Extreme queen

Courtney Dauwalter had run 88 miles through the ColoradoA state in the west of the US that contains much of the Rocky Mountains. mountains when her eyesight began to fail. "I couldn't see my hand in front of my face," she remembers, "but I could still see my toes." With 12 miles of the race left, she decided to carry on, despite falling over and hitting her head on a rock.

"Luckily, I knew that section of trail; I had run it many times before in training. A calm came over me - a computer mode asking what I could do. Well, I can look at my toes and keep moving forward as best as I can." ¹

Her vision continued to deteriorate until she was 90% blind - but still she did not give up. With another runner beside her describing the ground ahead, she completed the course to win the women's section of the race.

Fortunately her sight recovered a few hours later. She had been suffering from a condition called corneal edema, in which the body runs out of fluid for the eyeballs.

Courtney is recognised as the queen of ultra-marathon running. Last year she became the first person to win three of the world's toughest 100-mile races in a single summer, culminating in the Ultra-Trail du Mont BlancThe highest mountain in the Alps, a mountain range in Europe. It is the eleventh tallest mountain in the world. . If ultra-marathons were included in the Olympics, she would be odds-on favourite for a gold medal at this summer's games.

The traditional marathon distance is 26 miles 385 yards. An ultramarathon is defined as any race longer than that, but is usually far longer. Five weeks after her victory in Colorado, Courtney won a 238-mile race in UtahA mountainous state in the west of the USA. More than half its inhabitants are Mormons, who founded its capital, Salt Lake City. in just under 58 hours. The top male runner finished 10 hours behind.²

Growing up in MinnesotaA northern US state, which contains more than 10,000 lakes., Courtney excelled at cross-country skiing. She studied biology at university and became a teacher.

She had not run further than 10km until one day she decided to enter a marathon. To her surprise, she made it to the finish line: "I thought running a marathon was impossible - but it wasn't. So I thought, what else is there that could be the same sort of challenge?"

She progressed to a 50km race and then a 50-mile one. In 2012 she made her first attempt at 100 miles, but had to drop out. "Any runner will tell you that a 'did not finish' is a crushing experience," she says. "I couldn't believe I'd given up so quickly."

As the other competitors streamed past her, she persuaded herself that she could do whatever they did. Two years later she notched up her first 100-mile victory.

"The number of problems and types of problems you can get in ultra-running are abundant," she says. "My process is just to start repeating a positive mantraA phrase that is often repeated, like a motto. The word comes from a Sanskrit term referring to a sacred utterance. to myself... 'You're fine. This is fine. Everything is fine.'"

When she feels totally exhausted she resorts to a mental exercise called "the pain cave":

"It's a visual I have of this space in my brain that I go to with a chisel, and I just go to work on making it bigger, which helps to stay mentally tough in those difficult moments...

"Your brain is so powerful. Figuring out how to use both my body and my brain keeps me signing up for these really tough challenges."³

Is success all in the mind?

Yes: Courtney would never have achieved the success she has without it. Her eagerness to seek the next challenge and ability to pick herself up again at moments of crisis are what set her apart.

No: Mental attitude is obviously important, but it is physical ability that counts most. For most people a marathon is the ultimate challenge and a 100-mile race would be totally out of the question.  

Or... Luck and encouragement are equally vital. If someone had not volunteered to run beside Courtney in the Colorado mountains and explain the course ahead, she could not have finished the course.