Petra Planden

Connect What fuels your passion for health and fitness?

Being strong allows for more autonomy and ability to experience life. My love of health and fitness is a love of life. Suffering is a part of life, and to truly love life, I think you must also love suffering. I would choose to experience the pain inherent to getting stronger over and over again.

What’s your favorite way to train or stay fit?

I love ski racing. I love the adrenaline, the freedom, the challenge, being outside, and even the horrible feeling of my extremities thawing after coming in from the cold. I love weightlifting. I love seeing progress across time. I love that it gives me confidence in my body unrelated to my appearance. I love the quiet routine and solitude of it. I love running. I started because my mom took it up. Even though I don’t run with her often, I feel connected to her when I run.

What would you do with $20,000?

I am trying to get to the Olympics in France in 2030. Ski racing is a very expensive sport, and I would use the money to fund my training. I believe that people engage with sports because they are a model of life. Sports, however, are no more or less of a game than any other pursuit we engage with. In order to live full lives, it’s important that we take our respective games seriously. If we don’t, the choice of what game we play will be made for us. I promise to play my game seriously.