"It was a healthy addiction," she said. "It's challenging and I love the people."

She secured a sponsor and now spends her life trying to prepare for and then conquer her next goal.

"I plan on running the rest of my life," she said. "Anybody can do whatever it is they want. Who am I? I'm nobody special. If you want to do something, you can. It's mental."

Van Deren, of Colorado, now makes a living running ultra marathons, something some may have thought impossible a few years go. A former tennis pro, she began having grand mal seizures two weeks into her third pregnancy. For 10 years she couldn't drive and could barely bathe without supervision because the seizures were so frequent and debilitating.

Then she had brain surgery that stopped the seizures.

"Whenever I had a premonition that I was going to have a seizure, I'd put on my tennis shoes and head off on a mountain trail," she said. "I never had a seizure while I was running, so the mountains became my safe spot."

Three years after the brain surgery, she's running professionally, winning her last two 100-mile races, and she no longer needs medication.

She was recently honored on the Today show for her accomplishments and speaks to other women in hopes of sharing her message.

"My legs are my words," she said. "Everybody has trials. Mine was epilepsy, but you can get through those tough things."

For many runners, it's setting a goal and reaching it even after doubt and fatigue nearly steal it from you.

Most ultra runners are older athletes, although much of the new growth is in the 20-something age division. There were many theories about why that is, but one man's observation was that as you get older, you get more mentally tough.

Brenden believes there is something to that. He knows that challenges come at all times, to all people. He was in a ski accident that left him in a coma nine years ago so severe that his family contemplated shutting off his life support. His girlfriend of 10 years, Hugette White, lost her leg to Ewing's sarcoma as a teenage girl.

Last summer he was lost for 22 hours in the Egyptian desert when he went off course on a 220-mile run.

"There are a lot of challenges in a job, in life," he said. "But I know I can outlast them. It may take a long time, but I know I'm going to win eventually."

And in ultra running, winning is finishing the race.

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E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com