Zoë Romano is no stranger to the running lifestyle. As an ultra-runner, Romano frequently runs distances longer than a standard 26-mile marathon, her longest coming in at 50 total miles.

This summer Romano will become the first person, ever, to run the route of the Tour de France, a nine-week experience beginning in Nice and ending in Paris. The kicker? She will be running 30 to 35 miles every day … for 64 days.
“It’s easy just to show up for running, but with no team and no coach things become a bit harder.

It’s just you and your shoes and you must persevere,” says Romano of her Tour de France training.

“I was initially considering running the coast of Iceland,” says Romano. “After consideration and many ideas I decided on running the Tour de France course. The Tour de France is male only and it’s a grueling race. There’s something inspiring about being able to say I’m not going to cycle it—

To prepare for the Tour de France, Romano has continued her running regimen of 19-mile runs during the week and longer runs of 25 to 30 miles on Saturdays. Up at 7:30 daily, Romano takes the morning for coffee and breakfast before running until 12:30 or later. Her afternoons are spent recovering while catching up on email, interviews, and community outreach about her philanthropic contributions. “My day doesn’t really get started until I get a run in. Runners are great to be around after they run,” says Romano, “but not so great if they haven’t. Running is my routine, my spiritual time.” The last hour of Romano’s day is her “maintenance hour,” spent stretching, icing, and working knots out of her muscles with massage or a foam roller.
Romano opened up about her running during Richmond’s TEDx conference this year. “It was a little daunting to be chosen! It was one of the top experiences in my life and was so humbling,” says Romano. “I listened to TED Talks on the U.S. Run and getting to participate in Richmond’s TEDx was my chance to be part of this movement, earning my spot.” Even the TEDx experience couldn’t break Romano’s schedule—she snuck out in the afternoon to get a run in.

Just in case running 19 or more miles daily isn’t enough, Romano is raising funds through her Tour de France run for World Pediatric project, a non-profit providing diagnostic and surgical care to children in Central America and the Caribbean. The organization develops sustainable medical practice and in-country programs for sickness prevention.

“I feel very strongly about World Pediatric Project and their mission,” says Romano, who has experience with the risks of sickness going undetected. “Spring semester of my sophomore year at the University of Richmond I developed a bad case of strep throat. I continued running and playing soccer, eventually landing myself in the ICU with an infection requiring a breathing tube. I had a team of doctors caring for me and had the next surgery available on the docket. I’m so thankful and can’t imagine something like that happening where services aren’t available to help. That’s why I’m helping World Pediatric Project as much as I can. I can relate and have seen the importance of their mission.”

Romano’s boyfriend, filmmaker Alexander Kreher, will be shooting a full-length documentary about her nine-week Tour de France experience, capturing not only the physical, but mental accomplishment of her experience. Kreher previously worked on Sweet Dreams, an award-winning short documentary about Romano’s run across the United States in 2011. To support the documentary Kreher has launched the Kickstarter campaign “Zoë Goes Running” to raise funds for the project.

What keeps Romano motivated day after day, mile after mile? “It sounds simple, but being outside on a trail running is motivation enough. “You don’t need much for running, in my opinion. I need a healthy body, strong legs, a good pair of sneakers, hair tie or bandanna, and a beautiful piece of land.” Romano’s favorite place to run thus far is Germany, close to Kreher’s home village surrounded by large hills and small mountains.
“The Tour de France is going to be a huge challenge, but after that I’ll come back to Richmond and focus on top-level performance for a while. I’ve had to throw speed out the window, to some extent, for my Tour de France training. It will be nice to focus on it again in the future.”

More than anything Romano is inspired by the chance to start something new. “Beginnings inspire me. We can achieve so much if we begin it,” she says. “There’s a quote from Goethe that has inadvertently become my motto. ‘Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.’ That’s how I’m living my life. I don’t know what the Tour de France will look like. It’s an important and scary step to begin something, but an essential one.”
Follow Zoë’s Tour de France journey on her blog, zoegoesrunning.com or on facebook.com/zoegoesrunning.