Wikipedia says, "She has broken twenty world records during her career", "fourteen time Western States Endurance Run winner and former female course record holder; 2-time winner of the Comrades Marathon; formerly or currently holds numerous American and World Records; American 100k record holder" and more...
Ann Trason recently came to the mid-west to run the Hennepin 100 mile ultra marathon on October 6th near Sterling, Illinois.
I got the wonderful opportunity to spend a couple hours with Ann at my friend Scott Kummer's place in Chicago on the Thursday before the race weekend. And I also spent over 4 hours pacing Ann at the Hennepin 100. I kept telling to everyone I ran into leading up to this weekend, "If you don't know who Ann Trason is, Google her!!"
During this time, we had a great conversation - from witty banter to jokes to race talk to personal deep conversation. I told her that I have so many questions for her but don't know where to start. She was very open and kept our conversations flowing. I wanted to capture some of the wisdom I gained from Ann Trason when it is still fresh in my mind.
1. Don't give up
Ann had not completed the first two Western States 100, the first Leadville 100, the first Comrades marathon (54 miles/largest ultra-marathon in the world) that she ran.
But then, she returned to win Western States 14 times, set a course record at Leadville that still holds good as of this writing for almost 25 years, and won Comrades twice! BOOM!!!
Now you know why they call her the GOAT, but she never gave up when she didn't finish those races during the initial attempts.
DON'T GIVE UP.
2. Do what you love
Me: "Did you go to these races to win?"
Ann: "Nah! I just loved running, I just went to these events and ran these races."
Ann had been running since she was a baby. Her parents would tie bells to her shoes to know where she is or if she is trying to run away. She never aspired to be a champion but she loved running and ran for the love of it. And as they say, the rest is history.
DO WHAT YOU LOVE.
3. Gratitude is beautiful
Me: "How did men treat you?"
Ann: "Actually, they treated me very well. I trained with men all the time, we had a nice group that got together on Wednesdays to run, they treated me like a little sister".
It was rather refreshing to hear this from Ann, especially with the media filled with news and revelations from the past when men may not have treated women well. Ann had nothing bad to say about the other gender. She mentioned jokingly, "there are always guys trying hard to run faster than me, but I didn't care much.. he he", she has this genuine funny laugh, when she is sarcastic and funny.
During our conversations, Ann had acknowledged and expressed gratitude for many people in her life.
Ann expressed great love and respect for her mother. She now runs a non-profit scholarship fund after her mother's name.
She also acknowledged her ex-husband Carl, who helped her train, supported her endeavors and running career.
Ann is one of the most humble people I have met, with such great accomplishments. She gives little credit to herself but ensures to express gratitude for people in her life.
GRATITUDE IS BEAUTIFUL.
4. Personal values matter
Story-1: Ann was offered a $10,000 prize money if she broke the world record in a 50-miler in February in Houston in 1991. She had another race director who welcomed her for another 50-miler in Dallas in January of the same year, no such prize money though. While she was advised not to run the January race in Dallas and to focus on the prize money in February in Houston, she just went and ran the January race because she had given her word to the race director and broke the world record in January.
Then she again ran a 50-miler in February 4-minutes faster, thereby breaking her own world record yet again within a month!
I had no words to explain my thoughts when I heard this crazy and unbelievable story, but I dug deeper into her thoughts on running the first 50-miler.
Story-2: In a different conversation, she mentioned that Chris McDougall, author of the famed running book 'Born to Run', never talked to her about the book, and that she never read the book either.
But Ann never went around rebutting the contents of the book, nor did she write or speak about it publicly. She insisted that she didn't care and from what she heard, Born to Run is a work of fiction, she let it go. (As a side note, this article is Ann Trason approved :-)
It always works out in the long run by taking the high road, and she proved it here.
PERSONAL VALUES MATTER.
5. Money is not everything
Me: "Did you ever want to write a book or look for a big sponsor?"
Ann: "Nah! I am low key. I just like to run".
Ann mentioned being a Nike runner for several years. Listen to this crazy story... when Nike first recognized Ann's talent, they offered to give her 6 pairs of shoes for a year (just that??!!). Luckily, her then husband Carl, who was also an accountant and her manager, negotiated a decent contract with Nike.
If it was up to her, I am guessing she would have gone for the 6 pairs of shoes, and even now while telling the story she was excited for that offer :-)
I kept asking Ann about social media, books, publicity, merchandize, etc., most of the questions were answered as "I love being in nature", or, "I just like running"...
