Sometimes people ask me how I got into ultrarunning.* Here’s a summary of how running has been woven into my life over the years. This isn’t the only way to progress from shorter races to ultras. Others have, I’m sure, done a much better job of growing in the sport. But for what it’s worth, this is what my experience has been, listed by age ranges.

16 to 22: No racing at all, just consistent running for the fun of it. My longest single-run distance was probably two miles during those years. My standard running route while I was living at home with my parents was one mile, around what I called “the block.” I also did a lot of long-distance walking, hiking, and backpacking.

22 to 23: While I was serving in South Korea as a service and proselyting missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (at times I refer to it as the “Mormon Peace Corps”), I was fortunate enough to work with several fellow missionaries who were into either fitness in general or running in particular. Also, the president of my mission at the time, David C. Butler, was a marathon runner. I remember him telling us about the first time he had run for six straight miles. That seemed like a long way and left a big impression on me! He encouraged all of us who served under him to make fitness and, ideally, running a high priority. During each of the two summers while I was there, President Butler held a sports day. All of the missionaries who were in the Korea Seoul Mission gathered together to play soccer, eat, and (most importantly) to run in a 5K race if they wanted to do so. I ran in the 5K both years. They were my first and second ever 5K races.

24 to 27: I returned to the U.S. after 16 months in South Korea. Not long after, I moved to Salt Lake City, where I was lucky to have a past mission companion, Shawna Goulding, as a roommate. She and I both made running a part of our regular schedules. I remember the first time I ran six miles in the beautiful neighborhoods south of the University of Utah, where I was a student. I though back to President Butler’s story about his first six-mile run and was excited to have progressed to running that far too. During those years, I worked in a couple of different ski and adventure sports shops and met quite a few young men who became running, biking, and skiing pals. One of them started coaching me in running and got me into regularly running 5Ks and 10Ks. Another of them, Jim Nelson, invited me to become part of a great group of competitive endurance-sport athletes with whom he trained. I trained and raced with them for a few years. Jim was a phenomenal endurance athlete. When we first met, he was one of the top triathletes in Utah as well as being an accomplished runner and cyclist. He had previously been on the cross-country team at the University of Utah and regularly finished in the top ten in triathlons and running races in the state. On one of our outings, he took me out trail running and I was immediately hooked (on trail running).

When I was 26, Jim and I got married. I continued to compete in road 5Ks and 10Ks, Nordic ski races, and road bike races plus mountain bike races and other random events such as a series of “bike-and-tie” races (two runners, one mountain bike, leap-frog format). I also added the half marathon distance to my road running list and won or placed well in a few races here and there. For a while I had some issues with shin splints and knee problems. I hired a professional running coach, Dr. Thomas Miller—who at the time was Ph.D. candidate, I believe in sports physiology, at the University of Utah—to help me out. Dr. Miller, author of “Programmed to Run,” was an early adopter of video technology as part of identifying problems with running form. Dr. Miller video taped me running on the track at East High School (made famous by the “High School Musical” movie series) and identified a couple of problems with my form. With his help, I was able to correct those. Dr. Miller also taught me how to better mentally prepare for races. I made a lot of progress after that, and I still enjoy benefits from his coaching.

First Marathon (and BabyJogger Years!)

When Jim and I planned out our first few years together, he made a deal with me that we would start our family after three conditions were met: First, one of us had to have a job that provided good health insurance. Second, he had to finish his undergraduate degree before the baby was going to be born. Third, I had to have run my first marathon. I graduated with my BA and landed the “insurance” job, then we got to within a year of Jim’s graduation. Then when I was 27, I ran the St. George Marathon in southern Utah. A year and a week later, my first baby was born.

28 to 31: Before I was even pregnant, Jim and I had bought a BabyJogger running stroller. BabyJogger was THE running stroller back then. I put ours to good use. After his graduation, Jim and I moved to the outskirts of Seattle, which is where my son Andrew was born. I put a lot of miles on the BabyJogger, pushing Andrew all over the place, sometimes even racing with him in that thing. In Seattle, there was a beer ad running on TV that showed happy people playing sports out in the rain. The slogan was, “You’ve gotta make your own sunshine…” That was absolutely true a lot of the time there in the rainy Northwest. I learned how to keep Andrew dry and warm in the BabyJogger, and I doggedly kept on training, rain or overcast (“shine” was the month of August…the rest of the year was almost always either rainy or cloudy). Humid and green, it was heavenly! My running performance continued to improve and my times dropped. Pushing the BabyJogger was excellent resistance training. Then when I was 30, I got pregnant with my daughter Melissa. I had problems with preterm labor from about four months in, so I had to stop running for the rest of my pregnancy. Soon after Melissa was born, we moved back to Utah, I started a Masters program, and I started back into training and racing again.

31 to 38: Over time, I ran more marathons and became a better and better runner. I did a lot of “adventure” running, going exploring on desert and mountain trails and wherever I traveled. I competed in a lot of races each year and was methodical about my training. I started a Ph.D. program in economics, and I wove running into my class and teaching schedules. When I was 37, in the middle of grad school, I got pregnant again. During this pregnancy I was able to continue running with almost no issues at all in spite of (again) preterm labor. My midwife encouraged me to keep running and helped me to stay at at least a maintenance level of training. One thing that helped a lot was discovering pregnancy support belts. I ordered one—a wide, sturdy band that fastened with a thick patch of Velcro—through the J.C. Penney catalog (yes, it was that long ago). It made running while pregnant far more comfortable than what I had experienced during my first two pregnancies. I ran until three weeks before my son Eric was born, and I started running again three weeks after he was born. It was the strongest I had felt during or right after any of my first three pregnancies.

Ultras!!

39 to 43: When Jim and I first knew each other, we heard about a group of people who had started a 100-mile running race in the Wasatch mountains, the Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance Run. Jim was intrigued and decided he wanted to run Wasatch someday. Over the years, he had gradually progressed in his own running until he was ready to try out ultras. He started pacing experienced runners and then began competing in ultras, winning or finishing in the top few places at quite a few events. As Jim transitioned into running 100 milers, I paced and crewed for him. It was a blast! In fact, it was so much fun, I decided I needed to try it out myself. Soon after Eric was born, I started training for my first ultra. When I was 39, I ran the Silver State 50K in Reno, Nevada. I like to tell people that running my first ultra was like being a retriever that bit a little too hard into a duck and found out it had been being ripped off the whole time! Running ultras, as I had found out, was in many ways FAR easier than crewing and pacing for them. It was SO much fun!

As an aside, ultrarunning brought a phenomenal community into my life. I met and became life-long friends with many, many fine people. Too many to mention here, but I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my running bestie, Wendy Holdaway, and other close friends—Andrea Feucht, Lee and Debbie Moss, John Bozung, Jim Skaggs, and a host of others—for being a surrogate extended family for me. They’ve supported me and have provided a network that has kept me mostly sane and feeling loved over the past two decades. I don’t know what I would have done without my amazing ultrarunning family.

After I ran that first 50K in Nevada, I quickly progressed from 50K to 50 miles and then—big deep breath—I ran my first 100 miler, the Wasatch 100. I finished Wasatch twice and the Bear 100 once, during a period of several years, and I even finished a loop at the infamous Barkley Marathons in Tennessee. Then, for many reasons, running not being one of them, Jim and I divorced.

43 to 49: As a single mom of three, working in a full-time, career position, plus teaching for two universities, I found it difficult to train for ultrarunning. Or, in fact, to train for any racing at all. But in spite of time crunches, stresses, and an incredibly demanding professional life, I kept running. Even if it was nothing more than three miles on the streets of my neighborhood, I kept it up. At one time, I even ran half-mile loops around our block so that I could keep an eye on my kids as I went past the house each time. I continued racing although not at the same level as before. I paced friends at bigger ultra events and continued running road races from 5Ks to marathons. The Ogden Marathon in northern Utah became an increasingly important part of my annual racing schedule over time. My times slowed, but I kept going.

When I was 45, Ryan Pierce joined the staff where I worked. Before long, Ryan and I were spending time together. One of our first outings was a trail run in Millcreek Canyon. We ran to Dog Lake, one of my favorites. On our first Fourth of July together, we ran the 5K in North Ogden, my home town. Ryan placed well in multiple races that we ran. I was always sad that I was still running when he was crossing the finish line so that I missed seeing him racking up another great finish. We did a lot of adventure running and racing together over the next few years including outings in Death Valley, the Grand Canyon, Saint George, and other amazing places. On Valentines Day about three and a half years after we first met, Ryan took me out for a snowy-day run on my favorite local mountain trail and asked me to marry him. I said yes.

Triplets!!!

49 to today (57): With my long-time primary care physician’s blessing (he’s a talented runner)—and with some big-time medical help—I got pregnant again a year after Ryan and I got married. This time, it was *gasp* triplets!!! Being 50 years old and pregnant with triplets, I thought for sure that running was off the table. But, to my surprise, my maternal fetal medicine specialist gave me the go-ahead to keep running. Unfortunately, I blew out one of my ankles when I was four months along (I stepped on the edge of a pot hole that I didn’t see in the road) and had to stop running for the rest of my pregnancy. In the six, almost seven years since the triplets were born, it’s been really hard to keep up any kind of regular training schedule, as you can probably imagine.

Sadly, the only Ogden Marathon I’ve missed in all its years was the year the triplets were born. I was ready to run and had even picked up my race packet, but on race morning I had been up with babies the whole night before and was too sleepy to safely drive to the bus loading zone. So I have a perfect record minus one at Ogden. When the triplets were still tiny, I bought a three-across Mountain Buggy running stroller and was able to do a lot of running while pushing them. But when they got big enough that they didn’t like being strapped in and preferred to run themselves, my own training took a nosedive. I still haven’t quite dialed-in a routine that works well for me, but I’ve never given up!

In spite of erratic training and more than my share of DNFs (“did not finish” races), and through a long list of injuries (that’s a story for another day), I’ve persisted in running and racing. I’ve been blessed with many great running friends. My local trail buddy, Janet Epperson, has been a constant in my running and hiking life ever since my undergraduate years at the University of Utah. Other friends, people whom I love seeing year after year at our favorite races, are constants in the background of my life. Running has brought incredible richness to my life. One of the best things has been having my older three kids run with me at different times and in different places over the years, and now the triplets have started doing some running with me as well. At times, running is the only thing that keeps me sane and (when I train well) fit.

What’s Next

In the past year, I’ve finished three ultras and a marathon. Over the next year or so, I plan to run at least four ultras and two or three marathons. Due in large part to my lack of solid training, my speed has slowed and my finish times have increased. I think I can get back some speed, if I work for it, and I’d love to see what I could accomplish in races if I could get my life better organized. It’s a daily struggle! Regardless, my dream for the future is to keep running for as long as possible. Ideally, I will quit running the day before I drop dead as I approach (or soon after I have passed) my 100th birthday. Wish me luck!

*Officially, ultrarunning races are running events at distances beyond a standard marathon, which is 26.2 miles.