To hell with him; Ann kept her night gear, and disappeared on the trail of the invisibleTarahumara a police shieldcould hold me upside down and drainmy gutschange your mind .

At mile 40, the crowd milled around the ancient wood firehouse in the tiny cabin village of TwinLakes, checking their watches. The first runners probably wouldn’t show up for another, oh, about—“There she is!”

Ann had just crested the hill. Last year, it took Victoriano seven hours and far; Ann had done it in less than six. “No woman has ever led at this point in the race before,”

said an incredulous Scott Tinley, the two-time world champion Ironman triathlete who was doingTV commentary for ABC’s Wide World of Sports. “We’re witnessing the most incredibledemonstration of raw courage in sports today.”

Less than a minute later, Martimano and Juan popped out of the woods and came scrambling downthe hill behind her. Tony Post of Rockport was so swept up in the drama, he didn’t care for themoment that his boys were not only losing but had also shit-canned the shoes he was paying themto wear. “It was the most amazing thing,” said Post, once a nationally ranked marathoner himself,with times in the low 2:20s. “We were just flipping out, watching this woman take control.”