Ultrarunner Sally McRae is ‘choosing strong,’ and she wants you to join her

You don’t need to run long distances in the desert like Sally McRae to be part of the Choose Strong project. McRae invites everyone to join her, simply by dedicating some of your miles, reps, or minutes to “those who have gone before you and have chosen to move forward through adversity.”

McRae was the first professional female trail athlete to be sponsored by Nike; she took a first place finish in the women’s field in last year’s infamously hard Badwater 135. This year, despite an intimidatingly stacked race calendar, she’s not after a win–she’s celebrating strength.

McRae started her Choose Strong challenge formally when she toed the line at Badwater 135 in mid-June, but the project was actually many years in the making. She shares on YouTube and social media that Choose Strong is intended to “honour those who choose strong no matter the circumstance and who courageously choose to move forward regardless of the outcome” and was inspired by her mother, who died of cancer at age 43.

When McRae was 17, shortly after her mother’s death, she began to envision and dread the day she would outlive her mother. She focused on becoming as strong, mentally and physically, as possible.

McRae’s personal Choose Strong challenge involves competing in six races through the summer and fall. She kicked it off with Badwater 135 on July 11, and will follow it with Angeles Crest 100-miler on August 5, Leadville 100-miler on August 20, Wildstrubel UTMB (108K) race on September 8 and Puerto Vallarta UTMB (100-miler) on October 28th. McRae will wrap it up with the Malibu half-marathon in November, which she will run with her husband.

McRae shares that her mother was not an ultrarunner, but that “she lived out the powerful truth that our bodies are far stronger than we know.”

McRae has spent decades dedicated to “building a frame that is capable of enduring whatever life has planned,” and will be racing one mile for every month that her mother lived. She lined up a particularly grueling set of races back-to-back for a reason. “My race schedule is purposely strung together closely and intended to be very challenging. This isn’t about winning, it’s about enduring and seeing what the body is capable of doing,” she says.

Wish you were here #MountWhitney pic.twitter.com/BIcLvNx0s0

— Sally McRae (@sallymcrae) January 30, 2022

“As I move through my schedule, I know I’ll be broken down and tired, and a chance at standing on the podium at any of these races is very slim,” McRae says.  The most powerful moments in her life have not been the ones where she stood on a podium, but rather where she “was surrounded by the people I love.”

The tough races McRae tackles this year will give her an opportunity to celebrate the many incredible moments she has had in her ultrarunning career and the relationships that have made it so fulfilling, while honouring her mother. She adds: “I can say with confidence that she is a huge part of why my capacity for endurance is so deep.”