Defiance explores the world of the ultra-marathon through the story of Mirna Valerio and the challenges she had to overcome physically and mentally.
Mirna Valerio is a former opera singer who turned to endurance running. As a plus-sized woman, she set herself the challenge of disrupting the stereotypes of body types in endurance sports. Valerio is an advocate for those in the running community of all races, sizes, and genders, no matter their background.
Mirna’s running career started after experiencing health issues in her thirties. She was informed about artery inflammation, which sparked her to exercise and eventually start running. Starting off achieving 5k runs, Mirna enjoyed running and challenged herself to keep running further and further distances. This eventually resulted in Mirna running and competing in ultramarathons.
However, before the world of ultra marathons, Mirna started a blog whilst she ran marathons. The blog, which was called ‘Fat Girl Running’, showcased her journey during these events and quickly gained a rather positive reception. Although she received many positive messages, Mirna garnered a lot of online trolls who questioned her ability to run long distances due to her weight and body type.
The runner with no quit proved the haters wrong; in 2018, she was given the honour of being named National Geographic’s “Adventurer of the Year” before going and completing the 11 marathons and 14 ultramarathons by 2020.
Running such a long distance demonstrates mental strength due to the toll it can take on your body and mind. Mirna embraced the suffering, fueled by proving her doubters wrong, and became a beacon of body positivity and self-ownership. She battled against the online trolls and the tough terrain, coming out victorious.
When running such long distances, Mirna used landmarks to celebrate mini victories along the way to demonstrate how far she had run. She repeated affirmations, telling herself to keep moving forward and showing belief in her own mind. Mirna used everybody else’s doubt as fuel to keep moving forward and succeed.
Mirna is an inspiration in mental solitude, overcoming the odds and demonstrating how far determination and self-belief can take you.
In a world full of niche sports and inspiring stories, Mirna stands out above all the others. Most people in her situation would have sat down and given in to online abuse. However, Mirna stood up and proved that she could do whatever she wanted, not only to the online haters but, most importantly, to herself.
