But her biggest challenge so far is this Queens race, known as the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3,100 Mile Race, which organizers call the longest certified foot race in the world.

There are six male and four female entrants, and all are runners except Ms. Holder. She says walking is less wearing and fatiguing than running, so she can get by with only a 15-minute nap or two, and continue logging miles until midnight to meet a daily average of about 60 miles required over the races 52 days to complete the 3,100 miles, well beyond the distance from New York to Los Angeles.

Its the tortoise and the hare, man, said Shamus Babcock, who volunteers to help Ms. Holder with snacks and drinks. You have nine hares and one tortoise.

Ms. Holder laughed at this and repeated one of her mantras.

I like to say, I walk, you run, we both get it done, she said, but then allowed that, At night, my competitive side comes out.

I tell everyone, Watch your back because Im gaining on you, she said.

So far in the race, which began on June 18 and is scheduled to finish on Aug. 8, Ms. Holder has walked about 1,900 miles in in 33 days, sleeping only three and a half hours a night.

The race is organized by the followers of the Indian spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy, who died in 2007. His disciples remain devout and continue to practice his teachings of extreme physical feats of endurance and achievement as a path to spiritual enlightenment and transcendence.

Nine of this years 10 entrants are disciples of Mr. Chinmoy. Ms. Holder is not, but she was invited to participate because of her impressive athletic rsum, showing that she had mastered the ability to withstand the mental and physical torture to have a shot at completing the race, said Sahishnu Szczesiul, a race director.

Among the onlookers recently was Ashrita Furman, a disciple of Mr. Chinmoy.

Shes not a disciple, but she has that feeling of self-transcendence, said Mr. Furman, who is not an ultramarathoner but is rather the worlds foremost record-breaker. He holds the record for having the most Guinness World Records, having set more than 600, from pogo stick-jumping to underwater unicycling.

Mr. Babcock, an ultramarathoner himself, said that for Ms. Holder, Its a personal journey, but its still a race.

Shes humble and very nice, but shes as fierce a competitor as anybody out there, said Mr. Babcock, laying a towel on the concrete so that Ms. Holder could lie down for a few minutes to take a short nap.

Her body will not stay down for more than that, he said. If the race is on, shes moving.

Ms. Holder, who is married with two grown children, began walking after her parents died from complications related to diabetes. She said she walked to honor them and to raise health and fitness awareness.

At age 50 she decided she would try to enter 50 marathons in 50 weeks, she said, and has completed two, or sometimes three, marathons per week.

The Walking Diva said she would have to repeat some of her outfits because luggage limitations required that she bring only 30 of them to the Queens race. To prepare, Ms. Holder said she spent months walking 30 miles a day in her neighborhood, but nothing really prepares you for it.

She has continued, through heat waves and harrowing humidity, through rainstorms and various injuries, including mental stress. Bouts with dehydration, a stomach virus and numerous blisters have slowed but not stopped her. She noted that she had completed marathons on sprained ankles and with broken ribs.

On a recent day she walked past handball courts and Bengali teenagers playing cricket on the asphalt playground, and past a driver who parked his yellow cab to do some walking on the racecourse.

She said hello to some passers-by, but mostly maintained a calm concentration and a steady gait. Unlike many runners, Ms. Holder shuns headphones, opting instead for meditation and prayer while walking.

The main thing is just believing in myself and accomplishing what I set out to do, she said, adding that she is also inspired by her past failures.

Of roughly 540 distance races, she has failed to finish only five times, she said. She said she took the printed documentation of those disappointing results and framed them to display at home.

Everyone knows that when Yolanda sets out to do something, she accomplishes it, she said about her own toughness. If I dont finish this race, something went wrong.

A version of this article appears in print on July 21, 2017, on Page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: A Racewalkers Stats From Start to Finish: 3,100 Miles, 52 Days, 30 Outfits.

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A Diva Who Is Not Above Walking 3100 Miles - New York Times