Is Courtney Dauwalter the Last Ultrarunner of the Golden Age?

The growth of the sport

I was out walking the dog and thinking about who I wanted to interview on Ten Junk Miles podcast this year and the first person I thought of was, of course, Courtney Dauwalter (someone connect me already!).

Why?

I know this is going to sound like an old person talking about the “good ole days,” but she feels like the last runner of the “golden age” of ultra running (for me). What does that even mean? Let me explain.

Although I ran my first ultra in 2005, I really didn’t embrace the sport, its culture, its news and history until 2011. That’s when I started reading all the books and magazines (wait, there was only one - Ultrarunning). I followed all the great runners. Sent them all friend requests. A few of them ever were so gracious to chat with me and become my actual friend.

Don’t get me wrong. there were certainly “stars” and it was clear most of us weren’t one of them….but sometimes they were in the next tent. Or the table over from me at breakfast. Most times I felt a connection to them because they shared their lives online, on podcasts (all three of them) via social media, or through their blogs (now substack).

It also felt like although they were faster than us, the elites were people like us, having experiences like us. At races like us. With the same gear and support and nutrition and everything.

It might just be me, but today, it doesn’t feel like that. As each year passes, it feels like two sports are growing at once. Mine and theirs. It feels like races are less accessible. As are the elite runners. It feels like the media, the hundreds of podcasts, substacks and YouTube channels focus on the best runners overwhelmingly as athletes alone. It’s becoming more and more professional. Even monolithic. Although this information is interesting, it feels so far removed from me and my running friends. From the people I embrace at the finish line and the people that write to Ten junk Miles podcast. Sometimes it feels like they’re forgotten. Or at a minimum, that there’s a separate sport for them.

This is a mistake. Sometimes their feats are even more impressive than there pro’s. Their stories can be even more compelling. They are often not gifted, not beautiful, not fast or famous. They’re everyday people somehow managing to accomplish the incredible, while juggling a normal life. They don’t have coaches or training plans. They’re often just out there running to run, fueled by pop tarts or candy corn. Meeting each other. Making friends. Changing lives and the world.

Record breaking performances by sponsored athletes on the livestream with celebrity announcers brought to you by other sponsors in races most of us may never get into, or be able to get to, or even be able to afford at that……might make your heart soar. It doesn’t for me.

And there’s Courtney D. Eating jellybeans and running aimlessly in the woods with no coach or plan. Winning races and making it look easy while still seeming like the girl two tents over.

Are there more like this? Will there ever be? Does anyone care? Maybe I’m too old or looking in the wrong places. But lately, things have felt a little soulless, corporate, professional and elite.

Or are we all just finding our way? Feel free to opine, tell me where I’m wrong or share your own feelings.