Sally McRae
Sally McRae is a professional mountain and ultra runner for Nike — also known as Yellowrunner — and one of the most mentally tough endurance athletes alive. In 2023 she completed the Grand Slam of 200-Mile Races, running the Cocodona 250, Bigfoot 200, Tahoe 200, and Moab 240 in a single year, becoming only the second woman in history to finish the slam and winning the Moab 240 outright. In 2021 she won the Badwater 135. In 2022 she ran 507 miles across five races in 81 days to honor her mother, who died of cancer at 43. She is a mother of two, author of Choose Strong, and the creator of a strength training app used by athletes worldwide.
sallymcrae.com →Sally McRae grew up in Costa Mesa, California, one of five children in a family that did not have money for expensive gear or club teams. Her mother — who died of cancer at 43 when Sally was a teenager — told her never to let what she lacked define what she could do. That message became the foundation of everything.
She captained the women’s soccer team at Biola University, but running did not enter her life seriously until her late twenties. She ran her first marathon in 2003 with bloody feet and no race experience. She finished in 3,729th place and called it terrible — and loved it. By 2010 she had discovered trail running. By 2014 she was signed with Nike, the first professional female trail athlete on the roster. The progression from 0 to pro took her roughly a decade of relentless self-teaching while raising two small children, often training at 3:30 AM on a treadmill because there was no other time.
The Choose Strong Project in 2022 defined her public identity. In honor of her late mother — running one mile for every month of her mother’s 43 years — Sally competed in five races totaling 507 miles across 81 days: Badwater 135, Angeles Crest 100, Leadville 100, Wildstrubel 100K, and a double summit of Mount Whitney. She filmed every step of it. The documentary went viral in the ultrarunning community. The message was not about speed or placement. It was about the decision — the internal choice — to move forward when every reasonable voice says stop.
In 2023 she stacked four 200-mile races into one calendar year: the Cocodona 250, Bigfoot 200, Tahoe 200, and Moab 240. Only nine people in history had completed that circuit in a single year. She became the second woman ever. And she did not just finish the Moab 240 — she won it outright, crossing in 86 hours and 18 minutes after spending the final 100 miles at the front of the race, managing shredded feet and refusing to give the pain more attention than the goal.
She runs on the philosophy of the long game. No shortcuts, no pretending, no motivational performance. Her book Choose Strong, her podcast, and her strength app carry the same message her mother gave her in a living room in Costa Mesa: do not let what you lack determine what you try.
