Dane undertook running 52 marathons in 52 consecutive weekends all while still being relatively wet behind the ears in 2006. Completing the task and setting a new PR of 2:59 in his 42nd weekend of the year, Dane realized he had some running potential. Pushing the boundaries of the sport both with his legs and also as a speaker and writer, Dane’s next goal is to run the 204 mile American Odyssey Relay as a solo runner in under 48 hours in April 2010.

Robert McGee is a writer and homesteader living in the woods near Asheville, North Carolina. His work was recently anthologized in “The Mysterious Life of the Heart: Stories from The Sun about Passion, Longing and Love.”

Bettina Freese enjoys creating adventure out of misadventure, because it always makes for a much better story. She has embellished all of her life, but in print for the last 13 years, focusing mainly on riding bikes. Her massage clients refer to her as “that mean lady,” but they keep returning after nine years. Her children and mate are willing participants, and often instigators, to many of her recon missions for Blue Ridge Outdoors.

Jennifer Pharr Davis currently resides in Asheville, N.C., with her husband Brew. She holds the fastest female time on the Appalachian Trail and has explored over 9,000 miles of trails on six different continents. Off trail she is a writer, speaker, and the owner of Blue Ridge Hiking Company.

Leonard M. Adkins has hiked more than 19,000 miles, including complete traverses of the Continental Divide, Great Divide, Pacific Northwest, Pyrenees High Route, Long, Allegheny, Tuscarora, and Ozark Highlands trails, and his five treks of the entire length of the Appalachian Trail. He is the author of 16 books concerning the outdoors, five of which are about the Appalachian Trail. He has aided the Appalachian Trail Conservancy in identifying and protecting rare and endangered plants by being a Natural Heritage Monitor and a Ridgerunner.

Jeff is a commercial and editorial photographer specializing in active lifestyle and adventure photography. Jeff loves to travel and is an avid cyclist and rock climber. He recently joined 1% For the Planet.

Harrison is a freelance photographer based out of Fayetteville, W. Va., who specializes in outdoor adventure, lifestyle, landscape, and aerial images. He has spent almost 20 years exploring the Appalachian region documenting people at play in the outdoors. Samples of his work can be found at his website: www.shullphoto.com.

Steven McBride has been working as an advertising and editorial photographer for over 18 years. An adventurer at heart and a family man, he is inspired by nature and all of its unlimited photographic possibilities. He has photographed on location in Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Yet Steven is most at home in the mountains of North Carolina where he lives with his wife Shannon and their two young boys. An avid mountain biker and hiker, Steven looks to stay outdoors as much as possible.