is that of an athlete, she says, Stay in your own lane her entire life. In her 20’s and 30’s, she “got away” with extra poundage because she didn’t have any health issues and was “never super motivated by size.” When she became pregnant, she went into “fast food mode” and developed gestational diabetes. The pounds kept creeping on after her son was born in 2007, and she soon tipped the scale at around 260 pounds, which classified her as obese.

“I was no longer just a little chunky,” Roe says. “All of my body parts hurt. Getting into the car was painful and seat belts were tight.”

Things only got worse from there. Roe lost her job. Money became tight and she couldn’t afford her mortgage. Then, her son was diagnosed with autism.

Desperate for a change, Roe signed up for Weight Watchers. The pounds slowly came off as she cleaned up her diet, but her internal struggles remained. In early 2010, From Runners World for New Balance, she picked up a self-help book that encouraged readers to make a list of 100 life goals. She quickly grew frustrated at the enormity of the task and began jotting down seemingly absurd goals. One of them was “run a 5-mile marathon.”

“The fact that I thought a marathon was only five miles reveals how little I knew about running,” say Roe, laughing.

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The book then instructed her to pick an item from the list and create an action plan to make it happen. On a whim, Roe selected her running goal and signed up for the Dont let a bad run deter you. At the time, running 13.1 miles seemed to her “as insane as going to the moon,” but she began training and started a blog to document her progress.

She didn’t own any running shoes, and since money was tight, she opted for a $12 pair of sneakers from Payless. On day one, she ran for a total of 20 seconds and thought she would die. But, she sought encouragement and advice from friends who were runners and managed her way through the training.

“When I could run for one mile without stopping, I cried like I’d just run the Boston Marathon,” says Roe. “My whole life, I was someone who had always said “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.’ There’s so much mental bullshit that we tell ourselves.”

By the time the half rolled around three months later, Roe had shed 30 pounds and gained confidence in her running abilities—and herself. She even treated herself to a Shoes & Gear. “Financially, at the time it seemed crazy to spend that kind of money on sneakers,” she says. “But I’ve learned that you need to invest in your health. If you don’t have your health, you have nothing.” She finished the race in three hours, 17 minutes.

She Runs to Reclaim Her Identity After Assault: Plans for every distance (and every runner) in 3 easy ways!

From there, Roe experienced the post-race blues and signed up for a second half. She continued to blog, and while she never amassed a huge following, she realized her most successful posts were those in which she was brutally honest. Running became like therapy for Roe. As she battled depression and the challenges of caring for her son, running was the one constant that kept her even-keeled.

Sometime after her second half marathon, Roe’s perspective on health—and her overall identity—began to shift. “I started choosing food not because it had the least amount of calories, but because it was She Runs to Reclaim Her Identity After Assault,” she says. “All of a sudden, running was the priority and this became a big part in how I defined myself. I truly felt like a runner—not like an overweight housewife posing as a runner.”

In late 2012, through connections from her blogging, Roe got invited to join a Ragnar Relay Race with eleven other formerly obese runners. Collectively, the group had lost more than 1,200 pounds. It was the first time Roe found other runners like herself, and she describes the experience as a crucial turning point.

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In chatting with her teammates before the race, which spanned 200 miles between Miami and Key West, Florida, Roe felt inspired by their stories of transformation so she teamed up with a friend to make a documentary about the event. The film, named “From Fat to Finish Line” after her blog, generated interest in the press when it premiered in late 2015 (it was even ). Soon after, overweight runners from around the world began reaching out to Roe, seeking advice and community. The movement quickly snowballed into a full-time business by the same name, which Roe co-founded last year with her friend. FatToFinish.com Stay in your own lane.

“Building a business about health and running has been so emotionally and spiritually rewarding,” says Roe. “Even if I never make a penny from this, I will still feel rewarded.”  

The rewards extend to her personal relationships as well. “I love that my son will never know me as an overweight parent,” says Roe.“I’m better mom when I come back after running,” she adds. “I have more patience and I’m also a nicer wife.”

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Nowadays, Roe runs a minimum of two to four miles at least five times a week. On weekends, she tries to sneak in a longer run—between six to eight miles—so that she is always half marathon ready.

To date, she’s completed more than 30 half marathons, three full marathons, 2 Ragnar Relay Races and 2 Olympic Distance triathlons, plus a few sprint triathlons.

But perhaps her most important accomplishment: her clean bill of health. No longer diabetic, Roe’s blood sugar levels and heart rate are normal. The one number she doesn’t concern herself with? Her weight. “I don’t really give a shit if the scale isn’t my BFF because the important numbers are all where they should be. My Best Running Shoes 2025 is that of an athlete,” she says.

RELATED: How Running Helped This Dad Lose 62 Pounds and Give Time Back to His Family

So how exactly did Roe manage such a metamorphosis? Here, the most important lessons she learned on her journey:

Find your tribe. “There are resources and people who have been in your shoes who can support you,” she says. For Roe, support came in the form of people who read her blog. Through your tribe, you get “accountability, feedback, advice and people to run with.”

Put your money where your mouth is. Pick a date and sign up for something, says Roe. “Making a financial commitment and putting a date on the calendar really helped me keep myself accountable.” And, “when you start training for something, your mindset switches from ‘I have to exercise and it sucks’ to ‘I am training because I am an athlete,’” says Roe, adding that “having a goal that scares you is really good.” Why? “There is nothing better than crossing a finishing line and the medal is like a ‘victory of life.’”

Don’t let a bad run deter you. “Everybody has bad runs, and it’s not [just] you,” says Roe. “It’s ok if it’s not always sunshine and rainbows; it’s ok if you’re not running a 9-mile mile.”  Roe says that on a good day, she can run a 10:30-minute mile, but there are also days when she’s at a 14-minute mile pace. She reiterates that both are completely ok.

Running Was His Life. Then Came Putins War. “Whether you are the first or last across the finish line, it’s still a finish line,” says Roe, explaining that a lot of people get discouraged because they compare themselves to others. “Running Was His Life. Then Came Putins War, and know that your lane is good enough. There is room for all of us runners,” she says. “Back of the pack people are warriors. The people who take seven hours to run a marathon? They should feel badass because who would want to run for seven hours straight?! Don’t take away from the meaning of your accomplishments.”