Health scare spurs ultra-marathon run

After an attack of adult-onset asthma, a Denmark resident has decided to take charge of her life and undertake a 250km ultra-marathon.

Janine Watts, 50, last month completed the Big Red Run challenge, a six-day marathon across the Simpson Desert in Queensland that raised money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund.

Ms Watts said after the asthma attack and a consequential anaphylactic reaction to the antibiotics she was prescribed, she began training by running 120km to 150km a week for the marathon, spurred by a need to improve her health.

"I realised that I was going to have to do something," she said.

"Either be a cripple for the rest of my life and a slave to my lungs not working or I was going to have to make a change."

Despite tackling treacherous terrain, battling blisters and suffering though heatstroke, Ms Watts said after completing this marathon she felt she could tackle anything.

"I was looking for a challenge where you could just prove your endurance to yourself, so this is really about me proving to me that I'm still alive and kicking," she said.

"It just makes you appreciate your own body and your own self and your own strength."

Ms Watts, who raised just over $1000 for the organisation, has now set her sights on a 24-hour track race in Bunbury later this month.