Today’s One-on-One is with an amazing ultra-runner, Shannon Farar-Griefer. She’s been in the running world for 2 decades. Shannon began running after her first child and was dealing with some postpartum weight.
She ran her first marathon at age 35 and her first 100 mile race at 39. She has not only completed Badwater, but in 2001 was the first woman to complete a double Badwater. Meet this amazing woman who has risen above the heat, the pain and challenges in life — and keeps going.
Women in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s
- Lose their identity…who are they after marriage and children
- Shannon trains these women to be runners
- Out in the mountains, trail running, in nature
Double Badwater
- Her crew got her through it…they just kept pushing her
- The race took 51 hours and the temperature was 130 degrees at one point
- She had her feet taped because the ground temperatures were 180 degrees and melted her shoes
Life Changer
- Was running Javelina 100 and legs starting really hurting…pain got worse
- At first doctors thought it was nerve damage
- Diagnosed with aggressive MS
- Told she would be in a wheelchair within a year
- She got pregnant and pregnancy put the MS on hold
MS Comes Back
- Shannon has 60 lesions on her brain
- Is being treated and is not in a wheelchair
- Still walks and has run 5 miles
- MS has taught her to live everyday moment to moment
- This past April she did a 16 runner relay across the United States to raise money for MS
- Today she focuses on what she can do, not what she can’t do
