2008 TROPHY SERIES

This year's division champions turn a passion for running into a winning proposition
By Elinor Fish and Jen Burn


It took seven months, 105 races, 21,000 runners and plenty of mud and moxie to ferret out this year's La Sportiva Trail Runner Trophy Series Division Champions. In its fifth incarnation, the Trophy Series was about inspiring all trail runners to race and enjoy our unique, volunteer-based, low-key community, where Scott Jurek toes the same line alongside Joe Sixpack.

So it's no surprise that the 2008 champs epitomize the diversity of our sport. To wit: A high-school algebra teacher from the South, a factory worker from the Midwest, a kinesiologist and mother of three children from Ontario and a bachelor health-policy analyst, also from north of the border, aged from 28 to 45, with and eclectic mix of running backgrounds and training styles.

In addition to these overall winners, 16 others received prize packages from our terrific sponsors. And, our Grand Prize winner-who receives an honorary membership to the La Sportiva Mountain Running Team will be selected after press time for this issue. For full results information about next year's Trophy Series, go to www.trailrunnermag.com.

Women's Ultramarathon Division Champion

Theresa McGrath
Not only has 38-year-old Theresa McGrath of Kitchener, Ontario, been running a brief two years before becoming the women's Ultramarathon Division Champion, but between parenting three children aged four, five and eight, and working as a part-time kinesiologist at a cardiac rehab clinic, it's amazing she finds time to run at all. "I don't train as much as other ultrarunners, only about 60 miles a week," she says. 

McGrath focused on 10 races in the Ontario Ultra Series (for which she won the women-under-40 title), three of which also belonged to the Trophy Series. "It's exciting to win these titles because I was never into training and having goals until I started running," says McGrath.

In 2006, McGrath began running with a group at the Kitchener YMCA that included her sister-in-law, Laurie McGrath (who placed second in this year's Ultramarathon Division), and Laurie's father, local legend Ron Gehl, a veteran of over 200 ultras. "I said they'd never talk me into doing ultras," says McGrath, laughing. "But after my first 25K in 2006, I found myself doing longer and longer races."

For the McGrath's, ultramarathons are a family affair. At August's Dirty Girls' 24-Hour Solo Run in Mansfield, Ontario, Ron's wife, Barb, busily crewed for all three family members. "Barb helps me as much as she can, but I like being largely self-sufficient," says McGrath, who won by covering almost 112 miles. "I put a cooler at aid stations so I can just grab what I need."

But McGrath stresses that her husband, Brian, provides the most important support of all-staying home with the kids. "I couldn't do it without him," she says. Besides her family's encouragement, McGrath was drawn to ultrarunning's friendly community. "When you're having a tough race, there's always someone there to give you a nudge."

McGrath's strategy of starting out slowly and holding a steady pace helps her excel at century (and longer) distances, as proven by her performance at May's Sulphur Springs 100 in Ancaster, Ontario. Knocking four-and-a-half hours off her 2007 finishing time, she snagged the women's title in 19:20:35. "I don't know what I did differently, but I started out feeling good and ate and drank regularly," she says.

Despite considering "short" ultras her weakness, McGrath's fifth-place finish at July's Creemore Vertical Challenge 50K in Creemore, Ontario, in 5:33:38, helped her score more Trophy Series points.

Unfortunately, all that racing took a toll, and by October, McGrath developed a stress fracture in her femur. "My first year as a runner was about seeing if I could run a 100 miles, this year was about bettering my times, and next year will be about coming back from injury and still having fun," she says.

Men's Ultramarathon Champion

Ian Hobler
Canadian Ian Hobler, 28, shot to the top of Ontario's trail-running ranks during only his second season racing ultras en route to winning the Ultramarathon Division. "I planned my season around the Ontario Ultra Series (OUS), and when I realized that several of those events also belonged to the Trophy Series, I started paying attention to the standings," he says.

One such race was May's Sulphur Springs 100, in Ancaster, Ontario, where Hobler finished second overall in 19:21:16. However, as the top Canadian, he won the Association of Canadian Ultrarunners' 100-Mile Trail National Championship. Hobler credits his mom, Laura, and dad, David, a paramedic, for his success. "I have bursitis in my hips, only four toenails combined and bad knees, so at each aid stop my dad gives me a verbal head-to-toe questionnaire," says Hobler. "I'll just grunt in reply and he knows what it means and what to do."

A "serious runner" since 2000, Hobler ran a couple of road marathons before his interest in ultrarunning was piqued by a punishing race in northern Alberta called the Canadian Death Race [see page TK]. Hobler completed the epic 125-kilometer mountain trail run in 2007, and couldn't wait to start training for the next challenge.
To prepare for the 2008 OUS amid Ottawa's 14-foot snowfall last winter, Hobler ran on plowed roads or with snowshoes at Gatineau Park in the neighboring province of Quebec. 

He soon established a routine of running an hour at 6 a.m. before going to work as a policy analyst at Health Canada in Ottawa, and 90 minutes after work. Weekends consisted of back-to-back long runs of six hours on Saturdays and three hours on Sundays. "In the past I did a lot junk miles," he says. "But now every workout has a specific goal and is structured with a warm up and cool down around a tempo run or hill repeats."

When asked if he has a wife and children he replies, "I don't even have plants."
So Hobler has plenty of time to think about training. "I love studying the physiology and psychology of running and keep a detailed training log," he says.

This knowledge helped Hobler push through discouraging thoughts at August's Dirty Girls 24 Hour race in Mansfield, Ontario, when, at 4 a.m., intense muscle pain hampered his pace. Understanding that the discomfort wasn't necessarily a sign of biomechanical failure and needn't end his race, he played a mental game.

"I put the pain in a little box in my mind and promised myself I'd deal with it after the race," says Hobler, who went on to finish second in 23:43:58. "But by the time I finished the race, the box was forgotten."

Women's Marathon and Shorter Champion

Belinda Young
Belinda Young, 39, of Chattsworth, Georgia, is a goal setter, for whom winning the 2008 Trophy Series was a stepping stone. After only her second race of the season, the Free State Trail Run in Lawrence, Kansas, she moved into first place in the Marathon-and-Shorter division, and never gave up top spot. "I was surprised to learn I was in the lead, considering all the excellent female trail runners," she says. The Free State Trail Run is a "no-frills" marathon with self-serve water stations and no mile markers where Young placed sixth in 4:42:31.

Young used last season to chip away at her lifetime goal of running a marathon in all 50 states. "After completing my doctorate degree in education in TK-year, I needed another goal," says Young, who has finished 48 marathons in 18 states in the past TK years. "Running is also an excellent way to explore the country."

Young drove seven hours on icy roads to run the Land Between the Lakes Trail Run in Grand Rivers, Kentucky, one of her favorite trail marathons and first Trophy Series race of the season. "I always have a ball in that race," she says. Her fourth-place finish (4:39) was only three minutes slower than her time there last year, despite five inches of snow on the course.

Four more top-three finishes in her age group helped Young secure the Trophy Series victory. In September, she capped her Trophy Series season with a win at the Mountain Top Half Marathon in Blue Ridge, Georgia, running 1:55:17 on a course paralleling the Ocoee River, site of the kayaking events in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games.

As an overweight highschooler Young began running the two-mile in track and field. "At my first track meet, I finished it in around 17 minutes," says Young. "Then I started getting in shape and qualified for the State Championship my junior year. My PR of 11:42 still stands at my high school in Chattsworth."

Since then, running has remained a constant in Young's life, despite sometimes getting occasionally pushed to the back burner because of family obligations and her career as a high-school algebra teacher. "Getting older, I've adjusted to the fact that if I don't get to run today it's not the end of the world," says Young, who logs up to 50 miles per week. "Fifteen years ago I showed up at a race to win. Now I enjoy being out on the trails, being in shape and knowing I can run for hours."

Young often trains evenings so she can spend days with her husband, TK-name, and 14-year old son, TK-name, four wheeling, riding motorcycles and jet skiing. "Running is the only thing I do by myself," she says. "They don't share my passion for it, but they are proud of me."

Men's Marathon and Shorter Champion 

Hugh Davis
Despite a trail-race schedule that preempted any opportunity for a relaxing summer vacation, Hugh Davis, 45, finds solace and rejuvenation running the trails surrounding his temperate Tell City, Indiana, home. "If I go for even a few days without running, my grumpiness multiplies quickly," he says with a chuckle. "Just ask my wife."

As a repeat Marathon-and-Shorter Division Champion, a title he first won in 2006, Davis runs up to 40 miles per week outside 12-hour swing shifts at an aluminum smelter and spending time with his supportive wife of two years, Rebecca, and 18-year-old daughter, Tiffany. "I married him knowing we would travel around to races," she says. "I love nothing more than watching Hugh finish a race."

In Tell City, a Midwestern town where safety-orange hunting apparel is more prevalent than running shorts, Davis trains predominantly alone on trails he cut himself along undeveloped swaths of the Ohio River bank where he had played as a boy. "I run there at least 12 miles twice a week on my days off and four miles on work days," he says.

Davis often runs in the midday sun when most people are trapped inside a stuffy cubicle. "I don't have a lot of free time, but running is the one hobby I won't skimp on," he says. "I'm really just out there having fun."

Having a personal cheering section helped Davis win his age group at four of the seven Trophy Series races he completed last year. "I'll pick out a few races I want to do, let my body dictate the others, and track my points over the season." One factor that Davis doesn't let dictate which races he does is the weather.

"I love running in every kind of weather," says Davis, mentioning March's snowy 14.3-mile Land Between the Lakes Trail Race in Grand Rivers, Kentucky, where he won his age group. "Terrapin Mountain Marathon in Sedalia, Virginia, was the most difficult because I don't do well on huge hills," he says. Regardless, he finished in 4:58:02 on the steep course that gained 9000 feet over 26.2 miles. At Wisconsin's scenic Lake Geneva Euro XC Marathon in May, he averaged a swift 7:10 per-mile pace on the 22-mile course to finish fifth overall.

Davis hopes next summer's race schedule will include a vacation in Florida. But don't expect to find him lounging on the sand with a cocktail. "I'm looking forward to running on the beach," he says eagerly.


2007 TROPHY SERIES


Ageless Champions- This year's veteran winners outpace youngsters
By Garett Graubins


Is it possible that aid stations at all 112 of 2007's Trail Runner Trophy Series races were serving water drawn from the Fountain of Youth? How else can we explain the fact that the four champions are between 41 and 52, outracing athletes half their ages?

In this fourth edition of the world's largest off-road running series, athletes from all over the continent went head-to-head in races ranging from 5K to 150 miles. Baseline points were awarded for crossing the finish line, with bonus tallies for top age-group (in the Marathon and Shorter Division) and podium finishes (in the Ultramarathon Division, top three overall placing gets you beaucoup points). After the dust settled, mud dried, egos healed and legs recovered, the following four intrepid adventurers emerged as this year's champions.

And, still, the question persists: what was in the aid-station water?

For complete results of last year's Trophy Series and details on 2008, go to www.trailrunnermag.com.

Women's Ultramarathon Champion
Diane Van Deren
In early September, when Trail Runner posted the latest Trophy Series point standings, a close friend emailed Diane Van Deren of Sedalia, Colorado. "You have a shot at winning," he noted, before suggesting a game plan that would have her running a 50 miler and a high-altitude 24-hour race over the Series' final three weeks.

Van Deren, 47, already had a whopper of a season, logging over 490 race miles. And it would have been reasonable to kick back, elevate the legs and munch away on Cinnamon Crunch Cereal (her favorite). But Van Deren's couch sees as much action as her ruby red stilettos (read: collecting dust). Besides, Van Deren is a tenacious competitor who has learned to cherish the chances that life gives you.

Over 17 years ago, Van Deren was diagnosed with epilepsy while she was pregnant with her third child. Ten years later, after countless debilitating seizures, she underwent radical brain surgery that removed part of her right temporal lobe. She has been seizure-free since, and has found joy in tackling some of the world's most difficult foot races, including the McNaughton Park 150 (Pekin, Illinois) and the Iditarod Trail Invitational (Alaska), a frozen meat grinder where she pulled a sled packed with 40 pounds of gear for 260 miles.

Ironically, Van Deren was nowhere near icy tundra when she took the Trophy Series lead. She was in Hell, Michigan, running the Dances with Dirt 50 Miler. With a sharp, determined focus, she won the women's race by almost two hours. Then, two weeks later, she won the 24 Hours of Frisco in Colorado's high country, clicking off 114 miles and tying a course record in the process.

"I thought of Michael," she said afterwards, referring to her son, a marine serving in Iraq. "All my racing this year is for him. When I talk to him, I tell him to put one foot in front of the other and stay in the moment. That's what I do with my racing-I don't get ahead of myself."

Men's Ultramarathon Champion
Jim Orr
Canadian Jim Orr, 52, of Toronto, Ontario, ran a grand sum of two races to earn the Ultramarathon title-the Dirty Girl 24-hour Solo Ultra (he covered over 108 miles) and the Sulphur Springs 100, a race he won with an impressive time of 17:14:53.

It may be accurate to call Orr a "Late Bloomer"–-that is, except for the fact that he's also a relative rookie to trail running. "I started running in 2002 because I wanted to do a marathon," he says. "I pounded the pavement for a few years and then some friends put me on to trail running."

Amazingly, the Sulphur Springs 100, held in Burlington, Ontario, was Orr's first attempt at the century distance. "I was fairly new to the culture, but everyone there was very generous in spirit," he explains. "[That] helped me to a better outcome than I could have had on my own."

Orr admits that he knew about the Trophy Series, but "I thought I had a snowball's chance in Death Valley of finishing anywhere near the top." Still, in taking the title, he outscored an elite group of other ultra trail runners, including the legendary Karl Meltzer, who placed second overall. Orr takes that fact with a big grain of salt, however.

"I'm definitely nowhere near being in the same league as runners like Karl Meltzer," he admits reverently. "Although you say I beat him out for the title, I would say it's probably more a case of me just having a nice bit of luck."

While Orr credits Lady Luck, he is also grateful to his very supportive spouse, Natalie, and family and friends. "They put up with my training year-round, including during vacations, Thanksgivings, Christmases and New Years."


Men's Marathon and Shorter Champion
Dale Reicheneder
Dale Reicheneder of Malibu, California, is many things. An attorney. Former college cross-country star. Footloose bachelor. 2005 Trail Runner Trophy Series Champion. And now the 2007 Trail Runner Trophy Series Champion.

But is he also a sandbagger? As the 2007 Trophy Series season reached a competitive boiling point in August, with Reicheneder racing neck-and-neck with Brian Beckort (Tell City, Indiana), and the defending Trophy Series Champion Hugh Davis (also from Tell City), Reicheneder shared emails with Trail Runner's Elinor Fish.

"I won't be leap-frogging over Hugh or Brian at this late stage," he wrote, continuing with a 150-word outline of virtually every excuse ever overheard at a trail race finish line: surgeries, lack of solid training, course vandalism, busy work schedule, tough competition and even dehydration issues. Reicheneder closed his apparent surrender by writing, "I really wish Brian and Hugh all the best as they finish up the season as the top two again."

A smirking and fun-loving Reichender, 41, feigns incredulousness at the charges of sandbagging. "You know I could never officially admit to something as nefarious as that!"

But a former U.S. Attorney General once said, "The good lawyer is the great salesman," and once Reicheneder sold everybody on tales of his calamitous season, he shifted into high gear. He strung together a streak of amazing September performances that may go down in Trophy Series infamy, covering four races totaling 75 miles and amassing roughly 174 points. The stretch catapulted him past his closest competitors and clinched a second Series title.

All ribbing aside, Reicheneder did hold doubts about his ability to close out a grueling season. "I made a last-minute decision to go forward, despite Achilles tendonitis," he says. "Anyone familiar with me and looking at my times throughout the year, would realize I wasn't healthy … but I kept within striking distance of Hugh and Brian, so I kept plugging away."

Spoken like a true sandbagger, but executed like a true two-time Trophy Series champion.


Women's Marathon and Shorter Champion
Janice MacKay
"I'm surprised to say the least," responded Jan MacKay of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, upon learning that she had won the Trail Runner Trophy Series. "There's always a Trail Runner magazine on our breakfast table so I was aware of the Trophy Series and I was fortunate that several races were within driving distance of home."

On her way to the title, MacKay, 51, raced well and piled on the points at races in her backyard. She claimed age-group wins at the nearby Keweenaw Trail Running Festival (in Michigan's western upper Peninsula), Tahqua Trail Run (15.5 miles, in Whitefish Bay, Michigan) and Running Fit Trail Marathon (Pinckney). She also traveled cross-country for some bonus points: "The Timberline Marathon [in Mount Hood, Oregon] was an adventure my daughter and I took."

Despite her stellar finishes, MacKay downplays any competitive streak, cherishing the solitary, peaceful side of the sport just as much. "I started racing about 10 years ago, mostly 5 and 10K races," she explains. "The last few years I've gotten into longer runs and really enjoy them … a lot of life's little problems have been solved out on those trails."

The upper Midwest is rarely referenced as a trail-running mecca, so how does this mother of two train hard enough to take home one of the sport's most prestigious prizes? Says MacKay, "There are no mountains here but we are located in the rugged Canadian Shield. I run on cross-country ski trails until the snow is deep enough for grooming, then I take to the roads and also ski as much as time allows. I bike these same trails spring through fall."

Memo to MacKay: that's a regimen that sounds mysteriously like that of an elite runner. "I don't pay much attention to the competition during a race," she insists. "I pretty much stay true to myself and just run."

But surely there's a competitive fire that burns somewhere within. MacKay sheepishly relents, "I have to admit I do enjoy looking over the results afterwards to see the number of younger runners that crossed the finish line after me."


Garett Graubins is former Senior Editor of Trail Runner. He finished the 2007 Trophy Series in 530th place, but it would have been 496th if he hadn't gotten lost.

2006 TROPHY SERIES

2006 Trophy Series champions blaze paths to the podium
By Garett Graubins

It began with muddy strides in early March, endured through summer's merciless heat, reached sky-raking altitudes and tapered into the nip and shiver of fall. After all the miles had been run and shoes retired to the back doorstep, the third annual Trail Runner Trophy Series was in the books. Almost 20,000 runners took part in more than 100 Trophy Series races, collecting points for finishing, and bonuses for placing high. These four runners topped their divisions: a California family guy, Seattle's version of Pippi Longstocking, a swift-footed Wyoming cowgirl, and our first-ever champion from the Hoosier State. Meet them here.

Women's Marathon and Shorter Division Champion
Annette Van Baalen
"I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment," says Annette Van Baalen when she recalls the September 3, 2006, Grand Teton Trail Marathon.

Van Baalen, 38, tackled some of the most difficult trail races on the 2006 Trophy Series calendar, including six that were close to the marathon distance of 26.2 miles. In addition to the Grand Teton, she ran the high-altitude Mid Mountain Marathon in Utah's Wasatch Mountains and the 25-mile Spring Desert Ultra, held on far western Colorado's ankle-bending singletrack. Van Baalen's season was impressive, especially for a newcomer to the sport. "I ran my first trail marathon in the summer of 2005," she says.

Van Baalen lives in Laramie, a southeastern-Wyoming town often associated with cowboys, college kids and high winds. But it suits her trail-running passion perfectly. She confides, "Those of us who love Laramie are afraid it will be discovered, because we think this is the best place to live if you love trails." Easy access to remote wilderness routes-the Medicine Bow National Forest is a 10-mile drive out of town-and the local trail-running club (WARTS or Wyoming Adventure Running Team) help her stay motivated and in prime marathon shape.

Van Baalen, who is single except for her cat and dog, gives her outdoor lifestyle major priority and admits to making sacrifices to maintain it. She is a physician, working part time in Laramie as well as in Fort Collins, Colorado, 90 miles away. "I've chosen to work less so I have time for other pursuits such as skate skiing and cycling," she says. Now, she may need to add one more endeavor to her list: defending her Trophy Series title in 2007.

If that is the case, it will be a labor of love. "I'll never let any goals take away the enjoyment of a simple run," says Van Baalen. "I find nothing more wonderful than going for a long run on the trails with my dog."

Men's Marathon and Shorter Division Champion
Hugh Davis
When the final 2006 Trophy Series schedule went public last spring, Hugh Davis of Tell City, Indiana, took aim. "I was in luck," he says, in a gentlemanly, southern drawl. "The Series favored my schedule."

That's not to say that Davis, 42, has a cushy work schedule that allows him long weekends to jet-set to far-away locales. He toils for 12 hours at a time as a whitesmith, a rough-and-tumble job of aluminum smelting.

With a staggered, albeit brutal, work schedule, Davis planned a trail-racing schedule including both rough terrain and extended windshield time. He traveled to Michigan's Upper Peninsula for the Grand Island Marathon, to Florida for the John Holmes 15-Miler and to Virginia for the Bel Monte Trail Races, to name just three of 10 races he completed. "I count the miles I run and not the miles that I drive," says Davis. "Driving is just a necessary evil."

Still, Davis' Trophy Series title did not come easily. Aside from juggling work, Davis has a 16-year-old daughter. "She ran a few of the races, too," he beams. Plus, he had to negotiate some rough weather (18 miles of downpour at Grand Island) to go with some technical terrain that sent him somersaulting several times. "At the Berryman Trail Races, I really banged up my left knee," he recalls. "For a few minutes, I stood there and wondered if I could go on."

In his hometown of 8000 people, Davis and his running habit stand out-although another local, Brian Beckort, finished second in the final Trophy Series standings. Also, few of Davis' coworkers understand his zeal for the sport. He's been called "Runner Man" and "Forrest Gump" plenty of times. Yet he takes it in stride. "They probably judge me as an oddity, but that's fine with me," says Davis, "because I can hold my own in any company."

That is a social skill that should prove useful, as Davis joins another club: past and present Trophy Series champions.      

Men's Ultra Division Champion
Graham Cooper
Graham Cooper of Oakland, California, may have won the 2006 Trail Runner Trophy Series in June on the track of Placer High School in Auburn, California. The rust-colored oval is home to the final 300 meters of the Western States 100.

To be fair, Cooper, 36, ran strong at several other tough 2006 Trophy Series races, including the Ohlone Wilderness 50K (2nd place), American River 50 Miler and the Way Too Cool 50K. His stellar year aside, Cooper's Trophy Series title will forever be linked with Western States. It's fitting, because, in Cooper's words, "Those other races are all great, but it's like asking whether you prefer a White Castle burger or a porterhouse."

With his sights set squarely on the 100-mile stretch from California's Squaw Valley Ski Resort to the town of Auburn, Cooper prepared with a single-minded focus on Western States. He left his job in January and tackled an intense regimen. "I basically trained, ate and slept," he says. "I did not have a job for the five months leading up to the race, and I prepared like a maniac."

Western was also everything to Brian Morrison of Seattle, Washington, and he led the 2006 race into the homestretch. He seemed a cinch to win, but staggered and fell on the track several times before his pacer and race officials helped him, thereby disqualifying him. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he spent two days recovering. Cooper hit the track roughly 12 minutes later and jogged across the finish line with his two children, Minnie and Henry, on either side of him.

Cooper wasn't aware of what had happened ahead of him. "When I crossed the finish line in second, I was ecstatic … on top of the world," he says. "And then my pacer, Suzie Lister, came over to tell me that I may have won. It was like garlic butter on the porterhouse." If the Western title was garlic butter, than the Trophy Series title may have been the A-1 Steak Sauce.

Women's Ultra Division Champion
Van "Pigtails" Phan
Van Phan, 35, is easy to overlook. She stands five feet tall and weighs a paltry 108 pounds. Says Phan, "I'm not sure if many people actually know my real name."

That may be overstating it. People know who she is-she's the svelte speedster who laps the field at the trail ultras every weekend. They know her as "Pigtails," not by her true name. Says Phan, "I wear pigtails to almost all my races, which are more noticeable since my hair goes past my waist."

Phan, who lives in Maple Valley, Washington, did not initially target the Trophy Series. Yet she claimed the points lead while she pursued a different goal: to run 52 races of marathon or longer in one year. "I learned that I was the leader after my win at the March Mudness 100K (in Portland, Oregon)," she says.

"I decided to add winning the Series as a goal and needed to travel more to run Series races." Pigtails makes it sound easy, as if adding some of the country's most challenging trail ultras is like planning a few extra 5K runs.

But her title did not come easily. In all, she raced 622 miles on the Trophy Series circuit, including the notoriously gnarly Miwok Trail 100K (California) and Mount Hood PCT 50 (Oregon). "The Lost Soul 100 was my most difficult," says Phan. "It was the combination of travel to Alberta, Canada, the distance, rocky terrain, near-100-degree temperatures, my asthma and muscle cramps. I considered quitting at mile 18, but I dug deep and toughed it out." Phan more than toughed it out. She won in 28 hours 48 minutes.

After the Trophy Series' conclusion, the pressure to complete her goal of 52 races in 2006 didn't let up. As of press time, she was going strong, despite the occasional paved course. "If I had my druthers, I would have completed 52 trail ultras," she says.