Some people are naturally talented at what they do. Others just need to work really hard. Rena, as her track coach informed her, was the latter.

Undeterred, Rena chose the 3000-meter Steeplechase, a grueling race defined by the massive barriers and water pits to be cleared. “I was horrible at it at first,” she says. “I had to really practice.”

Rena is from a tiny town — Beaver, Utah, population 3,000 — and says that as a kid she would run around the mountains, hopping over fences and jumping over streams. The steeplechase reminds her of being that small town girl, and that even though it’s a tough race, she was raised tough.

So why is Rena an expert?

Rena’s an expert because she knows how to run. She knows the mechanics. She knows what it takes to strike the ground correctly, to stride properly, to cut time efficiently.

She’s an expert because she knows how to inspire others to run. We could say she knows how to coach, but Rena is so much more than a coach (more on that later). She knows how to get her friends who’ve never run a race to running marathons and Ironmans.

She’s an expert because she knows how to give the right advice. She knows the shoes that will work for your specific foot strike needs. She knows the nutrition you need to fuel your goals.

Rena’s an expert because she loves to run, and she loves to help others learn to love to run, too.

Rena’s story is one we’ve all heard, where someone defies impossible odds to achieve a dream. Except Rena’s odds really were pretty impossible. The birth of not just one, but four children. Injuries. Needing four of her track students to pace her because no one else was there to help her train. Personal events that tore her family life completely apart. This former All-American collegiate athlete went into a steeplechase event to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Trials not having jumped a barrier in over four years.

And she set a personal record doing it. And then she set another personal record in the next race. And then another one. Until she found herself in the finals at the 2016 Olympic Trials.

And as things just seem to work out for Rena’s life, her one-year-old baby only allowed her three hours of sleep the night prior to the finals. What else was this single mom to do when her baby was crying? “I just remember walking [into the finals] thinking that I just wanted to go to sleep,” she says. “I was so tired, but this is what I’ve worked for my whole life.”

Rena’s been a competitive track athlete since she was 14-years-old, and her competitive streak pushed her to set really specific goals. Qualify for the Olympic trials, break 10 minutes in the steeplechase, and get a sponsor.

(Spoiler alert: Rena never did get a sponsor.)

Sports like track and field can be especially cruel when the results are decided by the tiniest fractions of time, and Rena missed her chance at the Beijing trials by only .02 seconds. She trained for the 2012 trials, and while she accomplished her goal of breaking 10 minutes, the stakes were higher than they’d been in 2008, and her time just wasn’t fast enough.

After the London trials, Rena’s personal life took some very difficult turns; logic told her it was time to move on from her Olympic dreams. But one day while running, she says the words came to her mind: Third time’s the charm.

Rena was back at home in Beaver, Utah, raising her children on her own, coaching the high school track team with her students pacing her for her personal training. And the rest of her story is one for the movies: She was the slowest runner to make the trials; she set a personal best in each subsequent race; she stayed up the entire night before the finals with her young baby; she started the final race as the slowest qualifier and completed that race by finishing a full 12 seconds faster than she’d ever finished. She achieved all but one of her dreams.

In the Trials, Rena raced amongst the best runners in the United States. Runners wearing head-to-toe Nike or Brooks, sponsorship dollars present in every stride. She wasn’t one of those sponsored runners.

It’s how you know you can trust her recommendations as authentic — she isn’t motivated by anything but the desire to help you find what works best for you.

While Rena has no plans to formally race steeplechase in the future, she spends her days running in her new town of Flower Mound, Texas. She exercises every day with her kids, literally using her twins as 50-pound weights. She also spends a lot of time training people in her community. People looking to run their first 10k or marathon, people training for an Ironman, and some people who are just learning how to run. People know she’s an expert, and they look to her for help.

In addition to running mechanics, she shares advice on proper gear and nutrition. She can help them find the right shoe, whether they need something basic — as she prefers — or something to help with pronation. “I’m not the best supporter of one brand,” she says. “What feels good on your feet is the best shoe for you.” What recommendations does she give often? “What should I eat,” she says. “I get that question more than anything!”

Why is Rena an expert we love? Because she genuinely cares about sharing her knowledge to those who want to improve. “I just love that they want to run,” she says. “I just want to help them.” In fact, she brings them alongside her own runs  — no fee required.