Patricia Williams Smith, from Maryville, Tennessee, works as a personal trainer, group aerobics instructor, and triathlon coach as well as with the American Red Cross as a CPR, First Aid, and swim instructor. She is also a combat medic in the Tennessee Army National Guard. She’s competed in road and trail-running races for 20 years from 5ks to ultras, in triathlons from sprint to Ironman for 15 years and in cyclocross, road and mountain bike races for seven years. Her first adventure race was also seven years ago. She competed in PrimalQuest 2003 and 2006.

“I’m still trying to figure out why I adventure race,” Patricia says. “I tried to give it up after PrimalQuest 2006, but couldn’t stay away. Adventure racing makes me feel alive or, more commonly, wish I were dead!”

Patricia calls PrimalQuest 2006 her “most impressive accomplishment and toughest challenge to date” and the reason for doing PrimalQuest 2008: “The Utah desert hurt me physically and mentally. I want PrimalQuest 2008 to be different. It will be a wonderful experience regardless of the outcome.”

Patricia was disappointed with her previous PrimalQuest results but says her team stands a strong chance of finishing in the top 10: “I think this is definitely possible with Team TravelCountry.com. One of the team’s greatest strengths is communication. We are a bunch of talkers. When a friend asked who the team navigator was, I had to think for a minute. Navigation is a team effort. No decision is made by one person. We fail as a team or succeed as a team. Perhaps our greatest strength is a positive attitude. Personally, there is nothing I would rather be doing than racing. So as bad as the day may be, it’s still better than working (usually that is).”

Fellow team member Don Nettlow calls Patricia the team’s “secret weapon.”

“She’s one of the very toughest, fastest, and certainly nicest female racers you’ll ever compete with—or against,” he says. “And she’s definitely tougher than the rest of our team! She brings us treats and doles them out if we find the check points, and she carries the canoes to the put-in while we recover (and do important stuff like eat and pee). On the run she carries extra weight, even though she only weighs half of any of her teammates. Any other team got a girl like that? Let’s see her.”