Tough Girl Podcast

Maddy is a 72-year-old runner, cyclist, mother of four, and grandmother to three. Her goal is to fight aging and show that we can do things long after we thought we couldn't. Maddy has always enjoyed being outside since she was a child. At school, she enjoyed sports and spent a lot of time swimming with her brother. Maddy has been running for more than four decades. She began running in 1977 at the age of 26. She was working for the military in a child guidance clinic in Munster, Germany. Maddy was just running for pleasure, and prioritises her children after work. She was a social worker before becoming a teacher. She joined the Harriers in the 1990s and began running seriously in 1997–98. She has competed in every imaginable race, as well as loads that no longer exist. In 2017, Maddy competed in over 30 races, winning the majority of them in her age category (V65). From 2004 to 2018, she ranked in the top 50 in the UK for her age group at distances ranging from 5K to marathon. She finished 14th among V65 wo

Amy Rusiecki is a full-time engineer with a passion for ultrarunning.  Amy, who has been running her entire life, started out with orienteering when she was only six years old before moving onto cross country running and then transitioning to road racing (during which time she escaped to the trails to train). During her ultrarunning career (Amy has completed 82 ultras and has won 33 of them), she has found confidence, joy and her husband.  She is the Race Director for the Vermont 100 and coaches other ultrarunners through The Run Formula.  She is a three-time member of the USA Trail Team, and is sponsored by Inov-8 and Drymax.  Amy, her husband and their kitty live in western Massachusetts and mainly race throughout the East Coast.   New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday and Thursday 7am UK time - Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out.  The Tough Girl Podcast is being sponsored throughout March by Inov-8. www.inov-8.com Get involved with the #MarchDailyMile Challenge. Run 1 mil

Ingrid has loved competitive sports since a young age. Originally swimming was her passion and she began swimming competitively at 6 years old, she swam throughout high school and attending UCLA (a division 1 school) where she swam competitively for 2 years, while studying Sociology.  After leaving college, Ingrid made the transition from swimming to running and also decided to become an actress. Played lifeguard Sheryl Whelan, on Baywatch as well as having roles on Scandal, Grey's Anatomy, Castle, and Parenthood, to name a few! At the age of 47 after running her fastest marathon ever, 2hr 48 mins in the 2019 LA Marathon.  Ingrid was feeling the strongest and fittest she’d ever been.  However, while training for her next challenge, she started to not feel well and after seeing her doctor was diagnosed with breast cancer. Ingrid underwent a double mastectomy, and continued to run while undergoing six rounds of chemotherapy as well as radiation. Ingrid is a member of Janes an elite women’s running group based

A Swiss-born ultrarunner, Luzia Buehler now lives in the mountains, trying to live a good life while protecting what is most important to her. Luzia has always been an athletic person since she was a child because of her great love for the outdoors and the mountains. Luzia discovered her passion for trail running when she was about 20 years old, and she has since competed in all of the most important international races. In 2016, Luzia competed in the Western States 100 race for the first time, finishing 27th (27hrs 03mins) and 11th (20hrs 23mins) in 2019. Having run this race twice, which has greatly prepared her, Luzia, 40, has rocked the world’s oldest 100-mile trail race, the Western States Endurance Run, by becoming the 4th place women's finisher in a time of 18 hours, 08 minutes last year. Luzia is also a social worker who enjoys skiing and snowboarding during the winter.   New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday and Thursday at 7am UK time - Subscribe so you don’t miss out.  The T

Allie spent a lot of her life seeking approval from people she thought were cool, believing that in order to be successful, you had to act a certain way. For her, success is seeing someone who doesn't believe they can do something transform into someone who does. After working for major record labels for 12 years, Allie realised that music, which she had once loved, was slowly killing her. Her dream career had turned her into a nightmare, and she was completely lost. Allie has struggled to find her place and suffers from depressive demons, anxiety, and existential misery. After taking part in the inaugural Rat Race Test Pilot trip to Mongolia in 2018, she realised it was the first time she had truly had time to stop, think, and be completely at peace. Fast forward, after three and a half years, numerous journeys, a pandemic, some questionable decisions, and a lot of planning and running, Allie is now coaching other people to do amazing things. Allie holds several world firsts to her name, including running ac

Rav is a mum of 3 teenagers and works as a management consultant.  Rav only found running later on in life when she was in her late 30’s. She started running to prove a point to someone who said she couldn’t run. Rav soon realised that fitness initiatives such as Park Run and races just weren’t for her.   Her joy for running came from the solitude and peace she found while on an empty trail or a calm street.   Rav now runs for fun, for her mental well being and to keep fit. In 2022 she completed a goal she had had for 20 years - running the London Marathon.   Rav is currently on a run streak where she has been running outside every day for almost 5 years. She is also training for her next challenge: a 32 mile / 52k Ultra Marathon in the Peak District taking place in the Summer of 2023!  “Find what makes you happy. Do more of it”   New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday and Thursday at 7am UK time - Subscribe so you don’t miss out.  The Tough Girl Podcast is being sponsored throughout Mar

Grace in her own words:   “I’m driven by the need to inspire other people of colour on to the trails.   I want to increase diversity and participation in endurance running.    I’m also tired of being the only Black person at endurance events and feeling like I don’t belong.    I’ve run 70+ marathons including ultras, and I’m still going.”     New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live in March every Tuesday and Thursday at 7am UK time - Hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss out.    The Tough Girl Podcast is being sponsored throughout March by Inov-8. www.inov-8.com   Get involved with the #MarchDailyMile Challenge. Run 1 mile everyday in March.      Show notes Being based on the South Coast of the UK Working as a management consultant  Starting running in 2009 Training for her first 10k Her early years and what she was like as a little girl Being sporty but not outdoorsy Her brothers and sisters Her children and grandchildren  Being supported and inspired by fellow runners Running her first 5k Being

Keri Wallace is the founder & guide at Girls on Hills, the UK’s only trail, fell and skyrunning company for women. After her second child, Keri decided to quit the desk-job and find a way to combine her passion for mountain running with flexible working, so that she could fulfil a life goal and be mum to two toddlers at the same time.   Keri in her own words:  “I started Girls on Hills with my colleague Nancy Kennedy in 2013, as a way to encourage more women to try trail and fell running. It was a terrifying leap of faith and a dream-come-true rolled into one. It felt like the opposite of a mid-life crisis though; like I’d finally found the confidence to stand up and do something I should have done a long time ago. But I had no idea whether it would take off!   We only ran a handful of courses the first year but it soon became clear that there was a real appetite out there for the kind of freedom and empowerment that comes with this type of running – across all ability levels.    I love guiding women aro

Kate in her own words... "My name is Kate Strong and I don’t believe in living a compromised life. From an early age, I felt I was different. I was curiously questioning almost everything I did, and realised that living within society’s comfort zone doesn’t always create inspiring and extraordinary results. My mission is to inspire and empower people just like you to step up and achieve what you know intuitively that you know you want. Add clarity, direction, a sense of purpose and methods to maintain your desire to move forward to achieve and live your dreams. For over two decades, I tried to fit in. I put what other people expected of me ahead of what I truly wanted to do. I was not being entirely me – I was conforming and compromising. At university, I studied Engineering – to please my parents (I did enjoy the challenge of learning a new topic, but being an engineer was never my dream). After graduating, I went to Latin America. Yet, I eventually ‘returned to normal’ and started to ‘settle down’ – followi

Nirjala is a 41-year-old Nepalese national triathlete and a mother of two. She was Nepal's national mountain biking champion for 12 years, from 2001 to 2012, and after dominating the mountain biking scene for 12 years, Nirjala was known as the "Mountain Queen" by her peers. Nirjala is now a triathlete on the Nepal National Team. On June 6th, 2021, Nirjala completed the UK Ultimate Triathlon event in Whitchurch after 15 hours and 13 minutes. The full Ironman distance includes 3.8 kilometers of swimming, 180 kilometers of cycling, and 42 kilometers of running. She then became the first Nepali female athlete to complete a full Ironman-distance triathlon. Her historic achievement was publicly recognized as the "First Nepalese Female Athlete to achieve" by Nepal Triathlon Association President, Mr. Nilendra Raj Shrestha.   New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday at 7am UK time - Subscribe so you don’t miss out.  You can support the mission to increase the amount of female role models in the

Camille Herron is an American ultramarathon runner. She was born on Christmas Day in Norman, Oklahoma. She credits her athletic ability and steely toughness to her grandpa, who earned two Purple Hearts in World War II, and her dad, who played college basketball at Oklahoma State University for 3-time Olympic Team Coach, Henry Iba. As a 7-year-old she would practice basketball without water until she would black out. When she was 17, her family became homeless when they lost their home in a tornado. She started running long on Sundays to celebrate her life. Camille won the 2017 Comrades Marathon and holds several World Record times at ultramarathon distances. She is the first and only athlete to win all three of the road IAU World Championships for 50K, 100K, and 24 Hours. Camille also holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon in a superhero costume. She is known for running with her hair down, drinking beer, and eating tacos during ultramarathons. In November 2017, she broke Ann Trason's 100-

Amy Aed is a travel writer and adventurer from Wales who was the first person to walk the entire Danube River. Amy was diagnosed with Crohn's disease at the age of 15, and the daily impact on her health was a struggle, but there’s nothing stopping her from living the life she wants. On 14th September 2022, Amy finally finished the 1770-mile journey and became the first person to walk the Danube river, more or less a year after she started. Amy is also the face behind the blog Wandering Everywhere. She enjoys writing raw, off-the-beaten-path guides to beautiful places. Amy's writing has been featured in Sick Chirpse, The New Welsh Review, Yahoo! Lifestyle, Buzz Magazine, Wanderlust Magazine, Buzzfeed, and many more. About the blog: Wandering Everywhere is a space filled with raw, off-the-beaten-track travel guides on gorgeous places, with a focus on solo female travel and travelling when there’s a million obstacles in front of you. This blog is for the travel-hungry, those who are on the constant search

Crystal Rose in her own words: “I am Crystal Hudelson (she/her) a cishet (both cisgender and heterosexual) gender Black woman I am a foster youth who was brought up by the state. This gives me incredible empathy for marginalized people which is what led me to my work with Climbers of Color (CoC). I am in love with sport climbing (specifically outdoor leading). Certifications: The American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) apprentice rock guide, Single Pitch Instructor All of my climb training focuses on being a solid leader outside on rock. I used to co-host Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC - Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) climb nights for Climbers of Color at Stone Gardens Bellevue since it started there. Climbers of Color opened up a platform for people like me to connect and teach with the climbing community in the closest way to my heart: Black people, people of color, and marginalized communities. As my involvement grew, I became part of a new branch of CoC: outdoor rock climbing

Victoria is an ambassador for UK charity ‘Women in Sport’. Having developed a love of adventure in her late twenties, she progressed from running and cycling to summits of Mont Blanc, Gran Paradiso and Kilimanjaro.  In March 2022 she became the fastest female to solo row 2,559 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, finishing in 40 days, 21 hours and 1 minute and knocking 8.5 days off the previous Guinness World Record. Outside of adventure, Victoria is a sports and media lawyer with over ten years of experience practising in both the UK and Switzerland. Having held roles in both European and Olympic federations, as well as commercial media organisations, she focuses on the development and negotiation of sports sponsorship and licensing, media creation and distribution, and sports governance. She uses her legal training to tackle gender equality in sport, securing the first written pregnancy deferral policy of an organised race in February 2022 when Ironman agreed to collaborate, and now focusing heavily on safeguar

Phillipa in her own words: “I’ve been an OS GetOutside Champion since 2020, I’m the Chief Volunteer Queen for Adventure Queens South Wales and deputy chair of the Brecon Beacons National Park LAF.  I’ve just turned 50 and am not your stereotypical outdoor type. I’ve never been great at sports and I’m not a pretty sight puffing and panting up a mountain. But being outdoors makes me feel alive – it’s my soul food.  My goal is to encourage more women of every age, size, ability and background to participate in outdoor activities and that’s what I do for Adventure Queens South Wales.  Adventure Queens is an online UK-based community of more than 20,000 women. Its goal is to encourage, inspire and educate more women to get outside.  Over the past four years I’ve organised weekends away (camping, surfing, scrambling, climbing, hiking, climbing, kayaking and wild swimming), day walks, social evenings and walked the 99-mile Beacons Way. On top of that I’ve given live online talks, organised virtual meet ups and mento

Katrina Megget is an ordinary woman who dared to believe she was more than she thought she was. After three years of listening to her self-doubt and the negative voice in her head that told her she wasn't good enough she finally set out to walk the 3,000km (1,864 mile) Te Araroa Trail down the length of New Zealand, her home country.  A knee injury led to her having to pull out once she got to the South Island but she was determined to complete the trail so returned the next season. Unfortunately, covid lockdowns stopped her seven days from reaching the finish but by that point she had realised she didn’t need to walk the trail to prove she was enough.  She is now writing a book on her experience on the trail, her battle with self-doubt and self-worth and dealing with an emotionally abusive relationship. Katrina then spent three and a half months sailing around the coast of Great Britain with her new partner on a 28-foot boat. She had only a handful of days sailing experience, didn’t know the lingo, didn’t k

Dr. Anu Taranath brings both passion and expertise to her work as a speaker, facilitator, author and educator.  A University of Washington professor for the past 20+ years, she has also received the Seattle Weekly’s “Best of Seattle” recognition, the University's Distinguished Teaching Award, and multiple US Fulbright Fellowships to work abroad.  As a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and racial equity consultant Dr. Anu offers coaching, training and facilitation services, and has partnered with over 300 clients from Amazon to the Raging Grannies.  Her book "Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World" was named a finalist for several book awards including the Washington State Book Award and included in Oprah Magazine’s “Best 26 Travel Books of All Times. Aun in her own words: “As the daughter of immigrants who has grown up between two cultures, I often draw on my personal experience as a way to connect with and amplify the voices of those who have historically not been heard. As a scholar and

Adventure & endurance enthusiast, with a fondness for Type 2 Fun. Ski instructor and mountain leader.    Happiest when outside, particularly in the mountains!    Challenges include cycling LEJOG, NC500 and Tour du Mont Blanc, both ski-touring and running the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt, and climbing Mont Blanc.   In 2018 Emily completed Project 282: a 4-month self-propelled round of Scotland's 282 Munros (mountains above 3000ft) which involved cycling 2,600km, walking 2,200km on foot and crossing 3 waterways in a kayak. The total elevation gain was over 150,000m – all of this was self-supported.   New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday at 7am UK time - Subscribe so you don’t miss out.    Support the mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media especially in relation to adventure and physical challenges. Visit www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast .Thank you.     Show notes Who is Emily  Being an adventure endurance junkie Her 2 buzz words for happiness are

Shilpa in her own words:   “I'm a British Indian gal who is about to hit 60 and feel that I am really only just starting to explore the wonderful joy of outdoor adventures.    I am happiest when I'm on the water on my paddle board, or cycling along a canal, or walking in the beautiful English countryside, or body boarding in Cornwall.    I leaned to swim in my late 40’s and this just opened up a whole new world of paddle sports.    My biggest personal adventure was this summer (2022) when I paddle boarded on a SUP board from London to Nottinghamshire, some 165 miles (and 144 locks) along the vertical length of the amazing Grand Union Canal.    This was such a joyful journey and revealed so much about myself that I had not been aware of - particularly how much I love to meet new people and how caring and kind strangers are.    Since then I have been exploring SUP journeys where I carry my camping kit on my SUP board and I absolutely love doing this.    I am extremely grateful to British Canoeing who accepted m

Marta in her own words:   “My name is Marta and I come from a small town in Poland called Pila. Growing up I was raised by a single mum; I had a good but humble upbringing, I always loved the outdoors and hanging out with my friends.   My childhood in Poland was a happy time in my life, but after my first trip to London as a teenager it all changed. I realised very quickly that living in Poland wasn’t for me anymore; I had big dreams and ambitions that I knew I couldn’t pursue in my hometown. I spent one more year living in Poland, learning English and saving ready to finally enter the ‘big world’… then I moved to London.   Taking this chance opened up so many opportunities for me. I got a good degree, good job, I travelled the world and had some awesome adventures whilst doing so, that I’ve decided to share them here. So, here I am, writing my blog, hoping to inspire and invite you on my journey.   My love for travelling has grown immensely over the years. The more countries I saw, the more countries I want