Courtney Dauwalter | Ultra running documentary film exploring Courtney's source of will | The Source

a lot of ultrarunners have struggles or addictions and like what allows us to go so deep into a pain cave and I keep thinking what is it that allows Kourtney to Walter to go into her [Music] Portland do Walter was the first woman over the line this weekend at the 2018 western states endurance drivers Courtney do Walter Nadeau Walter has set an American record in 24-hour running she won the Moab okay yeah I heard before D rather heard about it yes she she beat all the men by 22 miles you have had success on the track success from your my own racing you've had success that shorter stuff 50 miles what's the deal when you talk to her she seems so normal there's no team in there like waiting to meet a demon right you know I'm like where's your demon like are you getting through that ha ha her demons a quiet demon right it's it's there it has to be copy six o'clock in the morning three hours to race time it's good right I mean I'd like to see how fast I could do 200 miles now that I have like confidence in my legs that they can cover that distance I'd like to see how much more efficient we can be with it it's not a full cup of you finished this they're just topper uppers the crew is a comparative there yeah their job is way harder this is decimal degrees and this was anything and everything can and will go wrong so you just try to plan as much as you can up front she's doing that on a roll so my crew is my dad did you do it [Music] Mike and Stan he's uh like a mullet business in the front party in the back kick it back [Music] that's the secret sauce right there creamy mashed potatoes and then Mike has done tons of hundred mile races and he'll push you through some of the darkest times for sure and Kevin's just Kevin I think every one of her Pacers are gonna say the same concern is that she's gonna drop them I'm a mid pack guy you know and I know it's 200 miles or whatever political can run but it's working well socks do we choose to take or do you think lucky thinks perfect hopefully she doesn't run another six thirty or faster mile like she did at the end of Moab because I almost got dropped there and I think getting dropped twice a year would be embarrassing x-factors having dick when I was growing up he didn't miss one of my sports of us so cool than have him here my number one I feel like as a crew we'll be successful if at the end of the race Courtney feels like she did everything she could that she got the most out of the race [Music] [Music] I think that she can do the race in two days the course record is 58 hours so maybe we're in over our heads but and we're gonna try it and if things go go south and we'll troubleshoot and figure it out [Music] I set goals like that just so that I'll like hold myself accountable to keep pushing when it gets hard and not to like I don't know like settle and be like oh that's fine we'll just finish it like I want to keep yeah like pushing through and seeing seeing how fast we can do it and so the goal is you know win this thing because that's gonna make sure that I keep looking for the next person [Music] I think I get concerned with any race it's just it's a lot all right guys yeah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] she has such a genuine love for being outside and just running and pushing herself to see what she can possibly do you'll hear a talk about and it's genuine we talk about it when we're running together just on a you know summer run I think it's just curiosity she's always had the desire to do her best we always told her we didn't care what you did as long as you tried your hardest at and it may be stuck wear my lucky shirt oh Emily she had a maliki socks I couldn't ask for better people we're just very grateful that we had people that can put down 40 plus miles [Applause] [Music] yeah we're guessing 1015 warriors you came through 10:30 so Wow like clockwork I'm so good at guessing you know quick [Applause] [Music] I have been running my whole life she had done her first 50-miler when we met and she asked do you want to pace me for a hundred mile errands like you're gonna have to explain like I didn't know that was something people did the 100 mile race didn't go so well I mean I was like laying on the side of the trail just kind of whimpering and then decided to drop out of it trying to sit with the fact that I had just quit got me like really fired up and I was doing a hundred mile race then and it wasn't going to be an option of quitting so I guess people would say that my run rabbit run 100 win kind of like made waves maybe where people were like who's this person in long shorts and what is she doing at the top of the podium her ultra awards they're all kind of tucked away in and storage that was pretty awesome that Courtney got the cotton candy won because she loves can buy so embarrassed she just would never brag about her accomplishments have been really interesting watching her progression I'm retired professionally retired so yeah I would pro teaching jobs will always be there and we've got something that I could go back to it's like living my dream everyday I wake up and get to look at the Front Range of Colorado and choose where I go that day and for how long I feel really lucky to be able to be doing that and we'll see how long it is [Music] I have to waffle and Cucina she was definitely ahead of schedule and I think at one point we know she was coming to age stations 2025 minutes ahead of where we were expecting her there's some athletes that come into the sport and like hit hit it being successful right off the bat right well with her she's had failures that she's had to learn from and so her progressions been very natural and just amazing it's like okay I've done that she knows she can do it right so what's the next boundary right what boundary can I break it was just baking hot and I think it was just so hot and so sunny and no wind at all that everybody got overheated [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] and she definitely got she was struggling to eat enough calories and her stomach got upset because of the heat is my guess more anything we can to that you can take and I mean if you want to carry what she's quite nauseous yeah yes like I eat that big Newton in Leadville right honestly my biggest concern was that she was not gonna get enough calories and just have a major bonk you know we were just like Suns going down pretty soon she'll be able to be running when it's a little cooler [Applause] [Music] [Applause] going back up yeah see you soon great okay see you in a few races when things really start to go south you can kind of see the gears turning like I know I know this feeling I've been here before it used to push her to the point where she would get I mean sometimes really emotional like she'd start crying but now she's like okay and I know this happens and I just need to be strong she just has this ability to be hating life and be able to push through that I think she's an incredible problem solver and she can figure this stuff out and tune into what her body wants and pays attention to herself it as much as we all think that she's a goofball and she doesn't pay attention to anything she's very in tune with what's going on around her how are you [Music] thirsty posed to mental oh but then it also became physical when I was like throwing up you know everything I was eating the first day so I was like hit two times by these like weird things that don't normally happen until past the first date usually this was unique I've never been in a low for so long and had no reason for it like great from the get-go my brain was in just a weird state for it was like not processing that I was racing and getting to do this thing and so everything just felt like more of an effort you know Kyle was you know had kind of separated himself when I had picked her up I had checked where he was and we were about eight miles ahead of him maybe nine miles ahead of him right around there and then we got to the next aid station they told us he was at seventy-five miles or something like that but which basically put him five miles behind us or something and all of a sudden Courtney's like he's closed three miles on us she was just like we got to go and she just started to pound it up the hill and right out of that aid station you do this huge climb like four or five miles and it's steep and rocky and she was running [Music] turns out we basically maintain the same and a distance she was just not able to run as hard as she normally felt like she should you know I feel like if she had been able to not have the stomach issues from the heat I'm totally confident she could have been running a lot of this stuff quicker than we're going in at a harder paced and we were going but you just got to fight through that good yeah I'm good I got plenty of time to drink dude you just crushed it so bad everything I could do to stay with you dude so what's the next section do the next section is out ten miles and it goes up for a while then goes down [Applause] normally in these ultros I ride a high and then a low and then high again and this one was just like it started and kind of a low and then just sunk a little bit deeper and then stayed there like I couldn't find the other side of it ever for the first 20 hours I think I was just like fighting for every mile which normally doesn't happen normally there's more highs in that first Park especially but I couldn't find it for some reason I don't know what factors were going into that learned a lot of hard lessons in those those first ones but since then I mean every every race she's kind of fine-tuned more and more and I don't know if there any secrets in this sport but she's kind of figured out how to get through just about anything they're just not sitting well cuz their stomach so I'm side down so maybe pancakes and maple syrup God knows I would have eaten it because it's training up and it's a lot love them yeah she came in and we're like do you want to try some pancakes we had two cheese quesadillas and we're like if you want to try some pancakes with some syrup and she's like that sounds good alright she got a little piece down and I was like she's deleting so yeah it's like five o'clock in the afternoon we know it's hot and sunny we'd like a cheese quesadilla and there's some pancakes I think she relies on the fact that no matter what happens we're still on her team we still love her to death this is this is icing I mean this is fun you know and if this all goes the way tomorrow god did we have a freaking ball so much of it comes from her mom and dad her humility her overall approach to life it's too important to enjoy your life to get all worked up about the little things she doesn't run ultras to get interviews and be in magazines she runs sculptures because she loves to run [Music] [Applause] so the time you're going about seven days I have to like pick up so see you tonight seven huh yep have fun second place I think he's only like 12 five miles back now he's been he's been cruising he's coming he's coming in one battle would be real fun [Music] whoa see she's gonna probably just want to look at the profile and I have the sheet on my favorite tunes by cooking so nineteen thirteen and a half six nine she got hooked up with a coach in high school for cross-country skiing his name was Randy Gibbs and he was really really good at getting every little drop of talent out of these girls that he coached he kind of taught them the idea that you could go away faster than you think you can and you can go away farther and you think you can and after being with him she figured out how to go really far going and competing in Alaska in the winter and having to deal with the cold where they had duct tape on their face so they wouldn't get frostbite and all that kind of stuff and she went through a lot of this pain and suffering and learned from a very young age that that's not the end of the world she came into Sierra Tahoe her high school cross-country ski coach was out there to see her I mean you could just see her light up this is a man who had a profound impact on her her cape boys as an athlete this is the guy he taught me everything I know about basically going into the pain cave like that place where it really hurts he was the one who taught us how to go in there and be okay with it you got anything I need to know about I've been down this road here with her she's a stud out there they go away and it was really cool then to have it like come back full circle horns for him to be there with his daughter nice to meet you thanks for coming I'm not a crier but that was really emotional and like just really special to see him again sophomore year she went from being like pretty good to all Son winning all the races basically like she just realized this I don't like going second she went from being someone that didn't really ski she was a runner you know and next scene when she's winning the state meet and skiing people have been skiing for ten years longer than her I think that's it it's a burning will to be the best she hates losing more than she likes winning him you know we had six mile lead maybe at that time and we know it had closed down to within two she was in the pain cave for I was with her for 11 and a half hours out there on the trail and you know there wasn't a whole lot of highs for her unfortunate was just a lot of I got to do it you know they're 19 miles in into the segment route spacing urn she was just like well that kind of sucked you know whatever my guy he did great and she said Mike just be mad with me for a minute or whatever so I was like yeah I kind of suck you know and she's like okay no service I don't know it's just so what she might quickly gave us the update that yeah she's fighting to sleep and sleep running this is quite an adventure well that's that tough GPL you know the only tough Chiefs get to do it yes I'm gonna give up let's end this delirious sleepless society [Music] really was a little hard on her I think she was kind of anticipating it because people had been feeding her information that he was getting closer and closer and I think when he was about two miles away it was 30 miles from the finish and she is like I can't redline this for 30 miles I'm just gonna do what I can do and if he passes me so be it I'll try to catch him again he was a lot more rugged and I was anticipating I think it was more rugged than the first half of the race just couldn't open or not back she just went open it up a little bit they can see each other's headlamps I'm sure my guess is I'm super competitive I mean if if I could have I would have held on and held them off it had been such a hard day from the very GetGo and there we were like 40 hours in or whatever you know when he finally passed and it was like I don't know if I can fight anymore so this is the last aid station Kyle last check was a little ahead of her she'll just give it or go and see if she can reel him in hurry up and we hope she's not disappointed or upset I think she gave her best right I mean she wasn't out there quitting she was fighting the whole way and that's how you can ask for right it's just put on table and a sudden you know something beating somebody beats you but she's not off to compete the women's team other runners and I think that's pretty special great job Cort and she looks at me and she's like 50 I got to get in before 50 you want any of that and I need to please the 50 our goal is one of those things that did really get her fired up and gather remember that yeah seven miles okay yeah got a new character I think I just had to set something like we had missed the other goals we had you know the other like big aspiration that we had for the race and we were looking at the clock and I was like is 5th a sub 50 our finished possible and he did some math and he was like yeah but you're gonna have to work for it and then I was like okay fine like let's let's do this because I needed a reason at that point to keep pushing really hard because it hurt so bad and that was the perfect like you know carrot today we've gotten run 40 minutes go get it he's the ultimate crew chief and and pacer [Music] I joke like you know he's just Kevin but he's like the whole thing was everything [Music] she's got no a gift but her full physical abilities have come from so much hard work [Music] she's gotten a lot stronger because she worked so hard but that's not I mean that's what I've seen more change but the foundation of all that work is she's so strong oh man sorry this is really telling you Hallett how amazed I am house she's just a really amazing person what I've seen in like the last three years just her physical ability is developed so much from all the hard work that she's done where she would go run a hundred mile race and for like five six days afterwards she would be wrecked ultimately be able to function after a week and now it's like she does a hundred mile race the next day yeah she can't sleep you know she's fatigued her body's killing her but within two or three days we're doing shakeout runs or we're you know running around in her ability to recover has been just amazing compared to what she was several years ago I don't think there's anything in particular that's unique about her per se I think it's something that other people can do I do think she's gifted genetically with she's just wired a little differently maybe something that Courtney has learned and that she's gotten really good at is that when you think your body is telling you to stop like maybe you don't need to stop and it's a challenging thing to do but it's absolutely possible for anyone she's not running away from anything she's just running towards the to see what can be really darkness [Music] [Applause] I was still thinking about her goal of getting to you know under 50 hours she was really hoping to get in by 11 so she has less than 20 minutes to get them those last two miles she's close really close [Music] Kevin how we doing right to the last moment when you just push yourself to see what you can achieve [Music] I think it went incredibly well Courtney had nothing left when she crossed the line first of all she didn't drop any of us so truth be told we're all fired up about Dec we had so much fun I don't think she's ever satisfied I mean she always knows that it's always possible to go faster I've even seen where she's won a race and been frustrated that she didn't do as well as she could have we talked about how it was all going when I was pacing her she said this isn't going nearly as well as Moab but it's almost refreshing like a reminder that things aren't always gonna go well they can go very very poorly but even so you can still do a great job I need to come back and do it better basically the whole second half I'd like to change if I could I don't know yeah I mean situationally we had like things come up that we had a problem solve which I love doing but we just didn't solve them as fast as I wanted like I didn't solve them as fast as I wanted and so it caused the second half of the race did you just be much slower but that's okay that's part of the fun really I'm even more proud of her then and it wasn't Moab seeing how hard it was on her and not being able to eat for 140 miles that's really hard on your body and for her to keep pushing through that and move at this speed dad was incredible and if there's any lesson that I've learned is you can never be too surprised at what Courtney can do I don't think yet she's found that breaking point there's gonna be some good stuff to come yeah we're gonna see from her Whitman just she's capable you everybody's got a demon yeah I don't I don't know that I have a demon I think I don't like to fail and I want to finish everything that I start is that a demon [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Dream Lens Media

Views: 1,585,230

Rating: 4.9436483 out of 5

Keywords: ultra running, ultra runner, western states 100, ultra marathon, trail running documentary, moab 240, joe rogan podcast

Id: DQSiygnDm-U

Length: 38min 53sec (2333 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 02 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/huppa13]

thank you for sharing this!

[u/newcastle79]

This is amazing. I’ve been looking for more info on her. She is a beast and an inspiration.

[u/whc112280]

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

[u/propagandaBonanza]

Sweet! Thanks for sharing. I forgot this was coming out this week!

[u/BrettThib]

Thanks for sharing! Great stuff.