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SALT LAKE CITY — Next to running, smiling is her favorite sport, and Ashley Paulson of St. George smiled all the way to her second consecutive win at the Deseret News Marathon Saturday.
What makes this win even more incredible is that just 11 days prior, Paulson broke the female record at Badwater, a 135-mile race through California's Death Valley.
That feat alone had some of the most seasoned ultra-runners scratching their heads wondering how someone fairly new to the world of ultramarathons could do such a thing while keeping a smile on her face. After all, Badwater has been called the "toughest footrace of all time," with runners exposing themselves to 120-degree temperatures and beyond throughout.
"It's just who she is," Paulson's older sister Tracy Heywood said.
Heywood has spent countless hours logging running miles with her sister, not to mention a childhood together, and said her sister has always chosen to smile even in the face of pain.
"I remember when we went to Lake Powell as kids, and our dad just threw us in the water because that's how you learned how to swim back then. When the rest of us were struggling to get back to the boat, Ashley would just pop back up and laugh and laugh," Heywood said.
When most people would likely need (or want) a prolonged break from running after a 135-mile race through Death Valley, true to form, Paulson said signing up for another race just "sounded like fun."
"Yeah, it's just one of those things, I'm like, 'OK, I'm in town, and I needed a long run anyway, might as well do the Deseret,'" Paulson said. "Racing is just so much fun, you know?"
Paulson explained that she didn't intend to win Saturday's marathon, but it was a pleasant surprise. Her sister said such an accomplishment is very true to Paulson's character.
"Ashley runs because she loves it," Heywood said. "I remember asking her if she was planning on winning, and she said, 'That's not why I do it, Tracy,' She is just out there having the time of her life!"
Paulson, who is a professional triathlete and trainer for the Utah-based company iFit, said even though she is having the time of her life running and racing, it isn't her whole life. She approaches her training a lot differently than a lot of runners, which she believes is what contributes to her ability to be able to recover quicker between races.
"I really feel like I listen to my body so much, and I know that people think that this is so cliche, but it's really what I do," Paulson explained. "After I race I am resting. I don't do anything intense or anything. After Badwater, I swam and did a lot of yoga. I'm not a runner that needs to run every single day, and I feel like that gets a lot of runners in trouble when they just feel like they're going to lose their running fitness if they're not running five to seven times a week."
It isn't just about balancing fitness levels, but also about family. Paulson is a wife, mother of four, a sister and a daughter. And just like last year's marathon, Paulson made sure to remind herself of that daughter role every step of the way by wearing a heavy cotton T-shirt from the 1988 Deseret News Marathon that her dad competed in.
"I really wasn't expecting to win; it must be my good luck charm," Paulson said.
But if you've learned anything over the years seeing Paulson, whether it's running to the hospital to deliver her baby, taking her family on a yearlong RV trip or competing at the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon, it really has nothing to do with luck.
Paulson said her next big goal, speaking of the Olympic Trials, is to smile her way to another qualifying time for 2024.
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Arianne Brown
