My friend and fellow team member, Peter tagged me. I am to answer these five questions. Here goes.

1. How would you describe your running ten years ago? I ran my first 50k ten years ago. I remember that my calves cramped and I thought it was so hard. My racing background actually comes from riding endurance horses in 50 - 100 mile races, so that was my only sport before running took over.

2. What is your best and worst race experience? My best race experience had to be Western States 2007. I had been injured all season and had very limited training going into the race. Race day found me excited and so positive! I finished under 24 hours and felt great most of the time. My worst race experience was at Wasatch 2007. I predicted a time of 27 hours there. I developed Rhabdomyolysis there and got very seriously sick and it took me 35 hours and change to finish. My kidneys and liver were not working properly and the pain of that condition was horrible. I would say I practically crawled the last several miles due to my body shutting down. I spent a week in the hospital after that.

3. Why do you run? I run because it gives me a feeling of power. It makes me strong and allows me to see and experience places that I would never otherwise be able to see. (I am too hyper to hike).

4. What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running? The best advice that I was given is to always keep a positive attitude while racing. You must stay mentally strong, or you are really going to suffer out there. The worst advice? Keep running no matter what. That advice could have killed me at Wasatch. We must be able to tell the difference between normal pain and serious pain when we are out on the trail. There should be no shame in quitting if you feel that you are jepardizing your health to finish.

5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know. I quit drinking when I was 22. When I was about 12 years old I raised rabbits and butchered, tanned their hides and sold their meat to make money. I also love to collect skulls. I once wanted to become a Mortician and I worked in a county morgue once. (sick, I know what you are all thinking.)

Now tagging: Leigh
Deanna
Julie