Jessi Morton-Langehaug - High school chemistry teacher, mother, and ultra runner - women’s winner of Moab 240!
Release Date: 05/18/2021
Paula McGuire – Stroke, Autism Diagnosis & Why She’s Still Saying Yes to Adventure
Tough Girl Podcast
In this Tough Girl Podcast EXTRA episode, we catch up with Paula “Must Try Harder” McGuire — author, speaker, triathlete, wing-walker, double TEDx speaker, mental health ambassador… and proudly, a trier. Based just outside Glasgow, Paula has been adventuring since 2015 and has built a reputation for trying something new every day — including completing 366 new experiences in 2020. But the years since we last spoke have brought extraordinary challenges. Paula shares openly about being diagnosed as autistic at 44, having a stroke at the end of 2021 and developing epilepsy, going...
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Rebecca Dent: High-Performance Dietitian for Ultra Runners & Mountain Athletes
Tough Girl Podcast
Rebecca Dent is a high-performance dietitian specialising in ultra runners and mountain sport athletes — from passionate recreational runners to world-class professionals. Based in the Chamonix Valley for the past 10 years, she combines her expertise in performance nutrition with a life immersed in ski touring, trail running, mountaineering, and the mountains she loves. In this episode of the Tough Girl Podcast, Rebecca shares her journey from the Forest of Dean to the French Alps, balancing elite-level training with everyday life, and the nutrition strategies that help athletes...
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Manika Gamble – Racing 155-Mile Desert Ultras & Chasing Bold Adventures
Tough Girl Podcast
In this episode of the Tough Girl Podcast, we meet Manika Gamble — an Atlanta-based trail runner who thrives on testing her limits in some of the world’s toughest ultra races. Manika’s running journey started with casual neighbourhood runs, but soon she found herself racing 155-mile desert ultras in Africa, tackling Mongolia’s Gobi March, and pushing through multi-stage, extreme endurance events. She shares the highs, the lows, and the mental grit it takes to keep moving when every muscle is screaming. We dive into: Training by feel, without a watch or GPS Fueling, hydration, and...
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Lisa Jackson: Still Running After All These Tears — Grief, Running & the Triumph of Tenacity
Tough Girl Podcast
Lisa Jackson is a hypnotherapist, running writer, Runner’s World columnist, and the author of three bestselling running books, including Your Pace or Mine?, Running Made Easy, and her deeply personal latest release, Still Running After All These Tears – A Runner’s Journey Through Grief. Originally from South Africa and now based in Worthing, UK, Lisa is a veteran of over 100 marathons and two 56-mile ultramarathons — despite often coming last. A proud reminder that endurance sport isn’t about talent or speed, but about showing up, again and again. In this powerful and...
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Dr. Erin Ayala – Psychologist, Mental Performance Coach & Endurance Athlete
Tough Girl Podcast
Meet Dr. Erin Ayala, a Licensed Psychologist and Certified Mental Performance Consultant from Minnesota, specialising in supporting female endurance athletes. With over a decade of research and clinical experience, she’s a published author, sought-after speaker, and advocate for mental health in sport. In this episode, Erin shares insights on: Building mental resilience for endurance challenges Strategies for coping with performance pressure and burnout Balancing high-level competition with wellbeing Lessons from her own journey as a competitive cyclist A must-listen for anyone...
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Jennifer Doohan – Founder of The Adventure Wellness Club, Helping Women Challenge Themselves and Connect in Nature
Tough Girl Podcast
Jennifer is an adventurer, wellness professional, and founder of The Adventure Wellness Club, helping women connect with nature, challenge themselves, and build lasting friendships through experiences grounded in the 3 Cs: Challenge, Connection, and Community. She designs international hiking adventures and UK-based experiences that blend movement, mindfulness, and wellness. Her work spans everything from planning logistics and designing programs to facilitating group hikes, yoga, sauna and ice-bath sessions, and breath work. Jennifer lived in Trentino, Italy for four years, where she learned...
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Marie “Lootie” Leautey – Solo, Unsupported & Fastest Woman to Run Around the World
Tough Girl Podcast
In this episode of the Tough Girl Podcast, we’re joined by Marie “Lootie” Leautey, the second woman in history to run around the world solo and unsupported — and the fastest woman to do it. Lootie’s journey began in France, far from the running world. A former smoker and corporate finance professional, she swapped cigarettes for daily runs at 25, building up to her first marathon in just eight months. That spark turned into an audacious dream: to run across the globe — 26,000+ km, across four continents, relying entirely on herself. Starting her run in Europe in December...
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Stephanie Ho: Adventurer and Endurance Athlete Skiing Solo to the South Pole & Pushing Beyond Limits
Tough Girl Podcast
Stephanie Ho is a 24-year-old adventurer, endurance athlete, and exercise physiologist based on the Gold Coast, Australia. From rock climbing and ocean swimming to triathlons and mountain expeditions, Stephanie has always chased the outdoors — but her biggest goals lie in the polar regions. In this episode of the Tough Girl Podcast, Stephanie shares her journey from discovering hiking and camping as a teenager to trekking Everest Base Camp, running 43km a day for a week, and skiing 540km across Greenland. She opens up about the mental and physical challenges of polar expeditions, the...
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Birgit Hermann – Turning Extreme Endurance into Bolder Leadership for People and Planet
Tough Girl Podcast
Birgit Hermann is a global leadership coach, speaker, executive leader, ocean advocate, professional freediver, and extreme endurance athlete who translates lessons from the edge into meaningful impact for people and planet. She supports purpose-driven leaders to turn bold challenges into grounded, values-led action. She has raced the Marathon des Sables, run a marathon in Antarctica, freedived beneath Arctic ice without a wetsuit, and cycled across the African continent — often as the only woman on the start line. Alongside these edge-tested experiences, Birgit brings over 20 years...
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Amanda Duling: Endurance Sport After Gastric Bypass — Grit, Fueling & Radical Honesty
Tough Girl Podcast
Amanda Duling is an endurance athlete, writer, and founder of One Gear Short of Normal™. A post-bariatric, perimenopausal gravel cyclist and Ironman 70.3 finisher, Amanda uses grit, science, and unapologetic humour to tell the stories no one else is telling about endurance sports, women’s bodies, and doing hard things later in life. Through her writing and community work, she challenges the “suffer in silence” culture of endurance athletics and advocates for smarter fueling, better hygiene, realistic training, and radical honesty—especially for women navigating menopause, major...
info_outlineCONTENT WARNING - Rape is mentioned and miscarriages are discussed in detail.
- Growing up in Alberta, Canada on a farm
- Moving to Texas with her mum when she was in the 10th grade
- Going to 15 different high schools
- Her passion for ultra running, yoga and meditation
- Staying in Utah
- Trying different sports but never sticking at any one sport
- Getting into running and falling in love with it
- Becoming a PT
- Having her daughter and running her first marathon
- Not being a natural runner
- Doing the mile test
- Running at night around the farm
- Running while pregnant
- Having multiple miscarriages
- Being active during pregnancy
- Running her first marathon 4 months after having her daughter
- The Boston Marathon bombing
- 48 hr labour
- Why her first marathon was a disaster
- Signing up for her first 50 mile race
- Using running for therapy
- Feeling healed
- Increasing the mileage and going outside her comfort zone
- Feeling so nervous doing her first 100 miles
- Hearing about the Moab 240 race
- Breaking down the race into smaller distances
- Why she enjoys the longer distances
- Nutrition and problems with digestion
- Having chronic lyme disease
- Staying on top of hydration
- Mindset and mental resilience
- Why running ultra’s is like life
- Being the fastest woman running Moab 240
- The final stretch
- Winning her first race
- Being humble and wanting to be relatable
- Book - Defying the Odds
- Final words of advice