 13.1-mile course at the Missoula Marathon on July 15 in 1:29:08. That’s a 6:48 per mile pace while pushing her lollipop-licking 6-year-old, three-year-old and 11-month-old children. Not only did she shatter the previous record by almost 20 minutes, but she placed 14th among women overall and third-place in her age group.

However, it was accomplishing the feat with her kids the really made the all-out effort special.

“It was more of a parent moment than a running moment,” she told Runner’s World.

Arnold, a Montana native, ran track and cross-country in college, and at the suggestion of her husband to go after the stroller-pushing half-marathon record, she put her heart into training. However, the way her training was going, she never thought she’d come close to making history.

“I think it’s windier here, where I live. When the wind hits the stroller it’s a real, huge draft. And the uphill are really hard. And I think our bike paths here where I’ve been running there’s a lot of wind and there’s a lot of uphill. That’s why I was a lot slower in training,” Arnold told Montana Sports.

 

 

As for her next running adventure? She would like to run a full marathon while pushing her three kids.

For the record, fellow Montana mother, Theresa Marie Pitts, set the record for pushing a three-child stroller in the 2017 Missoula Marathon when she completed the 26.2-mile course in 4 hours, 25 minutes. She ended up pushing 145 pounds in front of her the whole way. Not to mention, she had never run the distance before.

Who knows what’s in the Montana water, but maybe these two moms and their combined six-children will toe the starting line together next year at the Missoula Marathon. If that happens, get your popcorn ready. May the best mom win.