If you watched the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, you may have seen Peres Jepchirchir power her way to a gold medal, in an incredible marathon race. Today, Jepchirchir is competing in the 50th New York City Marathon—hoping for another victory.

After starting the sport as a child, Jepchirchir now holds the half marathon world record, in addition to Olympic gold. Her rise in the running world has been a true inspiration to runners in her home country of Kenya, and all over the globe.

In fact, that’s why adidas chose her for their new Impossible Is Nothing campaign, which spotlights what sports enable us to do (on and off the pitch, court, track, or field), through the lens of athletes’ incredible stories.

“We are proud to partner with Peres to tell her story from growing up running as a young girl, rising through the ranks to fulfilling her dream of running in NYC, proving anything is possible,” Jennifer Thomas, Director, Sports Marketing at adidas shared in a statement.

While in college, my dystonia progressed and traveled to my other leg: My toes curled into claws so I had to move incredibly slowly, but I kept moving. In fact, in my mid-20s, I ended up moving to New York to work on Wall Street—ironically one of the most fast-paced jobs in one of the most fast-paced cities. Though I was “successful” in the financial sense of the word, I became consumed with the work and neglected my general health and nutrition. The lifestyle of working outrageous hours (paired with my stubborn attitude) exacerbated the disease. 

Thankfully, though, I found a good neurologist who provided me with genetic counseling. After finding out that my disease is genetic (I have the DYT1 form of Dystonia, meaning my DYT1 gene is mutated), I made the decision that I was likely not going to have children. Instead, I focused my attention on getting my Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Stanford which, due to my dystonia, my friends and family strongly urged against. Everyone was coming from a place of love and concern, but I’m a stubborn person by nature. Please don’t let the disease take me off the journey I know I am supposed to be on, became my battle cry. 

Like all the challenges in my past, I faced the master’s program head-on, and I found a group of friends at Stanford that supported every part of me. I’ll never forget them fighting over who got to ride in my car for the “VIP” treatment (aka front-row parking spots). They took my handicap placard, which was previously a source of self-consciousness for me, and made it cool. 

After graduating with an MBA in 2005, I got a job working for American Express. After everything I’d accomplished up to that point, it should have been smooth sailing, but my dystonia was progressively getting worse.