Marathon working teaches highly effective life classes — perseverance, self-discipline, and self-belief. It’s a sport that proves challenges might be overcome with the suitable mindset and a robust help system. Few folks embody that spirit fairly like Jamaican-born Marie Dunn, a social employee, creator, and ultra-marathon runner whose life has been outlined by grit and resilience.
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Dunn credit a lot of her psychological energy to ultra-endurance athlete and motivational speaker David Goggins, a retired U.S. Navy SEAL and New York Occasions best-selling creator. “David Goggins, my idol, is a podcaster and I’ve learn his ebook Can’t Harm Me. I watch his movies. I really like his ‘making a callus mindset’ philosophy as a result of for me, ache is a motivator, I don’t view it as crippling. The extra I really feel the ache, the more durable I work,” stated Dunn.
Like Goggins, Dunn has pushed herself past her bodily and emotional limits. She has survived a near-death expertise in 1996 and a violent assault by a consumer. Nonetheless, she retains chasing her goals — one mile at a time. In a latest ultra-marathon, she ran 41.28 miles and refused to cease even when the blisters on her toes turned insufferable. “By mile 30, I had taped my toes to alleviate the ache and blisters I felt. However I simply stored going,” she stated.
Her relentless mindset usually stuns these round her. “This mentality is a talent I’ve developed and discovered. I’ve discovered to dam out the ache and play a psychological sport. David Goggins is a giant a part of that. My household thinks I’m loopy and my brother says ‘I’m over you,’” she laughed. “However I make this alternative each day. I get up, and I’ve 24 hours to decide. Will I be a sufferer, or will I get off my rear finish and hold going?”
That very same unwavering spirit pulses by way of the pages of her newest ebook, Don’t Wait, which she launched in June. The memoir explores the idea of overcoming adversity — on the marathon route and in life. “This isn’t nearly working sneakers and end traces. It’s about discovering your personal voice, trusting in your steps, and being courageous sufficient to begin, even whenever you’re unsure,” Dunn stated. “It’s all about reclaiming one’s personal story.”
Don’t Wait is anchored by her experiences coaching for and finishing the 2023 New York Metropolis Marathon and the 2024 Philadelphia Marathon — each main achievements given her long-standing accidents. Dunn has lived with power neck and shoulder ache since a office assault in 2017, and suffered an ankle harm in 2021 shortly after her father died. Nonetheless, she pressed on.
“I keep in mind feeling a lot ache in mile 13 of the Philly Marathon 2024 that I began to cry. I keep in mind calling mates to inform them concerning the ache I used to be feeling. They gave me powerful love and wiped my tears, and stated that they might wait on the end line to see me. I used to be upset by their response, however motivated. I took a sharpie out and wrote on my leg ‘hold going,’ ‘don’t cease.’ I knew I might run again to complete line. I wasn’t going to exit on a stretcher,” she recalled.
Born in St. Ann, raised in New York, and armed with a grasp’s diploma from Fordham College, Dunn has devoted her profession to serving to others. She describes herself as a philanthropist and social activist, utilizing her scientific experience and private testimony to encourage significant change.
Don’t Wait is Dunn’s fifth ebook. Her earlier works embrace Salt & Honey, Daring Her Liberation, Tease, and Journal: 99+ Inspirational Ideas. The sooner books had been revealed underneath her alter ego, Toya J.
By way of each blister, heartbreak, and hard-earned end line, Marie Dunn continues to show that ache — when channeled with goal — might be the final word gasoline for transformation.
