Diane Van Deren

June 13th, 2012 • BY Erinn Morgan

Ultrarunner Diane Van Deren is a curious type of athlete. She’s pulled an 50-pound sled across 430 miles of frozen wilderness in the Yukon Arctic Ultra foot race, no problem. She was the first woman ever to do so. She runs the Hardrock 100 race in Silverton, Colo., yearly, knocking off 100 miles of the most grueling, remote backcountry terrain in a mere 48 hours.

Her latest endeavor, however, was the pièce de résistance. Last week, Van Deren completed a nearly 1,000-mile run on North Carolina’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST), hoofin’ it across the entire state in record time—22 days, 5 hours, and 3 minutes (easily surpassing the previous record of 24 days, 3 hours and 50 minutes).

The expedition was conceived to support the work of Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail (FMST), the non-profit that builds, protects, and promotes North Carolina’s spectacular MST. Van Deren’s Endurance Run raised over $26,000 for the group. Her epic run was supported by The North Face and Great Outdoor Provision Co., a North Carolina-based retailer of outdoor goods.

Still, the runner battled torrential rains, hurricanes, flooding, and bloody, blistered feet on her journey. What propels this 52-year-old mother of three to run such incredibly hard—and incredibly long—distances?

Van Deren points to her previous battle with epilepsy—and resulting lobectomy, which made her seizure-free—as the basis. “I just know how to dig deep because I know where I am and how I got here,” says the former professional tennis player. “I was focused and determined before the surgery. It didn’t change me; it just stopped my seizures.”

Not surprisingly, Van Deren has twice been named one of National Geographic’s “Adventurers of the Year.” She also travels the country giving motivational speeches—well, we say, who better to inspire us?

We caught up with the lovely and lighthearted Van Deren after she completed this epic quest, but only after she’d had a good night’s sleep, taken a solid dose of Advil, and had a chance to “shave my legs.”

Womens’ Movement: You’ve said that this was the hardest thing you’ve ever done. Was it harder than the Yukon Arctic?

Diane Van Deren: Hands down, yes, The 430 miles in the Yukon at 50 below, well that was flippin’ intense. But this was harder, yes, because the trail was so technical. I was bouldering half the time and climbing on the top of the mountains. In the Yukon, I’d just get in the zone and go. This one, you couldn’t look up from your feet for first six days the trail was so technical. It was also flooded. There was no margin for error.

WM: Did you handle the impressive social media outreach for the run?

Van Deren: Honey, I didn’t do any of that. You don’t want to see any of my Tweets or blog posts with a brain injury. Our crew was handling that and they were really having fun.

WM: What was the most beautiful part of the 1,000 miles?

Van Deren: The Linville Gorge is stunning. It was brutal but the views were very dramatic. Here in Colorado we stand on top of mountains and look out but this was stunning and dramatic in a different way. It’s a really lush mini Grand Canyon.

WM: What was the worst day?

Van Deren: The really intense day was when we were running in hurricane conditions. I’m a Colorado girl so I know what a snow blizzard is but it’s brutal when you’re being knocked over by rain that’s swirling and you’re running along the beach with a headlamp in the middle of the night and the waves were just booming. We had a tornado off to the side of us. It really wasn’t the worst day; it was just the most intense day.

WM: The best day?

Van Deren: The last day. Really and truly, the whole thing was so intense. Every day we were thrown every curve ball we could imagine. Between the downpours of rain for six days to flooding to low visibility to burned out areas with no blazes marked on the trees to follow to crossing Linfield river, which was washed out. I was going on one to three hours of sleep a night. We never had a day we said “Ahhh, here’s a day here to cruise.” Plus my foot was trashed because I was always running in wet shoes. It was bleeding, raw, with blisters—I was literally crawling in the morning. If anybody was watching from the outside they’d think I was being tortured. Really and truly it was that last day. I knew we had 27 miles to run and once we came around the corner and saw Rocky Ridge National Park and our whole crew we grabbed everyone’s hand and went into prayer.

WM: Do you believe your brain surgery changed your endurance, as so many news articles have suggested?

Van Deren: That has really been twisted. I’ve been so open with my interviews. I get so hurt when I read all these interviews and they say I got the gift of endurance from brain surgery. It didn’t make me faster; it just made me seizure free. And, it took away the fear of the unknown. I got the gift of life.

Kamagra oral jelly Online something to buy the most convenient way. He doesn’t demand from you any actions except how to visit the website. And in separate with goods necessary to you to put the end. To specify your address and to wait for the supplier to whom you will give money.