Jody and Shannon

Grandmother/Granddaughter

Jody Kelly

Age: 71
Hometown: Round Rock, Texas
Connection to your Teammate: Grandmother
Current Occupation: Personal Trainer
Pet peeve about your teammate: Sometimes her clothing choices seem a bit too revealing
Favorite Hobbies: Triathlons, writing, reading and challenging myself
Achievements: Other than giving birth to my four children, I am most proud of leaving behind my sedentary lifestyle five years ago and starting to live a healthy, athletic lifestyle
Lifelong to do List: Finish a half ironman triathlon. Finish a full marathon. Publish another book. Motivate people to become active. Climb more Colorado mountains. Walk the Appalachian Trail. Go trekking in Norway. Bicycle through the Netherlands. Develop a TV show featuring elderly athletes
If I could switch places with someone: It might be fun to be Carol Burnett for half a day, but then I'd want to come home
Role Model/Hero: Sister Madonna Buder who finished the Kona ironman at age 78.
What are you passionate about? I'm passionate about giving hope to people who think they can't change and helping them improve their lives
What would you do if you won the million dollars? Donate half to the Strengthmobile Foundation and spend the other half on a 500-square foot condominium within a mile of Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas
People would be surprised to learn: For two years in the mid 1990s, I performed amateur stand-up comedy to compensate for a really grim period I was going through
Favorite place you have ever visited: Rural Ireland and Hua Hin, Thailand
Biggest challenge you and your teammate will face on the Race together: Communicating and working together as a team
What do you hope to accomplish by running the Race (other than winning one million bucks)? As the oldest person who has ever participated in the Race, I hope to show that age is more than a number

Shannon Foster

Age: 22
Hometown: Georgetown, Texas
Connection to your Teammate: Granddaughter
Current Occupation: Healthcare Outreach Contract Analyst
Pet peeve about your teammate: Grandma can get a bit uptight at times and has a tendency to get carried away
Favorite Hobbies: Running, dancing and swimming
Achievements: Getting my degree in Economics from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas
Lifelong to do List: Run a marathon, earn a medical degree or physician assistant degree and join Doctors Without Borders
If I could switch places with someone:  I would never switch places with someone
Role Model/Hero: All the strong-willed and capable women that I am related to -- my mom, grandma and great-grandma
What are you passionate about?  Staying fit and healthy and helping others do the same
What would you do if you won the million dollars? I would backpack across Southeast Asia
People would be surprised to learn: I lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from eight months old until I was almost 10-years-old
Favorite place you have ever visited:  Either Angkor Wat in Cambodia or the Great Wall of China
Biggest challenge you and your teammate will face on the Race together:  Making quick decisions without my Mom acting as a middleman
What do you hope to accomplish by running the Race (other than winning one million bucks)?  To get a chance to travel with my grandma and to have an opportunity to practice making decisions in a fast-paced and competitive environment