Laura Vaughan, who set a women’s record at the Hardrock in 1997, the only year she ran it, also was the first person to finish the Wasatch Front 100 [mile race] for ten consecutive years and the first woman to break 24 hours. That makes her fast. What makes her tough, though—what makes her a bona fide Hardrocker— is that in 1996, nine weeks after giving birth to a son, she ran the Wasatch and breastfed her baby at the aid stations. Her ten-year ring from the event is engraved “Lactating Laura.”
—Scott Jurek with Steve Friedman, Eat & Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness
I guess that’s one way to lose the baby fat!
Oh my gosh, that’s just crazy! I wonder if she’s had a psych eval lately? Of course I think running of any kind is crazy unless it is for a practical purpose like catching the bus or racing from the car to the house because it is far below freezing with a bitter cold wind screaming down the street.
Heh. I think they do it precisely because of the mind-altering effects of pushing their bodies to and beyond the point of endurance. Apparently it is quite usual to start hallucinating towards the ends of these races. It’s a trip in more ways than one!
You know there’s this magical warm place called California, perhaps you’ve heard of it…
California, hasn’t that fallen into the ocean yet?
Well, since we still have lemons and cilantro in the grocery store I assume it’s still there.