Play hard, party hard: “To be the best you have to go balls-to-the-wall at all times,” says Tara. “But there are times when I’m 9,000 feet up in the Swiss Alps with hail pelting me like rocks, and I wonder, Why the hell am I doing this?”

No fear: “Sometimes I see these baseball players making millions of dollars and they’re, like, ‘Oh, my God, I sprained a pinkie.’ Are you kidding me? I’ve broken my left collarbone twice, I cracked my tailbone, and I’ll slam into a 40-foot tree, knock myself unconscious, and still get up and finish the race. Those baseball guys are such fucking crybabies.”

Hear me roar: “When I’m in all my gear hauling ass down the mountain, people seem to forget that I’m a woman. Then I get dressed up and walk into a restaurant, and people do a triple take. I love that.”