One step at a time, that has been the motto for Jenny Carroll since 2013 when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer.
"I was scared to death that I was going to die, and I'm a single mom so I knew that I needed to just really do whatever I had to do to be here for my son, and I had to turn negatives into positives and do everything in my power to stay above it and fight," said Carroll.
Turning her diagnosis into something positive is exactly what she did when she decided to run 100 miles - a goal that many would consider lofty, but to her, she knew it was possible.
"Right before I got diagnosed I had ran my first full marathon and my first 50K," said Carroll. "It was just within a couple months after that that I got diagnosed."
Carroll endured more than a year of chemotherapy and throughout that entire time, she continued to run in preparation for her 100-mile race. She says having something to look forward to kept her spirits high.
"I was told that cancer feeds off of worry and stress and I wasn't going to let it get the best of me," said Carroll. "Yeah, I did worry, I worried every single day, but you have to find other outlets to be able to stay positive and you just have to keep in your mind that you will beat it."
And with her 13-year-old son, friends and family by her side, Jenny won.
"I never realized how many friends I had," said Carroll. "Everyone wanted to pitch in and help however they could, and people donated stuff and people were always coming around checking on me. It was just awesome."
For those who are fighting their own battles and pushing to cross that finish line, Carroll has three important words.
"Don't give up," said Carroll. "You can't give up or it'll get the best of you."