My Journey to Guinness: "Walking Diva" Walking My Way into the Guinness Book of World Records

By Yolanda Holder

Yolanda Holder is the Guinness World Record holder of Most Marathons Run in a Calendar Year. She power walked 106 marathons in 2010 and has more than 14 years of power walking marathons. Her goal is to empower, motivate and encourage people to get fit, be healthy, and raise awareness for health and fitness in adults. Yolanda lives in California and is married with two grown children.

Never EVER underestimate the power of the walker. You know how many times The Walking Diva has smoked me in a marathon? And I'm a superhero! And the kicker is that she looks like a super model on the runway every time, even after 26.2 grueling miles. Yolanda Holder is truly a gem!" - -Endorphin Dude-

Yolanda is a true Champion, both as a runner and as a caring human being. As a runner, Yolanda displays raw courage and perservance and will finish a race, whether 5 miles or 100 miles, despite extreme fatigue and injury. However, when Yolanda sees someone struggling or in need of help or encouragement, Yolanda's focus moves from the race to finding a way to encourage and help the person struglling. Yolanda is a wonderful person, whom I can proud to call my friend.
-Larry Macon, Three time Guinness World Record holder-

"In 2010 Yolanda Holder set a world record. Inspired to give a greater voice to diabetes, Yolanda set out to complete 106 marathons in 52 weeks. Without any outside assistance or funding, she achieved all her goals and became known as the "Walking Diva." Yolanda is a friend to many and an inspiration to thousands. Her story is a remarkable journey of strength, conviction and sheer determination."
-Joseph Taricani, Show Host
The Marathon Show

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781468562798

Yolanda Holder

Yolanda Holder is the Guinness World Record holder of “Most Marathons Run in a Calendar Year”. She power walked 106 marathons in 2010 and has more than 14 years of power walking marathons. Her goal is to empower, motivate and encourage people to get fit, be healthy, and raise awareness for health and fitness in adults. Yolanda lives in California and is married with two grown children.

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© 2012 by Yolanda Holder. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 03/26/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4685-6280-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-6279-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012904574

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Marathon Listings &

Completion Times

About the Author

Dedication

God grant me the Serenity

To accept the things I cannot change

Courage to change the things I can and

Wisdom to know the difference

-Serenity Prayer-

The Diving Board

This book is dedicated to my father James Wesley Hampton who passed away July 7, 2003. My father who we called Jimmy was a recovering alcoholic who believed in the Twelve Step Program. My fondest memory at the age of ten was when he took me and a few of my other sibling swimming at the YMCA. I had learned to jump off the edge of the pool into the deep end which was 8 or 10 feet. Each jump I screamed with joy Jimmy watch. After about three or four times jumping off the edge, Jimmy said, Jump off the diving board. I looked at him with fear in my eyes and replied okay. As I climbed up the ladder, which was only three steps, fear set in and my heart began to pound. I walked to the end of the diving board and looked down, I wanted to turn and run back. I looked over at Jimmy and he said jump, you will come up to the top and swim to me. The line for the diving board was getting long, but the kids were patient because they knew this was my first jump off the diving board. Jimmy said to me, trust me you can do it, jump! Finally after what felt like hours standing there I jumped, floated to the top and swam to Jimmy. He replied, The first jump is always the hardest. As the years went by and I ran into scary or unsettling situations, Jimmy would always remind me of the Diving Board. This was one of those life lessons that stayed with me. My journey to Guinness had a lot of bumps in the road but Jimmy was with me every step of the way. When fear got in the way, the Diving Board always came to mind.

Acknowledgments

To thank everyone who has helped me on my journey would be impossible. There is however key people that played significant roles in my life that I would like to acknowledge.

First I would like to thank my husband Roger. He has always believed in me and has