Too Feminine to Run? Now She Does Extreme Triathlons. | Jennifer Vollmann

At the Brink with Erica Brinker · May 20, 2026 · 33m

Jennifer Vollmann gave up a career running a global education nonprofit to become a stay-at-home mom. She loved her daughter. She also had no idea who she was anymore. The play dates, the dinner parties where everyone talked about their jobs, the loneliness — she was disappearing into a life she’d never wanted.

Then she signed up for a triathlon at 35. She won her age group. Eight years later, she’s competed at four Ironman World Championships and became one of the first three women to make the time cutoff at the Himalayan Triathlon. She also got divorced, started over with everything she…