Do you have a fitness role model? Maybe a professional athlete that you look up to? I know I have a fitness role model, but it isn't anyone famous. My fitness role model is one of my best friends. She's a dedicated athlete who, for many years now, has participated in at least one Ironman competition a year.

I'll never forget the time I asked her how her trip to Florida was and after commenting on the weather and things her family did she casually said "Oh, and I placed well." I asked what she meant and she told me that she had run a marathon. I congratulated her and expressed my surprise because I hadn't known she was going to run a marathon while there. She nonchalantly said "It was only a marathon." Oh, to be so fit that a marathon is a non-event ... mere training for the real competition.

Elastic Waist posted about finding inspiration in these iron athletes. [via FitSugar] The author summed up the allure of the Ironman well: "It's about making a promise to yourself and then making it happen. It's about being, for one minute, something more than you are during your every day."

Who is your fitness role model?