Ultra runner Diane Van Deren has a unique advantage when it comes to competing in long-distance marathons: She’s missing a piece of her brain.

Van Deren, 49, had a lobectomy in 1997 and has since become one of the world’s great ultra-runners, competing in races of attrition measuring 100 miles or more. She won last year’s Yukon Arctic Ultra 300, a trek against frigid cold, deep snow and loneliness, and was the first woman to complete the 430-mile version this year.

No, she didn’t chop away a lobe of her grey matter just to gain an edge on the track — a history of epileptic seizures forced a surgical solution. The athletic benefits are incidental, and offset other significant drawbacks:

Van Deren can no longer read maps. Telling her to go five miles, turn left, then right, then left is an incalculable logarithm. She rarely runs a race without a wrong turn. “Everyone knows not to follow me now,” she said.

[Neuropsychologist Don] Gerber, who works at Craig Hospital, a rehabilitation hospital in Englewood, Colo., for people with brain or spinal-cord injuries, said that Van Deren “can go hours and hours and have no idea how long it’s been.” Her mind carries little dread for how far she is from the finish. She does not track her pace, even in training. Her gauge is the sound of her feet on the trail.

An extreme case of lemonade from lemons. Scant chance of anyone going under the knife to emulate this path to success (I hope).

(Post title inspired by a film of a similar name; I just couldn’t resist.)