Rescue Dog

After the runner fell in the wilderness, it was up to Taz to keep her alive.

The Fall

Danelle Ballengee opened the truck's door, and Taz jumped out, wagging his tail. Today they were going to run a trail into Utah's rugged back country. While she stretched, he nuzzled her legs and watched her intently -- a sign he wanted to get moving.

It was Taz's eyes that did it. She'd found him in a shelter, a puppy so unruly she named him after the Tasmanian Devil in the Warner Bros. cartoon. He'd since grown into a 70-pound mutt who was her constant companion, bouncing at her heels on her training runs.

Danelle checked her watch. She and Taz could easily make a loop and return by lunch. She'd eaten a light breakfast and would be ready for a shower and a meal back at her place in Moab at the end of her ten-mile run.

After limbering up, she patted Taz's brown coat and started jogging. It was winter -- December 2006 -- and they were alone.

Danelle pushed her five-foot-four, 120-pound frame and soon broke into a sweat. At 35, she remained a world-class endurance athlete who'd run in over 500 long-distance competitions through deserts and mountains around the world. Today's training route was a mere two-hour workout in the fresh air, even if the air was turning colder.

Up ahead, Taz disappeared, but Danelle didn't worry as she scrambled along a remote rocky spur and up a second trail to the top of a 60-foot ridge of deep-colored red rock. Near the summit, her foot hit a patch of black ice.

She scraped over solid stone as she slipped toward a precipice. Her hands grabbed for a hold and found none. She was falling. Then she slammed feet first onto a narrow rock ledge and collapsed.

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