Courtney Dauwalter – Colorado Trail
The big news of the week in the Ultra world was the epic FKT attempt that Courtney Dauwalter undertook on the Colorado Trail which finally ended with her in the hospital.
After running strong for more than 300 miles and staying well under the current record, things changed when she got close to Leadville, Colorado. There, her support team decided to take her to the closest ER after seeing she was having trouble breathing. Thankfully, after being tested it ended up being acute bronquitis so nothing too serious to be worried about–she’ll probably be up and “running” (har, har) again in no time.
Situations like these are always a good reminder that no matter the goal, heath should always be our first priority–the mountains will always be there for another try.
Click here if you want to see some videos of Courtney running the Colorado Trail.
WHAT INSPIRED US THIS WEEK
What to watch:
Have you heard about Mount Elbrus? Well, it’s the highest peak in Europe (located in Russia) and if it weren’t for the pandemic, it would have been the location of another edition of the Elbrus Mountain Race. As is common this year, one of the local favorite runners decided to try the circuit anyway–and he ended up breaking the record by a margin. Hungry for more, he decided to keep running for another 30k to also break the record of the whole loop around the mountain.
Watch this video with some epic shots of the attempt.
What to read:
Now that we’re seeing a few more races appear on the calendar, we’re wondering how they’re going to look. Will we get to gather at the start and finish lines like we used to? There’s not much clarity yet, but many organizers are trying to be creative and to use some technology to pull off their races and to try to give their trail runners a “race experience.” We leave you with this article from the SCMP which talks about this.
Click here to read the article.
What to listen to:
Finally, we leave you with Rich Roll’s recent podcast where he interviews runner Mirna Valerio. Mirna well may break every single stereotype there is when we think about running and runners in general–and that’s why her story and empowerment is just what we need in order to work for more inclusiveness in our sport and overall diversity. In this interview Mirna speaks about identity, the bias that surrounds our sport and the racism found within it.
You can listen to the podcast here
During the month of August, we’re challenging everyone (including ourselves) to donate to The National Black Marathoners Association. How? By pledging based on how many miles you run this month! Want in? Just hit “reply” and say, “I want to donate!”
