Text me. I’d love to hear from you! Can you relate to anything we said? What do want to hear more about?

In this unstoppable conversation, Rhea Deroian shares how running became both an escape and a lifeline for her during an abusive marriage, and later as a joyful practice that she used to test potential partners, and ultimately find her person. Rhea takes us from her earliest inspiration (a marathon-running boss named Sue) to her own marathon win, and into the bigger lessons she’s learned about situational awareness, boundaries, healing, and trusting your instincts.

Along the way, we talk with the grant writer about why research funding matters, how endurance teaches you to listen to your body, why the clock isn’t the only measure of success, and the book that helped Rhea name what was happening and find the courage to leave: The Gift of Fear.

This episode includes a clear PSA on domestic abuse warning signs and resources because nobody should have to navigate fear alone.

In This Episode, You’ll Hear

• How research funding is the real engine behind future cures and why it takes a village of specialists
• The moment running “clicked” for Rhea (and the marathoner named Sue who planted the seed)
• Why she fell in love with the marathon distance... even when she was wildly underprepared
• The kismet “Sue” connection that helped her win a marathon on a hard day
• How data can be motivating… until it becomes the only thing you value (looking at you, Garmin 😅)
• The reality of how partners can become jealous of a hobby and how that can turn controlling
• A candid, powerful conversation about abuse, silence, shame, and what helped Rhea leave
• Why Rhea believes healing is possible and why boundaries still matter
• The “sixth sense” we all have, and how to practice trusting it

Key Takeaways

• The clock is only one metric. A run (and a life) can be successful in a lot of ways.
• Support looks like encouragement, not control. If your partner punishes you for having a healthy outlet, that’s information that shouldn't be overlooked.
• Your gut knows before your brain catches up. If something feels off, it deserves attention.
• Once it becomes physical, the boundary has been crossed. Safety has to come first.
• Consistency builds self-trust. Streaks, routines, and movement can teach you how to listen to yourself again.
• You can grow from hard chapters without glamorizing them. Healing can include compassion and firm boundaries.

Notable Quotes

• “The clock is one metric, but it can’t be the be-all end-all.”
• “He doesn’t get to take this away from me.”
• “I realized I wasn’t afraid of what was outside. I was afraid of what was inside.”
• “Whatever works for you, that’s what you should do.”

Resources Mentioned

• The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker
• National Domestic Violence Hotline (U.S.)
  • Phone: 1-800-799-7233
  • Website: thehotline.org

If this episode hit home:

• Share it with someone who needs encouragement, clarity, or language for what they’re experiencing
• Subscribe to Unstoppable: Stories That Move
• Leave a review to help more people find these stories

And if you want to do something even bigger:
This podcast supports the mission of raising $1 million for medical research. Your support helps fund real labs doing real work that saves lives. Donate today at unstoppablestoriesthatmove.com

Text me. I’d love to hear from you! Can you relate to anything we said? What do want to hear more about?

Sally’s Hotline is shaking things up! We're excited to offer you the opportunity to hear wisdom directly from the Unstoppable guests themselves. Today, host Sally Hed Dahlquist welcomes back Sian Comerford, a woman whose life has been transformed through resilience, grit, and relentless commitment.

After losing 265 pounds over five years, Sian is now an unstoppable weightlifter, trainer-in-training, and source of motivation.

Now known as “Fit Mom” instead of “Big Mom,” Sian shares the simple, powerful habits that helped her keep going through, surgery and bedrest, setbacks, and doubt.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why Sian says motivation starts with remembering your “why”
• The power of progress photos and tracking your journey
• Why weight loss (and healing) happens one step at a time
• How she stays committed
• What it means to become your own inspiration

Sian’s core message

You don’t need perfection to change your life.

Every step matters. Every day matters. And if you keep putting one foot in front of the other, you will move forward... even when it feels slow.

Listen to Sian’s full story

Want to hear more of Sian’s incredible journey?
🎧 Listen to Episode 28 of Unstoppable Stories That Move for her full interview.

Support the mission

This podcast exists to do more than inspire, it exists to save lives.

Sally’s nonprofit is raising $1 million for medical research, funding the labs that are developing tomorrow’s cures for cancer and other life-threatening diseases. With government research funding being cut, private support matters more than ever.

Donate now:
UnstoppableStoriesThatMove.com

Text me. I’d love to hear from you! Can you relate to anything we said? What do want to hear more about?

It’s winter in Minnesota, prime resolution season, and today’s guest is a living reminder that transformation isn’t just a New Year’s idea…it’s a life-saving decision.

Sally sits down with Sian Comerford, a 41-year-old mom of five from Indiana, small business owner (she bakes gourmet, deep-dish cookies!), and an absolutely unstoppable human who has lost over 200 pounds over five years. After grief, depression, and years of using food for comfort following her husband’s sudden death, Sian hit a turning point that forced her to reclaim her health.

In this conversation, Sian shares what actually worked:

• Gastric sleeve surgery as a tool (not a magic fix)
• Building a medical and personal support team
• Learning how to navigate food addiction and mindset
• Finding a family at the gym
• And training hard enough that climbing the equivalent of the world’s tallest building became…a casual Sunday challenge.

This episode is packed with hope, honesty, and practical reminders that you don’t have to start strong, you just have to start.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode

• Sian’s incredible transformation: from 400 to 167 pounds
• The difference between gastric sleeve vs. gastric bypass
• Why support matters: weight loss doctor, nutritionist, and therapy
• Food addiction and the mental side of bariatric surgery: “negotiating between your brain and your belly”
• How a near-tragic moment with her daughter became a wake-up call
• Why she lives by: “One foot in front of the other”
• Her fitness routine: early mornings, structured programming, metabolic finishers, and serious cardio
• Stair Master goals that got wild: climbing the Burj Khalifa... and then some
• Why she believes: “Eat the cookie” (and how restriction backfires)
• How lifting changed her identity: not “skinny,” but strong
• “Gym bros” aren’t scary
• Why she’s getting certified through NASM to become a personal trainer
• The mindset shift from “new me” to “I love me, how do I level up?”

Listener Takeaways

If you’re trying to make a change this year, here are your reminders from Sian’s story:

• Start smaller than you think you “should.” Consistency beats intensity.
• Tools help, but mindset is the real long game.
• Get support: medical, nutritional, emotional, and community support all count.
• Don’t wait to feel confident confidence comes after you start showing up.
• Your “why” gets stronger when it’s bigger than you.

Mentioned in This Episode

• Gastric sleeve surgery (and what it actually does)
• Fairlife protein shakes, collagen peptides
• Ninja Creami (protein ice cream hack!)
• NASM personal training certification

Support the Mission

If this episode encouraged you, inspired you, or helped you believe change is possible, please share it with a friend and consider supporting the bigger mission.

We’re raising $1 million for medical research, and every single dollar raised by listeners like you truly makes a difference.

Learn more + donate at UnstoppableStoriesThatMove.com

Text me. I’d love to hear from you! Can you relate to anything we said? What do want to hear more about?

Welcome to the final episode of Season One of Unstoppable: Stories That Move.

In this reflective season-ending Little Tip, host Sally Hed Dahlquist looks back on a year of courage, growth, and risk and invites you to do the same. What did you do in 2025 that scared you? What did you try anyway? And how do you carry that momentum forward into 2026?

Sally shares the three pillars that turn a vision into a living mission: clarity, consistency, and commitment.

In this episode, Sally reflects on:

• Why finishing Season One is something to celebrate no matter how imperfect the journey has felt
• How big dreams begin without a roadmap (and sometimes happy hours), but with a willingness to take the first step
• The power of clarity: defining what you really want beneath the goal
• How consistency creates momentum
• Why long-term commitment is fueled by meaning, not perfection
• Lessons learned from launching a podcast and founding a medical research charity
• The quiet courage of showing up before you feel ready
• Choosing kindness over self-criticism when doubt creeps in
• Why personal growth often happens off-camera and out of public view

Your Reflection for the New Year

As you step into 2026, ask yourself:

• What dream or vision matters most to you right now?
• What small step can you take today to move it forward?
• How can you stay consistent, even when progress feels slow?
• What commitment are you willing to make to yourself this year?

Growth doesn’t require perfection. It requires movement.

Supporting the Mission

If any of the episodes shared this season have encouraged you, inspired you, or helped you move forward, please consider supporting the mission behind it.

Donate to support medical research at UnstoppableStoriesThatMove.com

With funding cuts affecting vital research, your contribution, no matter the size, helps save lives and fuel future breakthroughs.

Thank you for being part of Season One.
Thank you for listening, sharing, donating, and believing.

There are more stories ahead.
More miles to run.
More courage to practice.

Keep your dreams alive. Keep moving forward.

Text me. I’d love to hear from you! Can you relate to anything we said? What do want to hear more about?

In this special holiday Little Tip, host Sally Hed Dahlquist invites you to pause and reflect on the intangible gifts you’ve earned through your life experiences. These are the emotional strengths that build character, shape resilience, and carry you forward not just through the holidays, but all year long.

Sally explores four powerful internal gifts that often go unnoticed and remain unclaimed: pride, letting go, honesty, and resilience and offers thoughtful questions to help you claim them fully.

In this episode, Sally shares:

• What intangible gifts really are and why they matter more than material ones
• Why accepting pride in your accomplishments is not arrogance, but ownership
• How letting go of perfection, guilt, or outdated dreams can free you to move forward
• Why honesty (with yourself and others) is essential for healing and growth
• How resilience is built through challenge, not comfort
• Personal stories from Sally’s journey through medical, financial, and professional adversity
• How acknowledging your full story helps you become truly unstoppable

The Four Intangible Gifts

1. Pride

Giving yourself permission to be proud without minimizing, explaining, or deflecting.
Accept the compliment. You earned it.

Reflection:
One accomplishment I am finally willing to be proud of is…

2. Letting Go

Releasing guilt, perfectionism, old expectations, or goals that no longer serve you and forgiving yourself for the past.

Reflection:
One thing I am willing to let go of is…

3. Honesty

Facing the truth of what happened, what it cost you, and how it shaped you without judgment or shame.

Reflection:
One story I want to stop hiding from myself is…

4. Resilience

Recognizing the strength you’ve built by surviving, adapting, and continuing forward even when life didn’t go as planned.

Reflection:
A strength I have today because of my experiences is…

A Holiday Invitation

These four gifts pride, letting go, honesty, and resilience are always available to you. Claiming them is an act of courage, compassion, and self-respect.

You are allowed to be proud.
You are allowed to forgive yourself.
You are allowed to tell the truth about your story.
You are allowed to recognize your strength.

Support Life-Saving Medical Research

If this episode resonated with you, please consider extending the spirit of giving by supporting medical research that saves lives.

With NIH budgets being cut, donations matter now more than ever.

Donate at UnstoppableStoriesThatMove.com

Your generosity helps fund research, support patients and families, and move us closer to better treatments and cures.

May these gifts carry you through the holidays and beyond. Keep moving forward.

Text me. I’d love to hear from you! Can you relate to anything we said? What do want to hear more about?

Does wind really make that much of a difference when you’re running… or are you just being dramatic?

Yes, it absolutely matters for your pace, your effort, your comfort, and even your safety.

In this edition of Sally's Hotline you'll learn how wind speed and direction affect your running, how to read a course map with the wind in mind, and exactly what to wear so you’re not freezing, chafing, or getting sandblasted mid-race.

You’ll walk away with a simple windy-day game plan you can actually use on your next run.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why wind changes everything
  • How headwinds slow you down and tailwinds can speed you up by roughly a second per mile per mph of wind
  • How wind can trick your sense of effort and mess with your running form
• How to “read” the wind like a pro
  • What to look for in the forecast besides temperature and rain
  • How to compare wind direction to your race course map so you’re not surprised on race day
  • Why 8–10 mph (or gusty conditions) is the point where you really need a plan
• Sally’s favorite weather tools
  • Windy.com – sailor-level wind maps with clean visuals and hourly direction
  • yr.no – Norwegian forecasting with live local webcams (hello, ski hill cams)
  • NOAA.gov – U.S. government weather data that powers other apps
• What to wear when it’s windy, cold, or both
  • How Sally builds outfits in 10°F bands
  • When to add:
    • Wind pants over tights
    • A lightweight poncho
    • Face masks, ski goggles, or clear safety glasses
  • Why breathable wind layers matter
• A little science for your inner nerd
  • Why air is “real,” has weight, and behaves like a fluid
  • How the Coriolis effect drives wind patterns and storm rotation
  • Why the sky is blue, clouds are white, and the ocean looks blue or teal
• How to turn obsessing into preparation (instead of panic)
  • A step-by-step checklist for:
    • Checking wind speed and direction
    • Comparing it to your course
    • Adjusting your clothing, eyewear, and gear
    • Planning hydration on dry, windy days or at higher elevation
  • How to use each windy race as data: what worked, what didn’t, and how to adjust next time

Question of the Day

Have you ever run in extreme wind?
How did you handle it? What did you learn?

Sally wants to hear your stories and strategies. Share your experience and keep the conversation going.

Help Us Turn Headwinds into Hope

If this episode helped you feel more prepared and confident in the elements, you can pay it forward by supporting life-saving medical research.

Donate at UnstoppableStoriesThatMove.com

Your gift helps:

• Fund cutting-edge research impacted by NIH budget cuts
• Support patients and families fighting for more time and better outcomes
• Turn devastating diagnoses into stories of survival and strength

Instead of just worrying about the future of medicine, you can be part of building it.

Together, we can save lives.

Text me. I’d love to hear from you! Can you relate to anything we said? What do want to hear more about?

What do you do when a crash takes your eyesight, your career, and the life you imagined?

If you’re Dan Parker, you become the world’s fastest blind man.

In this powerful conversation, Dan shares how he went from a devastating drag-racing accident and total blindness to setting a Guinness World Record for the fastest car driven blindfolded at 211.043 mph exactly 10 years to the day after the wreck that took his sight.

Dan’s story is about much more than racing. It’s about purpose, faith, creativity, and refusing to accept that your life is over when everything changes.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How a vivid 2 a.m. dream of racing at Bonneville Salt Flats pulled Dan back from the edge of suicide
• The ingenious guidance system his team built so he could drive and race while blind
• Why racers joke that a race car is “a black hole you throw money into”… and why they do it anyway
• The wild logistics and near-misses behind his Guinness Record run at Spaceport America
• How a blind machinist still runs his own shop, building pens, parts, and race cars by feel
• Why he says, “I lost my eyesight, but not my vision.”
• The brutal reality of traumatic brain injury and neuro-fatigue, and how he’s learning to live and work with it
• His mission to help blind people regain independence through adaptive, semi-autonomous bicycles
• The truth about racing culture: inclusivity, mutual respect, and helping your competitors just so you can beat them fair and square

About Dan Parker

• Former chassis builder & drag racer who spent his life designing and fabricating race cars and bikes
• Survived a catastrophic racing accident in 2012 that left him blind and with a traumatic brain injury
• Became the first blind man to race at Bonneville and later set the Guinness World Record as the fastest car driven blindfolded at 211 mph
• Now known as The Blind Machinist, running his own machine shop, turning custom pens, and collaborating on cutting-edge accessibility projects
• Leads Blind Faith, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding independence and mobility for blind people through technology like adaptive recumbent bikes

Connect with Dan: theblindmachinist.com

If Dan’s story moved you, go check out his work, support his projects, or grab one of his handmade pens—each one carries his motto:

Help Us Fuel More Miracles in the Lab

Dan’s story is a perfect example of what happens when research, technology, and sheer human determination collide. That’s exactly what we’re funding through Unstoppable Stories That Move from groundbreaking brain tumor vaccines to tools that give kids and adults with disabilities a chance at a fuller life.

If this conversation inspired you, please consider donating to medical research through our charity:

Give now at UnstoppableStoriesThatMove.com

Your donation helps:

• Fund innovative treatments and clinical trials
• Support children and families facing devastating diagnoses
• Bridge the gap left by shrinking NIH budgets

Together, we can save lives.

Text me. I’d love to hear from you! Can you relate to anything we said? What do want to hear more about?

Why do some people stick with a fitness routine for decades while others burn out after a few weeks? For this edition of Sally's Hotline, host Sally Hed Dahlquist shares the secret that transformed her own health: when movement becomes self-care, you will always come back for more.

Sally, globetrotting marathoner and cancer-research fundraiser, opens up about how she went from feeling tired and scared about her health to running marathons all over the world. Spoiler: she didn’t start as a runner. She started as someone who just wanted to feel better.

This episode is packed with gentle motivation, relatable stories, and practical ways to find a routine you can actually stick with.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why fitness gets easier once it becomes a safe haven, not a chore
• How Sally’s running became her moving meditation and emotional anchor
• The life-changing moment she experienced doing her first chest fly
• Why your workout should never feel like punishment
• Why trying lots of different activities is the real key to consistency
• Simple mindset shifts that make exercise something you get to do, not something you have to do
• How community classes (and one unforgettable teacher) helped Sally build lifelong confidence

Quick tips to make fitness stick:

• Try many activities until one feels good to your soul
• Schedule the thing you actually look forward to
• Find instructors who lift you up... not drill sergeants
• Treat movement as therapy, not a task
• Focus on how you feel, not how you look
• Celebrate every bit of progress
• Remember: you are your #1 priority

A personal dedication

This episode is lovingly dedicated to Kathy McMillan, Sally’s first weightlifting instructor at Bloomington Community Education. Kathy’s welcoming, supportive class helped Sally open up, physically and emotionally, and set her on the path to lifelong health. Her influence changed everything.

Join Sally in saving lives

If this episode encouraged you, please consider donating to help fund cutting-edge medical research—including a first-in-kids clinical trial for deadly childhood brain tumors.

With NIH budgets being cut, your donation matters more than ever.

Donate today at UnstoppableStoriesThatMove.com

Every dollar helps fuel discoveries, support families, and bring hope where there is none.