BOSTON -- A Charlton, Mass., woman is expected to become the Guinness World Record holder for running seven marathons on seven different continents.

Jeanne Stawiecki, 56, is expected to complete her seven-marathon quest at the Antarctica Marathon on Feb. 26. Finishing the Antarctica Marathon would give Stawiecki the world record, accomplishing the feat in 141 days, breaking the current record by 68 days and making her the first woman to have completed this challenge. A sheep farmer from New Zealand is the only other person to have run seven marathons on seven different continents.

"I didn't set out trying to set it -- it just happened that way," Stawiecki said. "I love running, and I love challenges and pushing myself to the absolute limits of living my life and not just living on the sidelines."

Stawiecki, a nurse at UMass Memorial in Worcester, began running at 38 when she decided to quit smoking.

"I was trying to quit smoking, and I took up running to keep from gaining weight,” she said. "I love running. It’s helped me a lot as a stress reliever."

Preparing for a marathon is challenging enough, but the special conditions in Antarctica make preparation extra important.

"The temperature is usually around 32 degrees, but it can be in the single digits or as high as 38 degrees," said Thom Gilligan, race director of the Antarctica Marathon and president of Marathon Tours and Travel. "The temperature can drop 20 degrees in 15 minutes."

Stawiecki, a 3 hour, 45 minute finisher in most of her previous marathons, said she had been preparing for the unpredictable conditions by running outside in the frigid Massachusetts winter.

Gilligan has been organizing the travel plans for Stawiecki’s other marathons and is the one who told her about the world record.

"I was actually trying to climb the seven highest summits, and I read in Smithsonian Magazine about the Antarctic marathon," Stawiecki said. "I talked to Thom, and he told me I would be first woman to do this, and I love running so I thought, 'Why not.'"

Stawiecki’s six previous marathons on her way to the world record were in Melbourne Austrialia, the Pacifico Marathon in Chile, ING Miami marathon, the Dubai marathon for the Asian leg of her tour, Valencia Spain and Soweto South Africa.

"The most challenging or the six I’ve done for this has been the South African marathon,” Stawiecki said. "It was 6,000 feet above sea level, and they changed the course from previous years so there were a lot of hills."

Once she completes her seven-marathon challenge, Stawiecki doesn’t plan to just sit back and relax. Her next goal is to summit the seven highest mountains in the world. She has already completed six of them and plans to complete the seventh, Mt. Everest, in May 2007.

Her work won't stop there though, she said. Once Stawiecki has climbed Mt. Everest and returns home, she hopes to start her own business and travel the country as a motivational speaker.

“I want to start my own business, a makeup line designed for the active woman,” she said. “I also hope to become a motivational speaker. A lot of women hit 50 and say their lives are over, but I really think women are incredible. Women are so inspired by my story. It’s exciting for them to realize that their life isn’t over when they get older. I get a big kick out of seeing women change their lifestyles.”