The American ultra-runner has competed in some of the most grueling races in the world and has even won one that’s billed as the toughest of all:  the Yukon Arctic Ultra, which takes place in the dead of winter. She’s also climbed the highest peak in South America and recently completed the Mountains to Sea Trail Endurance Run (which is close to 1,000 miles) across North Carolina in a record 22 days.

Diane Van Deren.

Those accomplishments become even more impressive when you learn her history. An accomplished athlete and former professional tennis player, Van Deren, was diagnosed with epilepsy while pregnant with her third child. She found running to be an effective way to deal with seizures, but eventually underwent radical brain surgery, and hasn’t had a seizure since. And she’s certainly gone on to prove that she’s one heck of an athlete.

Tonight in Calgary, Van Deren will be sharing her inspirational story as part of a special VIP event at Wild Mountain Calgary , which is a hot new outdoor apparel boutique that’s also celebrating its grand opening.

As well as hearing Van Deren speak, you can have a good look around the new shop and take part in a silent auction to benefit the Epilepsy Association of Calgary, with items donated by The North Face, Zeal Optics, Calgary Flames Alumni, and more.

The event runs from 6-9 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 16, at Wild Mountain Calgary, 919 17th Ave. S.W.

Van Deren, who had brain surgery to end seizures, will take off before dawn Thursday hoping to finish North Carolina’s 1,000 mile  Mountains-to-Sea Trail in 21 days, the fastest time ever.

“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,” the Charlotte Observer reports today. Read more: Woman to run.

This is a good example.

It’s a about how epilepsy, brain surgery and one inspiring woman, Diane Van Deren, conspired to create an ultra-marathon winning machine

The transitions from chatting with the show’s host to scenes with Van Deren are seamless. Questions and audio were weaved together beautifully.

Reporter Mark Philips inserts himself in this story about how epilepsy had a role in creating one of the world’s best ultra-marathon runners.

We learn some things about Philips: he’s a drummer, for example.

He left in the small instructions to an interview subject that are usually edited out like: “lets just run together silently so I can collect sound.”

It feels honest…like saying I know I’m manipulating this …but here it is.

The reporter had great access and did a gut-wrenching, good job of describing the video of the violent seizure doctors observed to gather information about Van Deren’s brain.

“She bites her tongue so hard that there is a pool of blood below her face. It’s horrifying.”

It’s fascinating to hear Van Deren talk about how running helped prevent seizures and then learn that her running career took off after a part of her brain “the size of a kiwi” was removed.

“I did a 50 mile race that I read about in a magazine. I won that,” she said.

But, “let’s see what was I saying” there were consequences…memory loss that may have actually helped her running career. I’ll let Philips explain.

I loved this piece. I’ve listened to it five times.

It has one flaw: Van Deren said she believes the surgery left her at a disadvantage when it comes to running but Philips didn’t pursue that… I wanted to hear her explain that.

The Rock/Creek Trail Race Series kicks off River Rocks this year with the Stump Jump 50K and 11 mile races on October 1st.  This is the 10th year for the Stump Jump, one of the more popular races in the series.  All of the race positions are currently filled but that does not mean there are not opportunities to be a part of Stump Jump.  There is a vendor fair on Friday, September 30 and the North Face Speaker Series will present ultrarunner Diane van Deren as the guest speaker.  Proceeds from these events benefit Wild Trails.

Listen to the story.

Nope.

This post is about a remarkable woman athlete who literally ran away from her problem to become a renowned extreme distance runner.  She was profiled in the 2010 Trail Runner article excerpted below, and more recently in an interview broadcast by Radiolab. A link to the podcast containing the interview is below the article excerpt.

Her story is inspiring, and a good one to think about when you are in the throes of struggle with a difficult personal or medical problem.

Diane Van Deren

 At 50, Van Deren is still setting personal records at the world’s toughest races, and colleagues suspect she has yet to reach her prime. In 2007, after winning two 100-milers plus a 150-mile trail race, she was named the Trail Runner Trophy Series Ultramarathon Champion.

Here’s the short version. She was already a competitive athlete when, in her 20′s, she suffered the first of a series of seizures while carrying her third child. Remarkably, she found that when she felt a seizure coming on, she could stave it off by going for a run. The runs got longer and longer, but then the seizures caught up to the running, and recurred regularly. Eventually she underwent surgery to remove the part of the brain that caused the seizures, and the operation worked. But she was left with deficits in spatial and time perception. Now in her early 50′s, she literally gets lost in time and space when she runs. But she’s learned to cope, and runs hundred mile and more endurance races as a top competitive athlete.

I must say I like her personal style:

 From Van Deren’s Sedalia home, downtown Denver’s lights glisten on the horizon. It’s 8 p.m., and we’re having a late dinner of take-out baked chicken and salad from Whole Foods. “I don’t cook, sweetheart,” she says. “I once boiled an egg for two and a half hours. Scott’s deactivated the smoke detectors because I kept setting them off!”

Here’s the link to the Radiolab podcast: http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/2011/apr/05/in-running/

The reason they are relevant is that last week they did a short-episode profiling Van Deren, an ultra-runner whom I first read about back in the February  issue of Runner’s World. I was pretty excited that my favorite podcast was covering my favorite activity.

Diane runs 50 and 100 mile races, but that just makes her average in the ultra-community.  Her claim to fame, and the focus of both the Runner’s World and Radiolab features, is that she took up running as a way to escape grand mal epileptic seizures: whenever she felt an attack coming on, she’d throw on her shoes and head out the door until the sensation receded.  She’d run two, four, six hours at a time, and as long as she started running at the first sign of an attack, the seizure wouldn’t occur.

Eventually, however, her epilepsy became so severe that she had surgery to remove a chunk of her brain, and that’s when she became a renowned ultra-runner.  The surgery that removed the part of her brain responsible for he seizures also removed her sense of time and distance.  The advantage is that she can’t tell how long she’s been running, or how long she has to go; anyone who has run a marathon can tell you that one of the hardest hurdles is the psychological element, the “Oh my god, I’ve been running for 3 hours and I still need to run for another hour!”  Now imagine a 12 or 24 hour race.

Then she entered her first trail race — a 50 miler — on a whim.  And won. And so she became an ultrarunner.

The downside is that she can’t read a map or navigate; that might not hurt a road runner, but Diane does cross-country trail ultras, and sometimes gets lost.  My favorite anecdote is where she comes to a fork in the trail, runs for an hour down the wrong path, realizes she’s off course, turns around, and having run for two hours on the wrong trail goes on to win the race.

But if you want “not normal,” there’s the Yukon Artic Ultra.  Running a marathon in the Yukon in February is crazy enough.  That you can also do it in 100 and 300 mile distances is crazier.  But every 2 years, they hold a 420 mile distance, which Diane ran in 2009.  At the start of the race, the temperatures dropped so low that all her water froze, so she ran the first 100 miles with no water.  When she finished she was one of only 8 runners, and the only woman, to do so.

On the summit - Luke Johnson, left, Diane Van Deren, right

Update: 2/12/10 -

Mayo researchers made it to the top of the highest peak in the hemisphere, gathering data from extreme athletes and explorers under extreme conditions. The goal achieved: to gather data to help understand the physiology of these optimally healthy individuals in order to better care for patients. Team members are re-acclimating to lower elevations and beginning to return to their home countries. Now the work begins to analyze the data as part of Mayo’s Extreme Medicine Program.

Update: 2-11-10 – The team reached the summit Tuesday! – We received word late last evening that everyone is fine and the view was outstanding. Diane says it was “incredible”…Team is now working its way back down to Mendoza. We expect more details later today.

Mt. Aconcagua - study site, alt. 22,000 ft.

Benegas and Luke wait out the wind

Jacob, Robert Fry, Diane Van Deren, Luke Johnson

Update 2-5-10 — 4 p.m. Received this message from Dr. Bruce  Johnson:

At  18,000 ft the cold and winds picked up causing us to retreat back to base camp (14,000).

We are focusing on monitoring Diane and Willie Benegas (the elite climber-guide going with Diane-also North Face athlete) and working through our equipment.  It is not easy doing science without a laboratory, when temps are below zero, winds are high…   The goal with the first ascent is really to acclimatize everyone, particularly Diane for the speed ascent which is suppose to be on the 12th.  

For this we will set them up (Diane and Willie) with 3 devices, a nonin wrist ox, a body media device and a Hildago system.  We will also use the New Leaf system.  In all we will measure heart rate, respiration rate, core temperature, skin temperature, metabolic rate, oxygen saturation and gas exchange (oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, ventilation and end tidal CO2 and O2).  

We will instrument them on the 12th. The speed ascent will start around 4 p.m. and then they will go continuously up to the summit and down the other side of the mountain.

Luke will do some baseline measures with New Leaf and then ride a mule up to base camp to make some measures there and Paul will do a quick ascent around the other side of the mountain to capture measures at camp 2 and to check devices and may follow to the summit.  We will also have an altimeter and GPS to go with our system.

I am not sure our goal as a Mayo team is to get to the summit, it is really to do good science.

In the end we will have some great data on the folks from North Face and the newspaper executive from Argentina – Hector D’Amico – Editor and Chief of La Nacion.  A great man also writing about us.

All is well, testing is good. Most will try for another ascent on Monday.  – Bruce

Update 2-5/10 – 11 a.m. Received this message today from Diane Van Deren:

At base camp keep prayers for all this mt is massive  love you docs are working super hard di

Update: 2-4-10 — Waiting for word on location of the team. They appear to be near the top judging from the photos we’ve just received.

View from near 20,000 feet

High Altitude Camp, waiting out the winds

Diane Van Deren (R) and Dr. Bruce Johnson

Personal updates from Base Camp — (Willie and Kasha are other climbers who are involved with the project):

Update 1-30-10: Message from Diane:

Wow what a day! I was going to try and call but it’s either a phone call or a shower! Sorry, this girl needs a shower before we head up the mountain. So, what a day today I have to share with you. Mayo Clinic here and Willie going over our different training we need to be doing for speed attempt. Willie took me to 18000 ft today…all my oxygen saturation levels and heart rate etc are perfect today! Was really special because Mayo went over emergency meds I have etc. with Willie and how my wirng system is showing all signs. It really was so great to feel awesome climbing to 18000 feet! Willie knows people on the mt. and we did see some high altitude sickness. Med teams came for them quickly. When Willie and I got to 18000 feet at Camp Nido we had lunch with the med staff there and they will assist us on mt if emergency is needed for Willie and me. So great to meet the staff. It was stunning to be on top of the mt on a crystal clear blue sky day and you could see forever! I told Bruce and Luke that I think this is a glance of what heaven is going to be like. It was great to climb and feel in my element. No headache, no tightness of lungs etc. As we know there can be lows also but when it all comes together its wonderful! Tomorrow we will take gear to camp one and we will not have contact for maybe 6 7 8 days as it depends on weather conditions on the mt. No summitting today because of the winds. Well love to everyone and keep prayers for everyone…start the summit tomorrow xo Di

Update from Kasha Rigby – “As we bathe in the alpenglow of this evening we forget the storms of the last few nights. we are all at plaza de mulas, our basecamp, and feeling well. the weather has been predictably unstable – sunny and clear in the mornings but by mid day clouds building with electricity and rain. we had one clear night where we were able to identify the southern cross and watch a magical moonrise, but the last couple nights have been rain down lower and snow higher, mixed with gropple and hail. the infamous andean winds have luckily not hit us yet.

willie arrived this morning after running in from the highway in 3 hours – a journey that took us two days. we were starting to worry he might have to winter over in antarctica. he arrived feeling fresh, before those of us languishing on a rest day had even begun breakfast. he brings the news that weather should improve for at least the next 4 days giving us time to establish ourselves higher on the mountain.
in the meantime we eat and drink and rest. acclimitization and hydration are such critical pieces for success higher on the mountain. monitored by our mayo clinic doctors we have all become compulsively interested in our heart rates and blood/oxygen saturation. today we all weighed in and each have lost between 2-5 pounds and we have not even really started the climb. we have been going through a series of resting and step tests to see how our bodies react and recover

we are a formidable group – 22 now with willie, but moving together with an amazing efficiency that can only be attained with each member being highly conscious of working as a group. it is impressive to be with such skilled and professional individuals, each adding their unique perspective and experience.

tomorrow we take a load to camp one, a steep scree climb, and then come back to basecamp for one more night.
being here with diane and her team of mayo doctors/scientists is such a great honor. watching diane pace herself and the focus of the team is a treat and an inspiration!

Update 1-31-10: From Willie Benegas

we brought a load of hard gear, food and some tents to camp one yesterday, just over 16,000 feet. our group of 22 represents el salvador, argentina, chile, the us, uk, and venezuela so at this point many of the group are at a new high point with each step – for many their first real climb of a mountain. it brings a sweet freshness to our climb.

we have moved into a high pressure weather system with the full moon but with this comes evidence of winds up high. last night we were treated to a ridiculous sunset and then full moon rise over the ridge of aconcagua.

diane and willlie strike out ahead of the group each day and were headed out again early this morning while the rest of us sorted gear and rested at camp. on their accelerated acclimitazation program they went to over 18,000 ft today. kasha has held full yoga classes each afternoon with the the peak on one side and the crashing of seracs on the other – breathtaking surroundings in which to practice. damian is madly keeping things organized and flowing smoothly for our giant group with such mixed experience and objectives, we will run through another set of tests with the mayo doctors this afternoon.

and tomorrow we head up the mountain. our plan will be to set three camps on the mountain over 4 days and then head for the summit. with good luck and weather we hope to summit on on the 5th and be back in basecamp maybe that night or the next day. no dispatches while we are on the mountain but we will take heaps of pictures to share.

we are headed out! the winds of yesterday turned most people off the summit but look like they have settled down a wee bit. wish us luck!

More photos:

Base Camp

Uphill from here on out

Starting out -the first ascent

Update: 1/31/10 – The latest is that the initial climb has been successful thus far – but high winds have become an issue. Over the next six days they hope to complete the ascent. Diane notifies us via Twitter that her “numbers” are right where they should be. Team members are now going over equipment and reading for a second speed ascent, but that won’t happen for a while – until the first ascent is complete and participants rest. Dr. Bruce Johnson tells us some winds are approaching 90 mph.  Everyone doing well and in good spirits.

Update: 1/29/10 – More images from Argentina:

Luke and Hector discuss the ascent

The Mayo Research Team

Dr. Paul Anderson explains equipment to climbers

Update 1/28/10 – The team is making good progress, part way up the mountain. Below is an excerpt from a message from Dr. Bruce Johnson:

Limited (email) access here at base camp.  All is well, still strategizing with Damian, Willie, Diane and us.  Altitude is 4000-4500 meters.  Our team is many of The North Face South American Leadership, guides, porters, mules.  A rest day today, but about a 1000 m climb tomorrow. no more mules. We spend our time now acclimating and pushing gear up higher and higher to camp 1, 2, 3.  We have lots of footage, interview, etc.  We also have with us a high ranking executive of the largest newspaper in Argentina, La Nacion.  He did an interview with us today.  They all love Mayo Clinic!  There is much to learn in field studies, but so far so good.  Diane is doing extra training each day.  This has been a bad year for cerebral edema on the mountain, but not sure why at this point.  Possibly related to large changes in pressure.  Most of us have lost 3-5 lbs.

Dr. Bruce Johnson testing Diane at base camp prior to 1st ascent

the team heads for the mountain

Update 1/25/10 - The team has begun its trek up the mountain after doing some basic physiology tests with Diane at the base lodge. The team was without e-mail access for about a day and a half – details and photos are beginning to come in and we will share here through the day. All going well.

Update 1/23/10: A message from Dana Sparks, from Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, who is facilitating the film crew and communications from the scene:

Sun is shining and cooler temps this morning. Last night was a team dinner with over 20 climbers from all over the world! Diane said North Face has identified some of them to be stationed at different points on the mountain for safety, when she and Willie do the speed ascent. Everybody is loading gear into trucks right now for the trip to Penitentes where Dr. Johnson will do his orientation describing the research equipment and the teams plan to monitor Diane on the climbs. Our camera crew has more gear than the 3 climbers combined! We’re on the trail…will update soon and when we can get reception. Oh- I just asked Diane if she has a message and she asked for everyone to keep all the climbers in their prayers for a safe journey.

UPDATE 1-21

This latest text message from Diane Van Deren:

HEY GUYS MARC AND HEIDI ARRIVED ABOUT AN HOUR AGO WITH DAMIAN WHO WILL BE ONE OF OUR GUIDES ON THE THE MT. DAMIAN IS WILLIES BROTHER AND WAS JUST HELICOPTERED TO SOME OF THE CAMPS TO DROP OFF FOOD ETC FOR OUR FIRST GROUP HIS FACE IS VERY RED FORM THE WINDS ON THE MT. IT WAS A CLEAR DAY ON ACONCAGUA BUT THE WINDS CAN BE A CHALLENGE. SO FYI ROUND ONE  WE ARE MEETING TONIGHT AT 600 GO OVER DETAILS ETC . ITS HOT MAYBE 100 DEGREES TODAY. HEIDI SAID SHE PULLED  THE TEMP  UP ON HER BLACKBERRY.  SO THEY ARE HERE SAFELY OK  XOXOXOXOXOXO SEE THE MAYO GROUP TOMORROW  CANT WAIT   LOVE TO ALL <DI

Members of the Mayo research expedition to Argentina are beginning to arrive in country for this weekend’s launch of the ascent of the hemisphere’s highest point. Extreme athlete Diane Van Deren, the focus of Mayo’s science, sends this message from the southern continent:

Good Morning Argentina!  What a great way to start the morning and head out early with a small breeze and sunshine begging to rise.  It’s 70 degrees here this morning and coming from Colorado with a high of 40 degrees and snow…it’s a heat wave here!  I’m running in this huge park that’s miles in length and width and I got lost even though it’s not far from the hotel! Every time I asked for directions  the louder and more excited folks got! But I made it back…had a wonderful breakfast…what a treat to be here!  Leaving, now, for a trek around the city.  Yes, I have my map.  Adios!  Di

Watch Advancing the Science for more updates…you can also read more about Diane,  this Xtreme medicine research project and Mayo’s investigator Bruce Johnson on page B11 in today’s New York Times. Here is John Branch’s story “Medical Miracle Nears a Milepost” in the online Times.

Cardiology researcher Bruce Johnson, Ph.D., will set up remote monitoring equipment at base camp at Aconcagua — the second highest mountain range in the world — to track vitals on Diane Van Deren, the ultra runner who is scheduled to run up and down the mountain — twice.

Dr. Johnson is no stranger to studying folks in unusual places. He spent part of last year at the South Pole, collecting data on people who work there. In addition to studying Diane, he will also be testing a range of technology that may one day be used to monitor patients remotely. All of this is aimed at improving the ways Mayo can improve patient care for a variety of conditions, both on and off our campuses.

Dr. Bruce Johnson and colleagues at the South Pole

Stay tuned to this blog for updates on this research project as it happens – including posts directly from the scene. For those on Twitter, our hash tag for the project will be  #Xmedicine.

Diane Van Deren and one of her many mountains

Last week I spent the day with Diane Van Deren, mother of three grown children, professional athlete, motivational speaker and an all-around remarkable woman. I arrived at her place in the rolling plains south of Denver on Thursday evening, just as the sun was setting. Sitting on her living-room couch with our dinner plates on our laps, I didn’t even have to ask her questions, as Diane opened the door to her personal life and let her story pour out.

She spoke about hauling a 50-pound sled for 430 miles across Canada’s Yukon territory last February—the only woman to complete the heinous trek. She spoke about finishing Colorado’s Hardrock 100—arguably the world’s toughest 100-miler—five times. About finishing third at the Big Horn 100-miler in Wyoming earlier this year, and The North Face 100 in China (where she was fourth overall). And that’s just a tiny sampling of the races on her long resume.

Diane has always been a gifted athlete (she was formerly a professional tennis player) but what is remarkable is what lies behind her motivation to run and race, and why it’s amazing she’s running at all.

In 2005, Diane received a phone call notifying her that she’d been nominated for the Everest Award, to be presented at the Teva Mountain Games, for her incredible performances on the trail. She’d only been running ultramarathons for about a year, but quickly became a dominant figure in the sport. And the folks at The North Face noticed too, inviting Diane to join The North Face endurance team, comprised of outstanding runners like Kami Semick, Nikki Kimball and others.

As the date of the Everest Award presentation approached, Diane was in close contact with a six-year-old boy named Hunter Nelson. Hunter, who had epilepsy, suffered from 20 to 30 seizures a day. He was running out of treatment options, and his mother was desperate for hope that her chance still had a chance at a normal life until Diane told them about a procedure she was familiar with that could mean the end of his seizures forever.

To find out if Hunter was a candidate for the procedure, doctors would place electrodes on his head during a seizure and try to pinpoint exactly where the seizures originated. If they could identify the source of the scrambled signals Hunter’s brain was sending his body, and it was a spot on his brain they could operate on safely, they would cut it out and Hunter might live the rest of his life seizure-free.

The morning Hunter was to go to the hospital to begin testing, his mother entered his bedroom and found her sweet boy still and lifeless. He’d suffered a seizure during the night and suffocated in his bed.

Profoundly saddened by Hunter’s death, Diane promised that she would do whatever she could to help others with epilepsy. So when she climbed onto stage at the Teva Mountain Games to accept the Everest Award for her athletic accomplishments, she dedicated the award to Hunter. From that moment forward, Diane would use running as her platform for raising awareness for epilepsy, a condition she lived with for 12 years and nearly died from before the radical brain surgery that entailed removing the kiwi-sized chunk of her right temporal lobe.

In the December issue of Trail Runner magazine, you’ll get to read about how Diane copes with the loss of her short-term memory and how she won the incredible 430-mile Yukon Arctic Ultra despite her inability to read a map or use a GPS.