We were lucky enough to sit down with her and talk about her plans for 2012 and the current state of women in sports.

Hi Sarah! Thanks for talking with us. Let’s talk a little bit about your race plans for this year. What are you goals for 2012? What do you think are the major obstacles that you’ll face?

Every year I have performance goals as well as process goals. My performance goals are what I want to accomplish in my races and my process goals are what I want to improve upon specifically in my training, recovery, etc. This year, my main focus is to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Team. I also want to defend my race to the Toyota Cup Series, defend my St. Anthony’s Triathlon win and improve my performance at Hy-Vee (I was third last year). I am really working on my run fitness at the start of this year. I feel this is going to help me the most in qualifying for the Olympics. I also have a goal of really listening to my body by dialing in when I can push and when it’s time to hold back and recover. The major obstacles are getting the work done day in and day out, performing on the day and staying healthy!

We recently read about your sponsorship & treatment from the DISC Sports & Spine Center. Can you share with us what it feels like to come back from an injury? Any tips for us age-groupers (who may be…ahem…a little frustrated)?

Dealing with an injury, especially when you don’t really know what is wrong is one of the toughest situations for athletes at any level. Once you have the injury diagnosis, returning back to full form can be a long and tough road, more mentally challenging than physically at times. Last year was my first full year without an injury since I had my initial diagnosis back in 2008. I can’t express how important it is to stay positive and keep strong mentally, and most especially not to give up. It’s easy to throw in the towel when you have been dealing with a long term injury. However, remember that the injury WILL get better. Keep researching and finding rehab/recovery techniques that work for you. I have learned so much more about my body with having had an injury. I feel I will be more prepared next time if God forbid another injury were to occur (although I am doing everything I can to stay injury free!). Also be sure to listen to your body and pull back if you feel something flare up. Be sure not to push too hard too soon.

In addition to racing, you also have a degree in education and spend some of your time speaking with young students. What motivates you to get involved like you do?

I have always had a love for kids as well as athletics. I feel now it is more important than ever to teach kids the importance of a healthy, active lifestyle. In addition, I like to teach kids about the goal setting process and working hard to achieve their dreams. Even if they fall short of their goals, the most important part of the goal setting process is the journey, not the destination. I feel if kids are active and participating in something they are passionate about, they have the foundation and tools to be successful into adulthood.

Specifically in the sport of triathlon, women have gained a lot of notoriety (perhaps more so than their male counterparts). Why do you think this is?

Triathlon is a unique sport in that it began blossoming right around the Title IX era. Many of the founders of the sport, wanted equal rights and opportunities for women (equal distances, equal prize money for the professionals, etc.). I think this has really helped set up a solid foundation for women to thrive in the sport of triathlon and as a result, has attracted so many women into the sport. Women involved in the sport, like to look up to other women as role models and I think this has also helped women in the sport achieve notoriety.

What do you think is the biggest difference between the public’s perceptions of male versus female athletes?

In general, there still seem to be many male dominated sports such as hockey, basketball, etc. However, the perception is changing with the new generation of athletes and women are now getting a stronger foothold in the sports like tennis, golf, running and triathlon. Women have all the same competitiveness, drive, and determination as men and can be just as much of a role model as their male counterparts. Unfortunately, I feel that in some areas of media and publications still push for women to have that “sex appeal” over athletic performance. This can really be changed by women. Women have the power to accept or decline that role and pursue themselves as strong powerful women who want to be known for what they have accomplished on the playing field and not what others perceive them as (by looks, etc). In addition, the public also views women as having children and hanging back in sport post childbirth. I truly feel that women are changing the view on this idea and staying active and fit through pregnancy and continuing to care for their bodies post birth. More and more professional athletes are getting back into competing after having children and I think this is such an inspiration and huge for women to show that they can be strong, healthy, fit mothers after childbirth!

Sarah will be looking to defend her Toyota Cup Series win in 2012.

What advice would you give to all the young women out there who want to pursue a sport but may be intimidated to do so?

Many sports are about individual gains. Everyone has a starting point and it’s about personal improvement. Don’t worry about other’s speeds or performances, but focus on you! Sometimes the hardest part is taking that first step, or going to the first practice. If you are worried about other’s making negative comments, remember that it’s their insecurities showing through. Stay positive and most importantly have fun!!!

Do you think enough is currently being done to encourage young women to participate in sports?

I feel that over the past twenty to thirty years, so much has been done to encourage women to participate in sports. Often it comes down to the parents helping their children get involved in sports. Unfortunately, sometimes parents are not successfully encouraging children in activities, so that is why it’s so important to also have that encouragement in the classroom. It can take just one person to have a positive lifelong influence on a child.

Thanks, Sarah for speaking with us! And more importantly, THANK YOU for being such a positive role model for women everywhere, whether endurance athletes or not. We’ll be rooting for you all year and hope to see you in London this summer!

We’ve got a Rev3 Quassy spot (Olympic or 70.3 distance – your choice!) up for grabs for one lucky lady. Set in beautiful Middlebury, CT, Rev3 Quassy is one of New England’s premiere triathlons and boasts a tremendous roster of pro triathletes and a venue that will give racers AND spectators a day to remember.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX2mGIRVnZM

How do you enter? Simple. Tell us below in 100 words or less why YOU are the ultimate female endurance athlete. A winner will be chosen by our editors and profiled next week here on TRAVLETE.

So get at it and let us know how you embody the spirit of a female endurance athlete and you could be conquering Rev3 Quassy the weekend of June 2-3.

All next week we will be interviewing some of the most inspiring women in endurance racing. But before then, we thought we’d take a step back and share with you the women who personally inspire our writers to lace ‘em up and race.

Julie Lamb: Chris Evert

After learning tennis from her dad and toughening up through sibling rivalry on the court, Chris Evert won 18 Grand Slams, including a record 7 times at the French Open and 6 at the U.S. Open. She was the Number 1 singles player in the world for 5 years and her win–loss record in singles matches of 1,309–146 (89.96%) is the best of any professional tennis player, man OR woman, in the Open Era.

But what I remember is that she did it with style, grace, dignity and unrelenting determination. She hated giving up a single point, and you could see it in her eyes. She fired up the crowds with her smile AND the power of her two-handed backhand — originally a “cheat” because she was small in stature that ended up becoming her signature move — and changed the way tennis was played forever.

Chrissie embodied the notion that where there’s a will, there’s a way. She’s the first female athlete I can remember watching on TV, and wanting to be just like her. Even if I only succeeded in following in her footsteps with the feathered hair.

Mary Arnold: Joan Benoit Samuelson

Joan Benoit Samuelson. She took off at the Olympics in 84 and she has not stopped since. No one has ever come close to her in terms of Qualifying for the Olympic trials, winning marathons and giving back to the running community. Her Beach 2 Beacon race is amazing!

My favorite story about her though, is that she turned to Lance at the New York City Marathon and told him to suck it up and stay with her if he wanted to go sub 3.

He was 35 at the time.

She was 50. Boo ya.

Andrea Basche: Billie Jean King

Tennis player extraordinaire, female activist, author

Billie Jean King is arguably the icon for women’s equality in sports. It’s hard not to have profound admiration for a woman who’s most famed moment came in the “Battle of the Sexes.” Billie Jean King in her heyday not only excelled in a sport but changed the world and role of women as a result. From 1961-1980, she won 12 grand slam singles titles and 39 total grand slam titles – singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Yes, you read that right. 39 total grand slam titles. Not to mention, she’s won a Presidential Medal of Freedom, has a National Tennis Center named after her AND was the first women to make six figures in a sport. Her winnings were due in part to her insistence that women receive equal prize money to men, which she says was not radical but “pragmatic.”

It isn’t radical to think that women can excel in their sport. We ladies have Billie Jean King to thank for that.

Tracy Weickel: Christine Kenney

It’s easy to pic a famous female athlete to look up to, but some of the most badass chicks are the amateur, age-group, have to work 70 hour weeks and fit in a training regimen, ladies. One of my favorites is Christine Kenney.

I’ve known Christine as an athlete for years. We played HS lacrosse against each other and then Division 1 college lacrosse as well (her at Penn State and me at Georgetown). After using endurance sports to fill the athletic void left by college sports, Christine has become quite the speed demon.

She’s always been fast, I think she won the local Turkey Trot a few years in a row and competed in over 20 triathlons between 2002 and 2007. She had a horrific bike crash in 2007 (hit by a car), where she suffered stress factures in both hips and couldn’t use her left arm or hand for six weeks. But, when she came back, she came back with a vengeance. She won the 2009 Long Island Half Marathon flat out and then went on place in the top 10 in her age group in almost every single race since. She qualified for Kona with a 10:25:18 finish at Ironman Cozumel in 2009, but crashed her bike again while training during the summer of 2010. She thought Kona was out, but she was determined. Rumor has it she was spotted training on the Alter-G with her arm still in a sling (badass!). She raced Kona in 2010 and finished in a blazing 10:47:07. It’s been all good since then… She won top amateur female in 9:57:00 at her return to Ironman Cozumel in November, 2011 and in January won the Carlsbad Marathon in SoCal in 2:53:07. She’s not famous, but every time I see her race or talk to her she motivates me to want to be a better athlete and train harder and realize my race potential (even though it will never be as speedy as hers). Plus she’s always down to grab a few post-race beers, which is really what makes her tops in my book!

Lauren Goodman: My Mom!

My fave female athlete is my mom, because she’s in her 60s and can do this.

And if you saw my pathetic pushups, you’d know that it has nothing to do with genetics and everything to do with hard work and badassery.

Susan Patrignelli: Mirinda Carfrae & Tara Rasch

PRO: Mirinda Carfrae. I would take her talent over all the others, any day of the week. And twice in Kona?! And she’s a beast on the run. ‘Nuff said.

LOCAL: Tara Rasch (my former coach, pictured). Aside from her immense talent, she has the best “can-do” and “go get ‘em” attitude. She gets knocked out of the saddle from time to time, but always uses it as more fuel for the fire. An inspiration for us other age groupers.

Stacey Archambault: My Mom!

I know many women consider their mom to be an inspiration, and like Lauren, I consider myself lucky to be among these women. My mom has always impressed me with her ability to be simultaneously incredibly loving, nurturing and tough as nails. You may never guess it from your first meeting with her, but my mom is not someone to be messed with. From the age of 13 when her own mother passed away, she learned quickly how to fend for herself. She and my dad met as young Marines. After leaving the service to raise my brother and I, first as a military wife, then as a single mother of teenagers, my mom has never ceased to roll with whatever challenges life has thrown her.

Two years ago my mom watched me run my first half marathon, and I received the ultimate privilege of returning the favor and inspiring my mom. She began running and working out herself, and at the age of 53, my mom starts her morning with 100 push-ups.

Pick a path and get going.

It is time to make plans, to figure out what adventures we can cram into our work-a-day lives. For some, it’s time for their first 5k or marathon. Others will take on their first triathlon or even an Ironman.

Been there. Done that. Got the tattoo.

It’s time to dream big. Really big. This year, we are going to attempt a Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim crossing of the Grand Canyon.

On April 11, our team will be heading from the South Rim to the North Rim and back: all in one day. This 46 mile trek is not an official race, there will no be t-shirts or big shiny medals at the finish. We are doing this for the sheer joy of looking out at the Big Ditch and knowing we made it across…on foot.

We are not superstar athletes, just a group of everyday folks with a passion for endurance sports and healthy senses of humor. The next four months of training and preparing for this ultimate running road trip will be chronicled here and we invite you to come along for the ride. Who exactly is “We”? Well, it’s time you meet the team:

Brian Gatens

What motivates you to take this adventure on?
Here’s the way I see it. I consider myself lucky enough to have the opportunity to do some pretty cool things. I also have the physical ability to train for and tolerate long adventures. I don’t think that my ability to do so makes me any better or worse than other people, but rather it’s part of what I can do. As a result of that I almost feel an obligation to push myself into doing things like an R2R2R. What’s the use of having a solid and dependable car if all you do is leave it in the garage. Also, I love it when I get the chance to dangle myself out there a bit and our run, with its leaving behind of water stops, support vehicles and major support, touches that part of me that loves that kind of risk. In the famous words of Leeroy Jenkins, “Thumbs up! Let’s Do This!”

What is the toughest race/adventure you have taken on so far?
I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff: There was the time that I ran the Chicago Marathon after I had separated my shoulder a week earlier during a bike crash in American Zofingen. I remember running the Lean Horse Ultramarathon 50 miler; it was 104 degrees at the 25 mile turnaround but what really hurt was losing 3rd place in my age group by 17 minutes, which in ultras is like 3 seconds. Actually I think the summer of ’99 when my preemie twins came from the hospital and my wife and I spent months and months doing around the clock feedings. Now that was tough.

Dave Decker

What motivates you to take this adventure on?
I hear it’s a pretty place to run. No…really, if we’re going to go for a run on a Wednesday, it might as well be somewhere pretty. Seriously though, I don’t need more “things” in life. I’ve got enough things to last me the rest of my life. I want are quality experiences that I can share with my family and my friends. Real, genuine quality time that when I look back on it 40 years from now I can say to myself, “now that was a nice way to spend the day.”

What is the toughest race/adventure you have taken on so far?
In March of 2010 I finished my first 100 mile race. 28 hours 51 minutes.

Mary Arnold

What motivates you to take on an adventure like this?
An overwhelming desire to see as much of the country on foot as possible. Sightseeing while getting really good long run in sounds awesome to me.

What is the toughest race/adventure you have ever taken on prior to this?
The toughest race for me was Boston in 2003. I believed that I needed to take in a whole bottle of water at each stop and I ended up in the medical tent with hyponatremia. My vision went black and white and I could not see for most of the last 3 miles. I felt like death for two days after, but on the third day after, I signed up for another marathon.

The annoucement doesn’t contain many details, with only the statement: “After 20 yrs of getting the question I’m happy to say YES I will be racing in a @ironmantri in 2012,” being issued by Armstrong through his account.

Though it should come to no surprise to many in the triathlon community, Armstrong has recently competed in many smaller races over the past few months. He also recently confirmed that he will be racing in this weekend’s Ironman Panama (a 70.3).

So now the question on everyone’s mind is: Which race are you doing Lance?

And more importantly: Where do YOU think Lance should race?

UPDATE: Ironman has issued a press release detailing a new partnership with Livestrong. As part of it, Lance will be racing numerous Ironman 70.3 races and Ironman France, with the ultimate goal of qualifying for the Ironman World Championships in Kona to be held on October 13, 2012.