Sherwood Park woman finishes 50 ultra-marathons before 50th birthday
A Sherwood Park woman has reached her goal of running 50 ultra-marathons before she turns 50 years old.
Laura Sherrer-Townsend started her mission in 2009, when she had completed her first ultra-marathon, which can only be 'ultra' if they are at least 42.2-kilometres long.
A mother of five and a business owner, Sherrer-Townsend told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday that she wasn't always an ultra-marathon runner.
"I was like typical people who hated running when they were younger," she said.
Before her first ultra-marathon in 2009, Sherrer-Townsend was running in five- and 10-kilometre marathons but never felt the love of running.
Once she dipped her toes into ultra-marathons, she felt the need to "sign up for another." After that, she would run five or six ultra-marathons per year to reach her goal of 50 before 50.
"I went back to running after having triplets, and it was during that time I went to a Running Room, met this group of people, and it just clicked," she said. "These people were like, 'If I can do it, you can do it.'"
Sherrer-Townsend said her running serves another purpose: to raise money and awareness for sexual violence survivors needing counselling.
"I'm a survivor of sexual violence," she said. "Maybe what happened to me wouldn't have happened if these information sessions were going on in schools."
"I decided, 'You know what? I'm going to run 50 ultra marathons before I'm 50,' and I'm going to try and raise awareness and funds so that there's more of these seminars and information sessions going on in school," she said.
Sherrer-Townsend will celebrate her 50th birthday on Thursday with her accomplishment under her belt, but she has a new goal in mind.
"It's a little less quick and more about going higher … I'm headed for 60 summits before I'm 60," she said while looking forward to spending more time in the mountains.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk.
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