Fastest mile blindfolded (female)

The fastest mile blindfolded (female) is 7 min 19.63 sec, and was achieved by Megan Merenda (USA) in Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA, on 13 November 2021.

In April 2021, Megan, her sister and a friend decided to see what it would feel like to run blindfolded. She explains how it felt: "It was an amazing experience! And, when I checked my time, it wasn’t as slow as I expected. So, I checked the records and thought I’d see if I could beat the current record… I love to run and thought it would be a fun thing to do while also calling attention to a national issue that I care about!."

"I’ve worked in the nonprofit sector for about 15 years and care about raising awareness around issues that the public isn’t necessarily aware of… and I know how difficult it can be to get the attention of people who are bombarded with information every day! Long story short, my combined love of running and passion for raising awareness for water issues in the United States inspired me to attempt a Guinness World Records title."

"I started running after I got divorced 10 years ago… I was in a tough place and wanted a healthy way to deal with my stress and grief. But then I really started to love running and ran more and more miles every year. In 2021, I ran over 1,100 miles… and loved (almost, ha!) every minute of it! However, I’m nothing special: I’m not the fastest runner and I cannot run exceptionally long distances. I had no idea that the fastest blindfolded mile was a record until I attempted to run a mile blindfolded just for the fun of it. It was such an interesting experience to really connect with how it feels to run, without the benefit of sight I found myself paying more attention to how the wind felt on my face, how the ground felt under my feet, the sounds of my footsteps and the wind… it ended up being a really wonderful experience! It wasn’t until after I ran the mile blindfolded that I decided to see if there was a current world record for this “skill”… and then I realized I actually had a shot at beating the current record, so I went for it!"

"Because I did the record attempt in the Black Rock desert (I had the honor of attempting this record on Kooyooe Tukadu (Pyramid Lake Paiute) tribal lands!), we needed a professional surveyor to mark the one-mile course which took several hours and I was getting more and more nervous about the attempt. Also, there had been several storms in the weeks leading up to the attempt (we had actually moved the attempt date a few times because of water being present on the playa which made it very, very muddy!) so there was a portion of the course that was very soft. At the end of the run you can hear my sister saying that we were getting to the soft part of the playa and see me picking up my feet in a weird way because the ground was really mushy feeling and I thought I was going to fall! I’m so very glad I didn’t!!"

"I grew up being in awe of Guinness World Record title holders, especially people who had athletic records of any kind. It would feel unbelievable to join the ranks of amazing people who have the honor of being title holders! Being the fastest woman in the world to do what I did would feel absolutely amazing!".