511: Mirna Valerio: The Many Identities of the Legendary Mirnavator

Mirna Valerio is a native of Brooklyn, NY, a former educator, cross-country coach, ultramarathoner, and author of the bestselling memoir, A Beautiful Work in Progress. Although she began running in high school, she recommitted to the sport after a health scare in 2008 and started her blog Fatgirlrunning—about her experiences as a larger woman in a world of thinner endurance athletes— while training for her first marathon. Mirna's athletic story has been featured in the WSJ, Runner’s World, on NBC Nightly News, CNN, and in the viral REI-produced documentary short, The Mirnavator. Her writing has been featured in Women’s Running Magazine, Self Magazine Online, Outside Online, and Runner's World Magazine. In 2018 she was chosen as one of the National Geographic Adventurers of the Year, and most recently appeared on the Kelly Clarkson Show, Access Hollywood, and the short Running Through Barriers, produced by LLBean. Listen in to hear Mirna share: How she is discerning about who gets her time and energy Why she is participating in NANOWRIMO and how it’s been transformational to her What your identity truly is and how it dictates how you interact with the world How she’s leaning into different parts of her identity and learning new things in this year How she manages haters How she steps into fear as she steps into new partnerships, especially her new position with Lululemon How anxiety shows up for her and how she has learned to manage it How she helped Will Smith train for a half marathon The best lesson she learned from Will Smith Links Mentioned: Get updates and announcements about Momentum Mamas Thank you to our sponsor: EveryPlate: Get started with EveryPlate for just $1.99 per meal plus an additional 20% off another 2 weeks by going to EveryPlate.com and entering code SHAMELESS199.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Sara Dean launched the Shameless Mom Academy to help moms lead more positive, powerful and purposeful lives #everydamnday. Sara is an award winning fitness professional, author, speaker, and leadership & transformation coach who spent the last 18+ years serving moms in the fields of business, leadership, psychology, sociology, health & wellness. But, it took becoming a mom herself in 2012 to learn that - holy cow - this is hard work, and if you’re not paying attention you can completely lose your own sense of identity while raising babies. Join Sara every Monday and Wednesday as she and her notable guests dig deep into topics like creating the confidence you crave; turn your struggles into strengths, building better boundaries, and tuning into tiny habits that can change your life. Discover how why thousands of moms all over the world are turning to The Shameless Mom Academy to live bigger, bolder, braver lives #everydamnday.