Clips

Some people really like to run. For them, three miles around the neighborhood isn’t enough. A 10K is a warm-up. Even a 26 mile and 385 yard marathon is too short. These people are ultra-runners, and for them 30, 50 or 100 miles is the perfect distance for a run.

“Something happens when you go out for a longer period of time,” says local ultra-runner Celia Bertoia. “I really get in tune with my surroundings and my body almost becomes irrelevant as I become a vehicle of nature.”

For fellow ultra-runner Liz McGoff, long runs on trails are also about communing with the natural world. “It’s about the lure of the mountains and the trail.” She adds, “I like getting up really early and seeing the sun rise.”

Whether the appeal of long runs has to do with natural experiences, physical or mental challenge or staying in shape, running seems to be something we are made to do. A 2004 study in Nature showed that humans—with our spring-loaded ligaments, muscular rear ends and ability to sweat—are designed to run. Historically, our long, lean build helped us to scavenge widely and hunt down prey over long distances.

But, whether or not our bodies are intended for running, it takes something special to actually go out and run in an era when we only need to scavenge as far as our refrigerator and hunting prey means getting in the car for a visit to the meat counter at the local store.

Ultra-runners (people who run any distance beyond the standard marathon) may carry their food with them, but they are often out hunting for something—time alone, communion with nature or physical challenge. Liz McGoff starting running ultras in 1998. Formerly an avid backpacker, she found that with three kids she just didn’t have the time to take multi-day trips.

In order to fit in trail time she started getting up and running before the kids awoke. “I’d get up really early and run up to Hyalite Lake and be home before breakfast,” she recalls. “It was a way to morph running and backpacking.”

For McGoff (a K-8 school counselor and MSU math instructor), ultra-running is often a solo pursuit. She runs about half the time by herself (and with her “crazy, crazy running dog”, Juniper) and the other half of the time with her husband, Tom. Occasionally she runs with friends. “Running for me isn’t solely a fitness thing, it seems to be a spiritual thing,” she says.

Bertoia agrees, “I see (running) as a necessary balance; getting outside feeds my spirits as well as improving my physical body.” Like McGoff, Bertoia often runs alone or with her husband, Kyle.

The benefits of running spill into the rest of these women’s lives. Bertoia, who owns and runs “Perfect Timing” (a business that times races) notes, “If I do a long run, I feel like my day is meaningful and worthwhile, and if I’m able to run up to Baldy and down, then I’m much better prepared to meet the challenges of running a business.”

For some women, running is their business. Nikki Kimball is a professional runner who started out racing in cross-country skiing in fourth grade. Later she added bicycle racing to her resume; running was just the way to stay in shape for her other competitive pursuits. That was, until she graduated from college and realized she needed health insurance.

Planning on attending graduate school anyway, Kimball bumped up her start date to ensure insurance coverage. At school in Philadelphia she couldn’t cross-country ski and she was burned out on bike racing, so “that left running,” she laughs.

After a couple really good race times (flukes, according to Kimball who considers herself a slow runner) she was asked to join a race team. One thing led to another, and before she knew it, Kimball was running ultras professionally. “I’m kind of good at it,” she says in understatement, “I’m not fast enough to do shorter distances and I do well enough to pay for my hobby.”

Running and being outdoors is one thing, but why do these women run so far, and in competition? “I really love running on trails,” says Kimball, “So why not run 100 miles—I’m happy most of the time; I’m like a kid at play.”

When participating in ultra-races, like the Western States 100 (a 100-mile endurance run in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California), McGoff enjoys herself. “It’s fun when you hear the elk bugling in the middle of the night, see headlamps jouncing along the trail and look up at the stars and they’re really vibrant.”

The excitement around a race is one of the things that draws Bertoia to the starting line. “Everyone is eager and full of anticipation and there is a camaraderie with people who share the same interests.”

Racing also pushes their level of running beyond what a training run can do. In our sedentary society there are very few things that can drive one physically the way running 50 or 100 miles can. Also, these women agree that pushing past mental and physical barriers (as long as they aren’t hurt) in a race gives them confidence to push through barriers in the rest of their lives.

Long-distance running may not be for everyone, but these runners believe there are some benefits for any woman who wants to get involved. “Women, in the larger realm of society aren’t encouraged as much to be competent in the outdoors or alone,” notes McGoff. “(Running) has made me an extra confident person and its spilled over into other parts of my life.”

“We really aren’t that weird,” laughs Kimball, whose other job is as a physical therapist. “Weight-bearing exercise is important for women because of their risk of osteoporosis, and it raises your basal metabolic rate so you can eat more food and stay thin.”

Whatever the reason, the Gallatin Valley seems to be an ideal place for women to get out and run. Whether it’s a morning in Sypes Canyon (Bertoia’s favorite local trail) or competing in the Bridger Ridge Run (both Bertoia’s and McGoff’s favorite race), there are many trails winding through mountains and canyons just waiting to be run.

Bertoia says ultra running is about more than just getting out and running, it’s about becoming a better person. “It’s important for women to give themselves tools to be strong, and running gives women the strength to be physically, mentally and spiritually tough.”

Balance
June 19, 2007

Betsy Gaines Quammen is taking an innovative approach to conserving and protecting ecosystems around the globe. As Executive Director of the The Tributary Fund Quammen recently worked with Buddhist monks and local leaders in the rural Eg-Uur Valley of Mongolia to restore habitat for Taimen—the world’s largest salmonid—and to rebuild a monastery destroyed in 1937. The monastery is now home to a center where monks teach environmental education from a Buddhist perspective.

“When people work within their religious beliefs if gives them more personal motivations,” Quammen explained. And she should know. The energetic 38-year-old is a PhD candidate at Montana State University in Religion and Environmental History.

“I’m a spiritual person and interested in all religions,” noted Quammen, “The majority of the people in the world are religious and the only way we can protect the environment is to work with religious leaders.”

Quammen moved to Bozeman in 1997 to open a field office for the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. She has served on the board of the national Sierra Club as well as working for American Wildlands, Montana State University's Center for Native American Studies, Wallace Stegner Program and many other conservation groups.

After working with so many traditional environmental groups, Quammen came to the conclusion that working within religious and cultural frameworks was the best way to integrate conservation into a society and make it stick.

A pivotal moment in her transformation from conventional activist occurred at a rally in Louisiana. There she met a retired schoolteacher who, along with many others, was protesting refineries that were leaking dioxin, which is believed to be the cause of a locally high rate of cancer among children. “It was like a revival,” Quammen enthused, “It was so powerful and so fun.”

This summer Quammen and The Tributary Fund are entering a research phase to decide where to go next. They are considering projects in Louisiana, India and Latin America. Quammen said, “Our goal is to work with the world's major religions and build bridges between belief systems and conservation science, so we'll go wherever that takes us.”

What do you consider your greatest strength?
I don't take myself too seriously and I know how to have fun!

What do you consider your greatest weakness?
I have discipline binges, sometimes I'm really disciplined and sometimes I'm all over the place. I can be pretty unruly, but I'm unruly with conviction!

Who are your heroes/role models?
Jane Goodall is definitely one of my heroes. And Margie Richard who is this wonderful woman in Louisiana (who is working on fighting a refinery she believes responsible for the high number of local children with cancer). Also, Wangari Maathai who started the Green Movement and was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.

What is your favorite book?
I have a million favorite books, but I’d have to say Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh) and My Antonia (Willa Cather).

What is the key to balancing your roles in personal, family, career, and health matters?
I’m so lucky, I never really feel like I have to balance my job with my free time, with my hobbies, with my husband. My avocation is my vocation; I’m so blessed.

What is the best advice you’ve ever used?
Be compassionate in all aspects of life: Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car, of course this advice extends to practitioners of all religions.

What is your dream job?
I have my dream job; I love what I do! But I could be tempted by a position of "Boss of the World." Or maybe a career as a sommelier/country western singer/dolphin trainer.

What do you most want to change about yourself?
I wish I were better disciplined; I’m not disciplined at all. I’m lucky that I love what I’m doing and I’m lucky that I love my school program so much because I really lack discipline.

What do you love most about yourself?
I think I’m pretty even tempered and I always have fun. I’m usually the one that has the best time.

What do you do to relax?
I don’t know if I’ve relaxed in five years. I’m not a relaxed kind of person. I love to read and take the dogs out, but I’m the most jittery, energetic person.

Balance
May 22, 2007

Guiding is big business in Gallatin and Park counties. Whether it’s rowing a driftboat as anglers cast imitation flies into the Yellowstone River or leading hikers on treks across distant mountain ranges on other continents, local entrepreneurs like to get paid to be outside doing what they love.

More and more, guides and travel company owners are discovering that giving back to the places and people that have provided them with their livelihood is as rewarding as learning about new cultures and faraway places.

Three local women started their own guiding companies as a way to continue to do things they love to do while still paying the mortgage. Along the way they incorporated humanitarian and environmental projects into their trips.

Bella Treks—Felicia Ennis
In 1995 Felicia Ennis moved to Chile to teach English in Santiago, but ended up working as a bilingual horseback riding and trekking guide. In addition to falling in love with the South American landscape and the country, she made many close friends and connections.

Fast forward nine years to 2004 when Ennis decided to start her own travel company “specializing in small group travel and focusing on local guides and flavors,” she says. Ennis felt like she could bring a personalized experience to her trips based on her experiences, friends and contacts in Chile.

Ennis’ trips focus on culture and nature—bird watching, horseback riding and vineyard tours are a few of the activities her guests participate in. In addition to narrowing in on the people and environment of the countries she visits, Ennis says, “another part of the Bella Treks mission is to find ways to make travel more meaningful.”

This winter Ennis offered a trip to Patagonia as a fundraiser for HERA, an organization that supports women with ovarian cancer and funds various avenues of ovarian cancer research. Ennis discounted the trip and participants were asked to raise money for HERA.

She chose HERA as her first foray into fundraising because the organization was started by a woman who had cancer herself and survived it. “She seems really invested,” says Ennis. She plans to offer the trip again next year.

“There will be other ways to give back to the places we travel,” Ennis says with a smile, “I want to find ways to support the local communities we visit.” To that end, Bella Treks uses local guides, supports local businesses and is “anxious to see what sort of service organizations I can support on the local and regional level.”

Betsy Robinson—Wild Things Unlimited
Betsy Robinson and partner Steve Gehman started Wild Things Unlimited (WTU) with two seemingly disparate missions: to study rare carnivores and to guide people on natural history trips.

But it makes sense. “I’m insatiably curious about what’s going on around me and I like to the chance to pass on all the things we learn in the field,” says Robinson. A biologist by training, Robinson uses her knowledge of geology, botany, wildlife and ecosystems to “help people have a more meaningful vacation,” she says.

Or as their mission states, “Wild Things Unlimited was founded in 1997 to provide a vehicle for the collection of sound ecological information and the dissemination of such information to the American public. Our purpose is to increase the effectiveness of wildlife and habitat management in the Rocky Mountains.”

During the winter, Robinson can be found following lynx tracks in the snow. “We never see lynx,” she notes, but by following their paw prints they can locate bedding areas, kills, fur and scat. The latter two provide valuable DNA information that allows researchers to understand how many individuals are in the surveyed areas.

WTU also researches wolverines, fishers, grizzly bears, birds and other critters. By providing reliable data, they are able to have an impact on the protection of habitats these animals depend on. Robinson believes their research, “will aid resource managers and conservationists in the protection of important forest habitats, the preservation of biological diversity, and the defense of our remaining wildlands.”

It’s not just the wildlife that benefits from Robinson’s expertise, her natural history tour clients often tell her that their experiences “far exceeded their expectations,” she says. By sharing her field experiences, Robinson is able to flesh out her clients’ experiences and show them a world beyond what they can see.

What Robinson really notices is the change of expression on her client’s faces when they come upon something they didn’t expect to see. “Their senses are rejuvenated, they start hearing more and they open up to so much,” a sight as rare as a wolverine in this increasingly busy world.

AdventureWomen—Susan Eckhart
As a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone, Susan Eckhart taught women to boil strings and razors to cut their babies’ umbilical cords as part of newborn tetanus prevention program. That experience, “molded my whole life and my job,” she explains.

Years after returning to the United States she began AdventureWomen, an adventure travel company for women over 30 years old. “I believe travel is one of the greatest tools we have for promoting world peace and understanding among cultures,” says Eckhart, and by limiting the trips to women she believes they can more easily be themselves and open up to new experiences.

AdventureWomen is now in its twenty-fifth year and known as the “Grand Dame of Women’s Adventure Travel”. Eckhart is seeing her life come full circle as she introduces new trips that profit the countries they tour.

Motivated by her Peace Corps experience, Eckhart decided that, “It’s about time we start giving back to the cultures we visit.” Started in 2004 her “Humanitours”, have taken place in Vietnam and Bhutan.

In Vietnam her clients gave a water buffalo to a local family to increase rice yields on their farm. In Bhutan, guests trek to 12,000 feet to delivery warm clothes and blankets to nuns.

“Women are really looking for ways to make a difference,” Eckhart says. But it isn’t easy to put together a Humanitour. “You don’t just go somewhere and ram something down their throat whether they want it or not.” Like the Peace Corps, Eckhart goes where she is invited and works with people she knows. Sensitivity to cultural needs is a crucial element in her trips.

Not unexpectedly, Eckharts clients get as much as they give. The participants in her trips “really like interacting with the people we are working with,” she says, “they are doing things they never thought they could do on their own and they gain lots of confidence.”

Sidebar
Contacting a Guiding Woman

Adventure Women
www.adventurewomen.com

Bella Treks
www.bellatreks.com

Crossing Latitudes—Lena Conlin
“Devoted to promoting the responsible enjoyment of outdoor pursuits all over the world while instilling an appreciation of different cultures and lifestyles. Our trips are an outdoor and a cultural experience wrapped into one.”
www.crossinglatitudes.com

Off the Beaten Path—various women guides
“Offers exceptional travel services designed to help you explore the natural world.”
www.offthebeatenpath.com

Wild Things Unlimited
http://home.mcn.net/~wtu/

Balance
February 27, 2007

The huskies and Belgium shepherds are barking wildly and yelping with their noses to the sky as three girls, ages 9-12, hustle them out to the sled line. The dogs are anxious to run, anxious feel the wind in their fur and the ground slip by beneath their feet. So are the girls.

Jenny Greger (11) and Rachel (9) and Alexandra (12) Fessenden started running sled dogs and racing a couple years ago. “I feel free (when dog sledding)”, says Alex. Jenny elaborates, “It’s fun and there is no one there to bother you. No one tells you what to do.”

Dog sledding has always been a means to freedom. For early cultures (archaeologists believe dog sledding is at least 4,000 years old) it meant freedom to move about in the winter. It was a utilitarian way to transport goods and people over otherwise impassible snow. It was a way to hunt, to carry meat home, and may have been the reason people could live in such hostile environments before the advent of modern comforts.

Today snowmobiles and airplanes have mostly replaced dog sleds in northern peoples’ work-a-day life, but mushing (as dog sledding is also called) has found its niche in winter recreation and racing.

Jenny’s mom, Cara used to show dogs in California, most of whom came from a ranch near Livingston. She moved to Montana and met Rob who was managing a kennel of AKC Alaskan malamutes. Rob started mushing the malamutes in the winter when they weren’t being shown and realized that dog sledding was what he wanted to do.

After a stint in Alaska, Rob and Cara, now married, moved back to Montana, bought a place on Bozeman Pass and began raising sled dogs for Rob to race. “It was a match made in heaven,” laughs Cara, “between Rob and me and the dogs.”

The love for dogs, mushing and freedom was passed from Rob and Cara to their daughter Jenny. As a family they run their dogs up Jackson Creek, Mill Creek and around West Yellowstone. “You can enjoy your dogs and be a musher without racing,” says Cara.

When Cara and Sue Geske (the Fessendens’ mom) met through the AKC dog club it was another match made in heaven. Cara and Sue would meet up at events where Rob was racing and Sue was working as a veterinarian. Then, four years ago, the two families were in West Yellowstone and decided to pack out a trail in the park.

Rob, Sue and the three girls donned snowshoes and stomped out a path that the dogs could run on. Using two dogs and a sled, the girls took turns mushing around the park while the packed-out trail ensured the dogs stayed on course and didn’t take off into the fresh powder and surrounding town. The girls were bit by the dog sledding bug.

Since their first experience in West Yellowstone, the girls and their moms have entered several races. Sometimes with comical results. The dogs had run the Root Beer Classic race near Polebridge, MT several times with Rob. They had always veered right at the junction leading to the longer course. One year Cara and Sue decided to run the race, but to do the shorter, six mile course. At the junction, Cara stopped and was able to route Sue’s dogs to the left, but her own pack headed to the right, insisting that they knew the course better than she. “Sometimes the dogs are in charge,” Cara acquiesces.

Another time the group was mushing up Mill Creek in the Absaroka Range. Jenny was driving the sled while Rachel was sitting in the basket. The sled flipped. Jenny was dragged behind, but she never let go. “The first rule is to never let go of your sled,” explains Cara, “and Jenny was tough; she held on.” As a concerned mom she jokes, “Sometimes I think we should duct tape their hands to the sled.”

Despite the occasional spill or ornery dog team, Cara and Sue believe that dog sledding has been beneficial to their daughters. Dealing with dogs requires patience and daily attendance. The dogs need love and care regardless of how their handlers feel. While Rachel and Alex, help with dog chores once a month or so, Jenny lives with the dogs and spends more time scooping poop, feeding and generally maintaining forty dogs.

“What’s hard is trying to pick up poop in the hard snow or when it gets all snowy and packed and the dogs get trapped in their homes (and have to be dug out),” says Jenny. Rachel agrees, “The hardest part is picking up poop and bones…and the chores.” Alex says what’s difficult for her is when “I don’t know if the dogs are growling at an animal or me, or when you try to harness them and they jump up on you.”

But, it is the chores and dog training that help build responsibility in the girls. “They have to learn patience and how to deal with their emotions,” says Cara. Sue adds, “It’s a way to be an active kid, to gain confidence in a sport and to feel a sense of accomplishment.”

While sled dog racing is still a male dominated sport (only about 25% of racers in the 2006 Iditarod were women) there is no physical advantage to being a man. As long as the racer has the ability and the dogs, he or she can be a top contender. It is one of the few sports where there are not separate categories for men and women and both can participate on a level playing field.

There are, however, separate races for kids and adults, although not many in the west. Most of the major races, according to Cara, don’t have kids divisions. But she feels it is important for the progression of the sport. If kids don’t have race experience they are less likely to participate as adults.

Cara and Sue’s daughters have done well; they’ve placed in several races around the west and northwest. But, as Cara says, “What’s important is whether you win or lose, did you have a fun time with the dogs? Whether or not someone else is faster, if you respected what the dogs need and got out in a natural setting (you’ve succeeded).”

As the dogs glide silently up Mill Creek or around West Yellowstone with a young girl gripping the sled handle, the bond between girl and dog, mother and daughter, and friends strengthens. The girls are building confidence, having fun, communing with nature and finding a place for themselves in the world. They are learning responsibility and to sometimes put the needs of others before themselves. That’s a lot for a sport to offer.

Balance
January 30, 2007

“When women are fully involved (in society), the benefits can be seen immediately: families are healthier; they are better fed; their income, savings, and reinvestment go up. And what is true of families is true of communities and, eventually, whole countries,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a keynote address to the annual gala event of the International Women’s Health Coalition, in New York on January 15, 2004.

And what’s true in the world is true locally. And for women to be involved in society, society needs girls who have high self-esteem, confidence and a strong belief in themselves. Nonprofit Big Sky Youth Empowerment (BSYE) is making an impact on the lives of girls in Park and Gallatin counties that they hope will extend out into the greater community, and eventually the world.

BSYE Executive Director Pete MacFadyen writes in the 2005 annual report, “On a micro-level, we are working to provide individual youth the opportunity to increase their self-esteem, create interpersonal connections, and have fun. On the macro level we want to change the world—one kid at a time!”

This summer BSYE initiated a program aimed specifically at teenage girls, called Girls Empowerment. “It’s sort of an experiment,” laughs MacFadyen, but a successful one that he hopes to emulate and grow next summer. “The development issues that girls are facing are really different than what boys are facing,” he adds.

While all teenagers (and many adults!) deal with concerns like low self-esteem and how to fit in with ones peers, girls have a special set of issues to handle. Issues such as, body image, relationship pressures, learning to advocate for themselves and reconciling what they see in the mirror with images of the “ideal” woman splashed all over the media.

A 1999 study by researchers Paxton, Schutz, Wertheim and Muir found that groups of friends shared similar levels of body-image concern, dietary restrictions and use of weight loss behaviors. These friendship groups also had similar levels of depression and self-esteem. Other studies have concurred and added that peers have a much bigger influence on a girl’s image of herself than either the media or family.

That’s where Girls Empowerment comes in. The six girls, age 15-17, from Park High School in Livingston met once a week this summer with BSYE Lead Mentor and Park High School Counselor Katey Franklin. She led them through various activities and discussions on life skills as well as on exciting outdoor adventures.

One week the girls practiced trusting each other by blindfolding a partner and leading her through an obstacle course. Another week they created a collage representing how they felt the media told them to look, and another collage describing how they wanted to be portrayed. “In the Thursday meetings you learn a lot about yourself,” says 16 year-old participant Echo Anzik.

But the girls don’t just learn about themselves and each other in the classroom, they get outside and jump into adventure-based sports like horseback riding, whitewater rafting and rock climbing. “I liked getting outside and trying different things,” remembers 16 year-old Jessica Neville, “and you had to trust people with your life (when) rock climbing!”

“All the activities make you more confident,” explains Anzik. “I was scared to go rafting, but then it was fun.”

Franklin believes the confidence they build and the skills they acquire in the program will carry over into the girls’ everyday life. “They gain a self belief that they can try new things and be successful at them. They realize that it is themselves holding themselves back.”

Franklin recalls bringing a friend, Ruth, with her and the girls on one their horseback riding outings. Ruth said she was uncomfortable trotting and the other girls spoke up and suggested they all slow down. No one got mad at Ruth for speaking up for herself. “My biggest hope,” says Franklin, “is that they will be a true advocate for themselves and ask for help when needed.”

In a yoga class this August, yoga instructor and BSYE Board Member Kerrie Foote led the girls through a series of poses with Jack Johnson playing in the background. It wasn’t a typical yoga classes, there was chatting, giggling, and popular music set to the backdrop of the Park High library, but the girls took it seriously none the less.

From heart salutations to sun salutes to standing poses and headstands, the girls moved enthusiastically from one position to the other. Foote gently modified their postures as they stretched and maneuvered their way into proper form.

This group of warm, caring, confident young women seemed to genuinely like each other and be glad to be there. They encouraged one another as each attempted a headstand and didn’t worry about looking silly or not being able to do it right.

Like all BSYE programs, Girls Empowerment is aimed at teenagers with multiple risk factors such as low socio-economic status, school failure, abuse, abandonment etc. “The theory is the more risk factors there are in your life, the more likely you are to get in trouble,” explains MacFadyen. Which is why more risk factors equates to more likelihood of getting into a BSYE program. This year 150 kids applied for 36 spots.

MacFadyen started BSYE in 2001 after deciding that seeing teenagers one on one as a licensed counselor wasn’t “the best modality for change.” It seemed to him that counseling was something that parents wanted their kids to do, not something the teenagers were particularly interested in. Additionally, counseling was something that only financially well off parents could afford, whereas he wanted to impact disadvantaged youth.

“I wanted to share the things that keep me happy and healthy” like fishing and snowsports, MacFadyen says. He had three criteria for his new program: 1. Create a program that works, 2. have the program be scholarship based and 3. use outdoor sports as tools to create vehicles of change. Thus, BSYE was born.

Using outdoor activities to facilitate positive change in disadvantaged youth seems to be working according to the Girls Empowerment participant evaluations. Wrote one girl, “I would recommend this to friends because a lot of other teenagers go through the same obstacles we do and this program helps out.”

The girls went through a graduation ceremony in September, ending their summer of activities, but MacFadyen hopes many of them will be back. He plans to run a second-year program next summer. “Once a kid is in (the program), we try to keep them in as long as possible and help them transition into the next aspect of their lives,” he says.

Hopefully, with a few years of Girls Empowerment under their belts, these girls will be ready to take on the world and be fully involved in benefiting their families, communities and the world.

Balance
October 10, 2006