SFLR Network 2026 Landowners Conference

Mirna Valerio is a native of Brooklyn, NY, a former educator and cross-country coach, ultramarathoner, cyclist, skier, DEI consultant, and bestselling author of the memoir, A Beautiful Work in Progress. She began running in high school, recommitted to the sport after a health scare in 2008 and started her blog Fatgirlrunning—about her experiences as a larger woman in a world of thinner endurance athletes— while training for her first marathon. Mirna's athletic story has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Runner’s World, on NBC Nightly News, CNN, and in the viral documentary short, REI Presents The Mirnavator. Her writing has been featured in Women’s Running, Self, Outside, and Runner's World. In 2018 she was chosen as a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, and has appeared on the Kelly Clarkson Show, Access Daily, the Today Show, and Good Morning America. Mirna was also included as part of Will Smith’s training team for his first half-marathon! Her partners include LLBean, lululemon, Darn Tough Vermont, and Epic Pass.  She currently lives and trains in Winooski, Vermont and is wholeheartedly enamored and obsessed with downhill skiing.