Meet Fernanda Maciel, Brazilian ultra-endurance athlete quit her job in 2006 and moved to the village of Coll de Nargó, population 40, where she now spends around four hours a day training for ultra-endurance races around the world. She hasn't watched TV since 2005, and meditates regularly, occasionally going on 10-day silent retreats.

Fernanda Maciel set a world record when she summited Argentina’s Aconcagua mountain, because she was the first female to ever run the entire way. But for a woman who grew up in a family of fighters, running up mountains is all in a day’s work — and the stuff of dreams.Fernanda Maciel set a world record when she summited Argentina’s Aconcagua mountain, because she was the first female to ever run the entire way. But for a woman who grew up in a family of fighters, running up mountains is all in a day’s work — and the stuff of dreams.

"Every girl should know how to fight," says Fernanda Maciel with fierce conviction. The Brazilian ultra-endurance athlete, who has broken records for running up and down the highest mountains in both Africa and South America, grew up in a family of fighters. Her father and grandfather were champion martial artists, and as a young girl she trained in the family ring at home, later going on to compete internationally as a gymnast.

"Knowing how to defend yourself is amazing," she says. "It makes you feel confident and self-protected. If you know that physically [you are strong], you also feel it in your mind, as well as emotionally and spiritually. I think it’s very important for a woman."

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