Woman runs 120-mile length of Long Island

It takes three pairs of shoes to complete a 120-mile, all-night run from the Queens-Nassau border to Montauk Point.

Alicja Barahona, 57, of White Plains completed the run Sunday after about 30 hours on Long Island roads. She twice changed shoes and, at times, required Tylenol and ice for the pounding to her feet and legs.

An ultramarathoner who last month ran 230 miles on the Canadian arctic tundra, Barahona said her body had not recovered enough from that effort to do her best on Long Island where she'd hoped to finish in about 28 hours.

"To do 230 miles in subzero temps and after three weeks to do this run, 120 more miles, it was a little bit too much even for my body," she said. "I am an ultrarunner, but the distances were a little bit too long."

Barahona said she ran to raise money for Long Island breast cancer research, though she didn't know yesterday how successful she'd been on that front.

Other than the physical pounding, Barahona said her toughest challenge was running through the night on the dark, heavily trafficked Montauk Highway.

"There's not always a shoulder. People at night, they are just screaming at you when they pass," she said. She has an idea about her next length-of-Long Island adventure: "Next time," she said, "I'll try biking it."