Again, wow. Just wow. From the Asheville Citizen-Times: “Anne Riddle Lundblad … an extreme mountain running phenom, takes the title of the Citizen-Times Western North Carolina Outdoors Athlete of the Decade.”

Lundblad, 43, entered her first ultra, the Uwharrie 40-miler, in 1999, and tied for first place. Since then, she’s dominated the ultradistance field on the local, national, and world level. 2009 saw some of her biggest accomplishments:

“In October she won and set the course record in the 24 Hours of Boulder race, running 121 miles in less than 24 hours, stopping only for bathroom breaks. She beat everyone, including the men, and the feat got Lundblad an appearance in a December issue of Sports Illustrated. In June she set the women’s speed record on a team with two friends for the South Beyond 6,000, or SB6K, summiting all 40 peaks over 6,000 feet elevation in WNC, covering 261 miles in 6 days, 13 hours. She is a three-time Mount Mitchell Challenge 40-mile female champion and course record holder and is the 2009 Black Mountain Marathon female champion.”

In other words, she’s intense—and intensely inspirational. Read the full article here. Then, check out this Lundblad photo gallery.