I do not think about being beautiful. What I devote most of my time to is being healthy.
Ann Bancroft
Growing up in a rural setting in Minnesota, I was raised with the outdoors and a sense of adventure.
I'm lucky I had some teachers who saw something in me.
I'm sort of a strange bird.
I think we all strive to push ourselves, to overcome our struggles. And when we do, we get to know ourselves better.
Getting through high school and college was one of my greatest achievements.
A life lesson for me is, how do you muster the courage to take on a new risk? Whether it's starting up a business or taking on a new project or expedition. I think the risks that we take are all relative to the risk-taker.
Running is my bedrock activity.
Film critics said I gave a voice to the fear we all have: that we'll reach a certain point in our lives, look around and realize that all the things we said we'd do and become will never come to be - and that we're ordinary.
For me, exploration is about that journey to the interior, into your own heart. I'm always wondering, how will I act at my moment of truth? Will I rise up and do what's right, even if every fiber of my being is telling me otherwise?
My first expedition was at about the age of eight.
Everyone in my family is a risk taker in his or her own way.
To push behind the dog sled and run in front of the dog sled. That was always an interesting job.
Skydiving is something I've never done! And I am very excited to take the leap with a community of like-minded courageous women.
I wanted to be a teacher, but I was a lousy student, one of the slowest readers. It was a tremendous struggle. But I'm lucky I had some teachers who saw something in me.
I think that women on expeditions often get sucked into giving 150 percent of themselves because they feel they have to prove themselves physically equal to men. We get ourselves into trouble and burn out.
Water links us all as human beings. Everyone needs water, and we all have challenges about it, no matter where we live. Yet even in the U.S., people aren't aware of problems facing water.
This journey is not over. Our education initiatives have so much momentum, and we're committed to sharing even more stories from the Arctic when we return.
I have a whole, you know, pocket full of dreams I want to achieve. I don't know in which order they're going to fall.
My brother Bill, who is a year older, is a climber, and when I was in the seventh grade, he taught me how to rappel off the frozen waterfall in our backyard.
I love weights, but it's too far to get to the gym. So I make the farm my gym: I split wood and haul tires and do work on the farm, and that's sort of my weight training portion.
I love that place where you get in running where you're just never out of breath and you just feel like you could go forever. I love that. I love feeling strong.
The best way to get most husbands to do something is to suggest that perhaps they're too old to do it.
And then there's also this element of - some people would describe it as spirits or a presence that appears when things are very difficult, physically and emotionally. You know, when you're really putting out. So the third man aura is sort of an appearance. It's the yeti.
I get stubborn and dig in when people tell me I can't do something and I think I can. It goes back to my childhood when I had problems in school because I have a learning disability.
For me, the greatest obstacles are never on the ice itself. That's the area I excel in. That's where my passion is. I think we all strive to push ourselves, to overcome our struggles. And when we do, we get to know ourselves better.
I had no doubts I could go to the pole. I may not be as strong, but I make up for physical strength in other areas, like steadiness and not panicking under stress.
I have an opportunity now with some of the projects I've done, i.e. the North Pole and the South Pole, to speak to a larger audience and talk about things that have nothing to do with physical education or special ed.
The voices of women need to be heard. The volume needs to be turned up.
I give a tremendous amount of weight to the mental aspect of physical activity and what it does for me.
