“I was doing it for my own survival, because I was a stay-at-home mom. And I felt that I needed to do something for me, because I felt like my brain was dying. I needed something for me. It just turned out that way, I just didn't know. I was pleased when people would come out and maybe I encouraged somebody else to do that.”

Bjorg Austrheim-Smith, multiple Western States winner, will tell you upfront that her story does not fit the typical narrative. She was a stay-at-home mom who was looking for a way to get out of the house. She ended up as the first three-peat women’s winner of Western States from 1981-83.