Summer Sanders

We try to live by the secret of sevens. A friend, who has been married for over 40 years, told us about this magic. Make and keep a date every seven days, take a night away alone, for yourself, every seven weeks, and schedule an adult-only vacation every seven months.

For me, music makes my smile brighter during my workouts. It adds that extra something that motivates me to go further or work harder!

Thinking about your training should put a smile on your face. As cliche as it sounds, you are worth all the time and energy you've put in. Unleash your emotions with a cheer, or even a signature roar, after a tough workout.

I'm not the athlete I was when I was training for the Olympics in '92 or when I was working out every single day. I have to live in moderation: I work out three or four days a week, and I smile while I'm working out - I really do enjoy it. I work out with my girlfriends and make it a social competition.

I lead by example. My kids know what sweat is. They've seen me come home from so many runs and asked, 'What's on your skin? How did you get it?' And I tell them, 'It's from exercise!' So now my son will come home from a bike ride, take off his helmet and say, 'Look, Mom. I'm sweating! I just worked out!'

I love to swim. When I jump in the water, I feel like I'm 12 years old again. It's really funny how it does that to me.

I love to run, but training can be hard, especially with a family and a crazy travel schedule. I often do sprints with my kids, where they bike and I run along side them so we can 'race' each other for a quarter-mile or shorter repeats.

I never get enough sleep, even when I travel. I wake up in the middle of the night, either with the help of my kids or because my mind is going. I wish I got eight hours a night, but it is more like an interrupted six or seven. The secret is to go to sleep well before midnight.

Quite simply, my diet has and will always be everything in moderation. People look at Olympic athletes and think they must cut out all those things everyone else indulges in, and speaking for myself, I never did.

Growing up, I was a little hippie kid. I went to some good concerts... Amnesty International with Bob Dylan and Tracy Chapman... The best concert I ever went to was this one at the Cow Palace my freshman year in college on New Year's Eve. It was Pearl Jam opening for Nirvana opening for Red Hot Chili Peppers.

It's not really about the competition. Your biggest challenge in a race is yourself. You're often racing against time. You're frequently running everything through your mind. You're always competing against preconceived ideas. It's not really the person next to you that you worry about.

I love KIND bars. My favorites are coconut and almond and the dark chocolate and sea salt because staying fueled helps keep me from getting sick or injured. Bananas have also made a great comeback in my life. My kids eat them all the time on the go, which has inspired my go-to pre-run morning meal of peanut butter and banana on toast.

My healthiest habit is eating a healthy breakfast every morning. I never miss breakfast. As a busy mom, there will be days when I'm cruisin' along and I'll look at the clock and I haven't eaten lunch. And I'll run downstairs, and I'll start shovelin' stuff down the pie hole, and I'll think, 'That was no lunch at all.'

To be a champion, I think you have to see the big picture. It's not about winning and losing; it's about every day hard work and about thriving on a challenge. It's about embracing the pain that you'll experience at the end of a race and not being afraid. I think people think too hard and get afraid of a certain challenge.

The first lesson my kids got about the ocean was to respect it. You can never turn your back on the ocean when you're dealing with tides and currents - factors beyond your control. You have to be the CEO of your family on the water. CEO stands for 'constant eyes on,' and it's something I never forget.