Mother of five Brooke Dunkley of Springville, Utah, was overwhelmed, always tired and suffering symptoms no doctor could explain. "Looking back, I believe I was struggling with depression," says Brooke, 32. "I had a million things to do and I wasn't doing any of them well."
One day, Brooke overheard a conversation between her son and a friend. "They were talking about a triathlon his mom had done. It was like all the lights went on," she says. "The only thing preventing me from doing the things I'd like to do was me."
That very day, Brooke signed up for her first swim-bike-run race. As she trained, her health problems disappeared. She crossed the finish line—strong—at the Powell Triathlon Challenge at Lake Powell, Ariz., last October. "The woman who was falling apart has disappeared," says Brooke, who received a Horizon Fitness treadmill for her winning entry in our January Dream It, Do It Contest. "She has been replaced with a woman who knows her value, a woman of faith, and a woman of strength."
