This article came to my attention courtesy of one of my friends over on Facebook. I’d not heard of this ultra runner named Diane Van Deren, but I’ll be following her progress at Hard Rock over the weekend.
Basically, she had a labectomy, where they removed a part of her brain in order to help her with her seizures. On a side note, I had no idea that running helped people with their seizures, but I digress.
Since they removed a portion of her brain, she has no sense of time or direction. She also can’t read a map, so she usually has no idea where she is and no idea how to get back to where she started.
I can see an advantage to not having a sense of how far you’ve gone, or how far you still have to go, but not knowing what direction you’re headed in seems harsh. I love the quote where she says “people know not to follow me now” I think that’s hilarious.
Good luck to her while she tackles Hard Rock this weekend.
