Tennessee Viking
05-10-2012, 15:28
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/09/2055850/woman-to-run-1000-mile-nc-mountains.html
Woman to run 1,000-mile N.C Mountains-to-Sea Trail
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NYT
Diane Van Deren trains near her home in Sedalia, Colo., on June 24, 2009. Since brain surgery, Van Deren has become a top long-distance runner, undeterred by an inability to remember exactly where she is going or how to get back.
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BY JACK HORAN - SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Tags: Mountains-to-Sea Trail (http://www.newsobserver.com/tags?tag=Mountains-to-Sea+Trail) | North Carolina (http://www.newsobserver.com/tags?tag=+North+Carolina) | ultra-runner (http://www.newsobserver.com/tags?tag=+ultra-runner)
A 52-year-old Colorado woman who had surgery to remove part of her brain to rid herself of epileptic seizures will set off in Great Smoky Mountains National Park before dawn Thursday to run North Carolina’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail in 21 days, the fastest time ever for the 1,000-mile trail.
One of the world’s top ultra-runners, Diane Van Deren will move through the mountains with local guide runners. The surgery that ended the debilitating seizures impaired her ability to navigate, to read a map and gave her short-term memory lapses.
“I do one day at a time,” Van Deren said by phone on Tuesday, the day she first saw the N.C. mountains. “Check it off. Check it off. I just take it one step at a time and keep it moving forward. I stay in the moment.”
She plans to jog, trot or run 15-18 hours a day, sleep 4-5, and average 47 miles daily through leafy tunnels in the Blue Ridge, beside rolling farm fields in the Piedmont and along the wind-swept Outer Banks. She’ll burn 7,000-8,000 calories a day, will be resupplied by volunteers and will camp at night.
If Van Deren stays on track, she’ll reach the trail’s eastern terminus, Jockey’s Ridge State Park at Nags Head, on May 30. That would beat by three days the 24-day, 3-hour, 50-minute run made last summer by Matthew Kirk of Marion, N.C.
Van Deren, a super athlete, has competed in some of the most grueling long-distance runs in the world. In 2008, she won the Yukon Arctic Ultra 300-mile race, pulling a 50-pound sled with food and supplies over frozen tundra in temperatures as low as 40 below. A year later, in the Yukon Arctic Ultra 430-mile race, she was fourth overall.
She climbed South America’s highest peak, 22,834-foot-high Aconcagua, in 2010 and regularly finishes the 100-mile Hardrock Endurance Run in the Colorado Rockies, with its lung-bursting 33,992-foot cumulative elevation gain.
The N.C. cross-state trail passes south of Asheville and north of Winston-Salem, loops around Raleigh, uses ferry connections at the Pamlico Sound and between Ocracoke and Hatteras Islands and spans the beaches north to Jockey’s Ridge. About 500 miles of trail have been completed; uncompleted parts follow rural roads. The length runs between 950 and 1,000 miles as new trail segments re-route or replace road sections.
Van Deren’s trek can be followed on www.mstendurancerun.com (http://www.mstendurancerun.com/); signals from her GPS will pinpoint her location on a map.
Van Deren, a resident of Sedalia, Colo., and husband Scott have three children, ages 25, 23 and 21. As a youth, she excelled in basketball and tennis. Seizures began in her mid-20s. Medication didn’t control them. In 1997 she opted for radical brain surgery. She lost a kiwi-fruit-sized part of her front temporal lobe. The lobectomy stopped the seizures, giving her a new life.
“It’s a gift. I’m seizure-free,” she said.
While seizure-stricken, she discovered that running would prevent onset of episodes. After she recovered from surgery, she did a 50-miler and won. Thrilled, she advanced to ultra running and became an athlete sponsored by The North Face, the clothing and gear company.
The “Mountains to Sea Trail Endurance Run” was arranged by Great Outdoor Provision Co. to raise $40,000 for the trail. Chuck Millsaps, an official with the retailer in Raleigh, approached The North Face with the concept. Last October, Van Deren spoke in Raleigh and expressed interest in the trail, Millsaps said. The company signed on and will pick up logistical expenses.
Millsaps and co-workers created the 21-day timetable. He presented it to Van Deren, noting elevation gains, land features and designated campsites. He quoted her as saying, “I can do that.”
Even with mild May weather and relatively moderate terrain, she regards the trail blitz as a daunting undertaking. The 5-foot-9, 138-pounder has never run this far. She’ll take more than 2.1 million steps.
“I think this will be the biggest challenge ever (because) of the distance,” she said. “I’m going to hit everything – every type of environment...1,000 miles is a long way. (But) I can’t wait.”
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/09/2055850/woman-to-run-1000-mile-nc-mountains.html#storylink=cpy
Woman to run 1,000-mile N.C Mountains-to-Sea Trail
ARTICLE (http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/09/2055850/woman-to-run-1000-mile-nc-mountains.html#story_tab_main)15 COMMENTS (http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/09/2055850/woman-to-run-1000-mile-nc-mountains.html#dsq-content)
http://media2.newsobserver.com/smedia/2012/05/09/17/37/61-1gXNYm.Em.138.jpg
NYT
Diane Van Deren trains near her home in Sedalia, Colo., on June 24, 2009. Since brain surgery, Van Deren has become a top long-distance runner, undeterred by an inability to remember exactly where she is going or how to get back.
Email (http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/09/v-email_form/2055850/woman-to-run-1000-mile-nc-mountains.html)Print (http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/09/v-print/2055850/woman-to-run-1000-mile-nc-mountains.html)Order Reprint (http://www.newsobserver.com/2009/08/27/14761/reprints-and-licensing.html)Share This (http://addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&pub=mianalytics)
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BY JACK HORAN - SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Tags: Mountains-to-Sea Trail (http://www.newsobserver.com/tags?tag=Mountains-to-Sea+Trail) | North Carolina (http://www.newsobserver.com/tags?tag=+North+Carolina) | ultra-runner (http://www.newsobserver.com/tags?tag=+ultra-runner)
A 52-year-old Colorado woman who had surgery to remove part of her brain to rid herself of epileptic seizures will set off in Great Smoky Mountains National Park before dawn Thursday to run North Carolina’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail in 21 days, the fastest time ever for the 1,000-mile trail.
One of the world’s top ultra-runners, Diane Van Deren will move through the mountains with local guide runners. The surgery that ended the debilitating seizures impaired her ability to navigate, to read a map and gave her short-term memory lapses.
“I do one day at a time,” Van Deren said by phone on Tuesday, the day she first saw the N.C. mountains. “Check it off. Check it off. I just take it one step at a time and keep it moving forward. I stay in the moment.”
She plans to jog, trot or run 15-18 hours a day, sleep 4-5, and average 47 miles daily through leafy tunnels in the Blue Ridge, beside rolling farm fields in the Piedmont and along the wind-swept Outer Banks. She’ll burn 7,000-8,000 calories a day, will be resupplied by volunteers and will camp at night.
If Van Deren stays on track, she’ll reach the trail’s eastern terminus, Jockey’s Ridge State Park at Nags Head, on May 30. That would beat by three days the 24-day, 3-hour, 50-minute run made last summer by Matthew Kirk of Marion, N.C.
Van Deren, a super athlete, has competed in some of the most grueling long-distance runs in the world. In 2008, she won the Yukon Arctic Ultra 300-mile race, pulling a 50-pound sled with food and supplies over frozen tundra in temperatures as low as 40 below. A year later, in the Yukon Arctic Ultra 430-mile race, she was fourth overall.
She climbed South America’s highest peak, 22,834-foot-high Aconcagua, in 2010 and regularly finishes the 100-mile Hardrock Endurance Run in the Colorado Rockies, with its lung-bursting 33,992-foot cumulative elevation gain.
The N.C. cross-state trail passes south of Asheville and north of Winston-Salem, loops around Raleigh, uses ferry connections at the Pamlico Sound and between Ocracoke and Hatteras Islands and spans the beaches north to Jockey’s Ridge. About 500 miles of trail have been completed; uncompleted parts follow rural roads. The length runs between 950 and 1,000 miles as new trail segments re-route or replace road sections.
Van Deren’s trek can be followed on www.mstendurancerun.com (http://www.mstendurancerun.com/); signals from her GPS will pinpoint her location on a map.
Van Deren, a resident of Sedalia, Colo., and husband Scott have three children, ages 25, 23 and 21. As a youth, she excelled in basketball and tennis. Seizures began in her mid-20s. Medication didn’t control them. In 1997 she opted for radical brain surgery. She lost a kiwi-fruit-sized part of her front temporal lobe. The lobectomy stopped the seizures, giving her a new life.
“It’s a gift. I’m seizure-free,” she said.
While seizure-stricken, she discovered that running would prevent onset of episodes. After she recovered from surgery, she did a 50-miler and won. Thrilled, she advanced to ultra running and became an athlete sponsored by The North Face, the clothing and gear company.
The “Mountains to Sea Trail Endurance Run” was arranged by Great Outdoor Provision Co. to raise $40,000 for the trail. Chuck Millsaps, an official with the retailer in Raleigh, approached The North Face with the concept. Last October, Van Deren spoke in Raleigh and expressed interest in the trail, Millsaps said. The company signed on and will pick up logistical expenses.
Millsaps and co-workers created the 21-day timetable. He presented it to Van Deren, noting elevation gains, land features and designated campsites. He quoted her as saying, “I can do that.”
Even with mild May weather and relatively moderate terrain, she regards the trail blitz as a daunting undertaking. The 5-foot-9, 138-pounder has never run this far. She’ll take more than 2.1 million steps.
“I think this will be the biggest challenge ever (because) of the distance,” she said. “I’m going to hit everything – every type of environment...1,000 miles is a long way. (But) I can’t wait.”
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/09/2055850/woman-to-run-1000-mile-nc-mountains.html#storylink=cpy