w Beyond But, Diane looked out for her crew, too. Chuck says, “She was on the trail for 20 hours a day, running on a couple hours of sleep and yet was checking on us!” Similarly, Diane supported her guide runners, many of whom ran more miles than they ever had before while leading her on the MST. She befriended them and lists them by name, even today. On Memorial Day, a soldier ran with Diane. “I met Tom on the trail at four in the morning and thanked him for running with me, and he said, ‘Mrs. Van Deren, I served in Afganistan twice. I’ve never been lost and I’m here to serve and take care of you.’ I cried. I cry now, because he’s like my son. Tom would flag cars for me. I told him he didn’t have to, but he said, ‘I’m here to protect you.’ He’d tell me, ‘Mrs. Van Deren, if you want to put your hand on my shoulder, go ahead.’ Or ‘I can hold your water bottle out here for you.’ He knew I was hurting. We went 30–50 miles then he left. Four days later, Chuck told me someone was meeting me. It was Tom. His other Marine buddy drove him hours to meet me on the trail. Now if that didn’t choke you …” Tom escorted Diane into town. They ran by a memorial, where American flags were flying. Diane thanked him for being there, and he said, “My wife just had a baby and she told me to come back and be with you.” That’s the sort of magic and the type of emotions Diane experienced on this expedition. Sometimes she’d have just one person, sometimes two or three guide runners. Being in the South, they would answer her with “Yes, ma’am,” and “No ma’am,” which surprised her a bit. “Call me Di,” she said.
the run, plus we had to make three ferries. These ferries only run on certain schedules. We were running into a black sky near Highway 12 and could see the coast. This unmistakable sound of a tornado was just off to our east. She did not recognize that sound, but I’d been in one before. We were tethered together but running along and being blown off the road when she asked me, ‘What is that sound?’ I responded, ‘Oh it’s probably a boat or an airplane. I didn’t want to get her riled up.’ And she said, ‘That is so bizarre. Can you imagine flying in these conditions?’ When we got to the ferry and jumped on it, the ferry driver looked at us and said, ‘What in the world are you knuckleheads doing when there’s a tornado nearby?’ And Diane looked at me like, ‘Tornado?’” Diane is amazed at the support she received from Chuck and Great Outdoor Provisions Co. “I’ve been a professional athlete for 12 years, and it’s rare for all the logistics of an expedition to come together smoothly.”
22 WAM • WINTER | 2012/13
The expedition crew fed her well. “The back of the truck was like a Whole Foods,” she said. And, when she returned home, the supply of nutritious fare didn’t dwindle. “People kept bringing me food. I said, ‘I didn’t die! It’s not a funeral.’ You know how, when people die, others bring over ham. It was kind of cool—I hate to cook!” Last time I spoke to Diane Van Deren, she was just back from a 55-mile race in Chile. “I went down there with some The North Face friends and spoke at a university, too,” she said, raving about the passionate, loving people in Santiago. “The race went well. How could it not? With Aconcagua as a backdrop for it.” She climbed Aconcagua back in 2010 so she appreciates the view like few can. I asked for an update and she joked, “My cooking hasn’t improved, but I only set off one fire alarm this week, so I’m getting better.” But, truly, Diane’s future looks good. She collaborated with Today show coanchor Hoda Kotb on a chapter in a book called Ten Years Later: Six People Who Faced Adversity and Transformed Their Lives to be released January 15. “It’s exciting to inspire others and give hope,” Diane said. “I’m a wife, mom, and athlete, so I get to wear many different hats.”
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MARK ROSTAN
The crew would pick her up, throw her in the back of a truck, haul her back to the trail early in the morning, and wait for her as she wrestled her feet into shoes, even if it took an hour. Chuck and two other crew members together made decisions with Diane’s best interest at heart and with her record goal in mind. “At one point, someone assigned me the title of expedition leader,” he said, “and it was scary. This was not a Himalayan adventure.”
One hot day, Diane was running on the road with two college-aged men as her guide runners. “I was getting hot so I turned around and took off my bra then shoved it in one guy’s pack,” she said. “An hour or two later, he asked, ‘Mrs. Van Deren,’ in his southern drawl, ‘would you like your bra back?’ I mean, where do you hear that stuff? It cooled down, then got to be the middle of the night on the next day, and the boys got to be a little wobbly. So I thought I’d make a joke. What do you think of when you think of college boys? Farting. They like to fart. So I said, ‘Hey boys, would you like to have a farting contest?’ and I ripped one. That got them going. I told Chuck that there are two things I’m proud of: the run and winning the fart contest. If you’re gonna go for glory, you’ve gotta go big. Finally I told them, after hours, that the joke was over. It had to stop.”