She was in her mid-20s before she tried her first marathon. Now 38, Dauwalter’s success came relatively late. Second place gets the dubious honor of having “Did Not Finish” written next to their name in the record book.
She ran for almost three days in which she clocked more than 455km.
In 2020, Dauwalter completed it a staggering 68 times. She also holds the female record for the brutal Big Dog Backyard Ultra, a last-man-standing run in Tennessee, where there is no finish line, just an endless 6.7km loop every hour. The last few years have seen her notch wins in the women’s category in top-ranking races around the globe, including February’s 128km Transgrancanaria, which she completed in less than 15 hours. “There’s no set plan, no schedule that way I can see how my body feels, see how my brain feels, see where I’m at emotionally, and that’ll determine if I push, or have a more chill day,” Dauwalter said. Her training regime is dictated not by performance markers and down-to-the-millisecond metrics, but by how she feels when she wakes up. She does not have a coach, does not follow a strict diet - she eats pizzas, burgers and candy - and wears baggy basketball-style shorts because they are comfortable.
Ultra runner Courtney Dauwalter poses during her morning fitness run near Twin Lakes, Colorado, on May 16.ĭauwalter is something of a contradiction: She is the best female ultra runner on the planet, and is worshiped in the extreme running community as something akin to superhuman, but she is nothing like an elite athlete is supposed to be.
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