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She never saw it coming. A few days into her last semester at the University of Arizona, Sirena Dufault was walking across the road when she was hit by a pickup truck and tossed into the air.

Her head hit the pavement and she started bruising up fast. Amazingly, nothing was broken.

Even so, the accident in January 1997 would cause such pain that Dufault, then 23, would eventually lose her job and take to her bed, hurting, fatigued and depressed.

"After two months in bed, I decided to do something about it," says Dufault, who lives in northwest Tucson. She began one step at a time, walking Zeus, her German shepherd/husky mix, to the end of the block.

"It was hard. But I thought, 'I'm going to hurt anyway, so I might as well do this.' "

The walks got longer. Soon, they had turned into hikes.

Next month, Dufault begins her longest trek ever: hiking the entire Arizona Trail from the Mexican border to the Utah state line.

Her 2 1/2-month journey will take her through eight mountain ranges, four national forests and three national parks, including the Grand Canyon.

At the canyon, Dufault plans to meet up with her brother, Sanjay, who is coming from Chicago to meet her for the rim-to-rim adventure.

Her father, Budh Rana, 68, also will join her for three weeks in Northern Arizona, offering moral and logistical support.

It was his 16-day pilgrimage in India last spring that spurred his daughter's decision to hike the Arizona Trail — something she's doing not just for herself but also to raise awareness of fibromyalgia.

The ailment, with which Dufault was diagnosed 18 months after her accident, includes such symptoms as extreme sensitivity to pain, fatigue, jaw problems and depression.

Injury can be a trigger.

"I was totally fine before the accident," says Dufault, who has dubbed her hike "Arizona Trail for Fibromyalgia" and is raising money to benefit the National Fibromyalgia Association.

A go-getter who graduated from high school in Chicago at age 16 and then earned a degree in fashion design, Dufault continued her classes at the UA after her accident, graduating that May with a double major in anthropology and the classics.

Too weak at the time to work as a field archaeologist, she became a video-game producer. Pain forced her to quit in the fall of 1998.

"You're hypersensitive to pain. You can't even stand it if somebody pokes you or gives you a hug. I was taking all types of medications, some heavy-duty. I thought, 'Am I going to have to take all this for the rest of my life?' "

Then came the day when she climbed out of bed and took that first walk with Zeus.

While working to regain her strength, she landed a job as an archaeologist, looking for artifacts as part of a pipeline survey. "It was physical work. It helped build me up," she says. Several years later, she quit to train as a massage therapist.

"After my accident, I started getting massages and they really helped," says Dufault, who now uses her skills as a licensed massage therapist to help others suffering from chronic pain. "When people told me about their pain, I could empathize."

Meanwhile, she and her husband, Brian, got into backpacking.

"We hiked into the Grand Canyon with two other couples," says Dufault. "When we came up to the top, my husband said, 'Never again.' I was like, 'When can we go again?' "

Brian, who works as a manager at a real estate company, says with some understatement, "She likes to go on long hikes."

Dufault started backpacking solo, often overnight, up in the Santa Catalinas, the Santa Ritas, always carrying a cell phone.

Several hikes turned out to be on segments of the Arizona Trail. Through research, she discovered that the trail was one continuous trek, Mexico to Utah, save for a few miles of unfinished trail north of Flagstaff, and north and south of Tucson.

Volunteers are now working those gaps, including Dufault.

But could she do it? Could she walk from Mexico to Utah?

"It seemed so far-fetched to take two and a half months off to walk and hike 800 miles."

As for Brian's reaction: "I said to her she was crazy. I was and still am concerned about her safety."

To address that, Dufault will hike with a satellite phone, a global positioning system device and a personal locator beacon, should she be injured on the trail.

Then there's the expense involved. Besides the loss of Dufault's income during her hike, she and Brian estimate it will cost about $4,000 to pay for all that high-tech monitoring, as well as hiking and camping equipment and food.

To help out, Dufault is sewing her own sleeping bag and clothing. Several sponsors also have stepped up, including Summit Hut, which is helping with her equipment, and Bumble Bar, which makes energy bars. "I've got bars for the entire trip," says Dufault.

Training is also essential.

Several times a week Dufault hikes five to 12 miles, often with a 40-pound pack strapped to her back to simulate the gear she'll be carrying, including two one-gallon bottles of water and some food.

A few weeks before her hike begins, she and family members will bury caches of food and water she'll later uncover and use along the trail. "They'll be placed about four days apart," she says.

Not every night will be spent under the stars.

"When I'm hiking around Tucson, I'll sleep in my own bed," says Dufault, who plans on occasionally bunking with friends living near the trail as she makes her way up it.

She plans on hiking about six to eight hours a day — with family or friends participating for about 25 percent of the total hike.

Not all of the trail will be done in sequence. After starting off at the border, Dufault will then do the Oracle-to-Superior portion. "It's the lowest and hottest part of the trail. It's a good section to ease into and get done," she says. She'll also sequence other sections to meet up with friends or family.

And not all of her time will be spent on the trail. "If my pre-hike calculations are correct, I'll be doing this for 80 days, with about 60 days for hiking and the rest for resting and resupply," says Dufault.

Dave Hicks, executive director of the Arizona Trail Association, estimates about 50 people have hiked the entire trail — some taking years to finish.

"You just chip away," says Hicks, who hiked the entire trail in 2001 in two and a half months. "We had a man finish a couple of years ago, 73 years old. It took him three and a half years."

Even at a relatively easy pace, the trail, says Hicks, is not for sissies. "Even if you're in the best of health, the Arizona Trail will challenge you."

As for Dufault's chances, "it's doable," says Hicks, who will be with Dufault as she kicks off her hike. "She's planning well, thinking ahead. She knows herself better than anyone."

And when it's over, Dufault will have walked its entire length — from hill country to low desert riverbeds to pine-covered mountains.

"I figure there will still be some snow on top of the mountains in the Huachucas, but the snow should be gone by the time I get to Northern Arizona," she says.

Though there's always the danger of a flareup, for now, says Dufault, her fibromyalgia is at bay. "I've been feeling well and strong, and I've been off my meds for the last year and a half.

"I do a lot of stretching and yoga, and I have a positive mind-set. That helped most of all. I was so depressed and angry," she says.

"It was a really long road figuring out what happened to my body — and getting my life back."