Courtney Dauwalter is heading back to the California International Marathon with a U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifying time in her sights – and an appetite for discovering what else she can achieve.
The ultrarunning great ran 2:38:55 in Sacramento last December, finishing just one minute and 55 seconds outside the 2:37:00 standard required for the Trials.
Now, according to Runner’s World, she will return on December 6 to try again.
But while the roads offer a different test for an athlete best known for conquering the world’s toughest ultras, Dauwalter is clear that these adventures represent an addition to her trail career rather than a departure.
Speaking to our sister site TRI247 in Kona during IRONMAN World Championship week, she explained why being a beginner again has become part of the appeal.
“Feel like a rookie”
Asked about branching out from ultras and potentially tackling an IRONMAN, Dauwalter first corrected the premise.
“I’m not straying away from the ultras, but what I found is it’s so fun to have some variety and mix it up and feel like a rookie at things.”
Her marathon performances last autumn showed how quickly she could adapt.
A 2:49:54 at the Twin Cities Marathon was followed by that 2:38:55 at CIM, an improvement of almost 11 minutes in just nine weeks.
The next step is smaller on the clock but substantial in sporting terms: finding the extra speed to earn a place on the start line for the 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.
Last year she reached halfway in 1:18:33, just three seconds outside the pace needed for a 2:37 finish, before covering the second half in 1:20:22.
The target is qualification for the Trials, where America’s leading marathon runners will contest Olympic selection, rather than a place on the Olympic team itself.
“How far back does my pain cave go?”
For an athlete whose achievements include multiple victories at both UTMB and Hardrock, the obvious question is what remains to motivate her.
Dauwalter’s answer suggests the trophies have never settled the questions that interest her most.
“I haven’t answered the question for myself of what’s actually possible,” she told us.
“What are our limits? How far back does my pain cave go? What can I do in there?”
That curiosity continues to shape her choices, whether the challenge involves maintaining a faster pace on the road or spending a day and more navigating mountain trails.
“So that’s got me signing up for anything and everything where I get to test that,” she said.
“I just love it so much. I get a lot of enjoyment from all of the adventures that I get to take part in.”
Different ways to find your limits
Dauwalter’s approach also leaves room for athletes to find their own way towards those goals.
Asked about the contrast between training guided by numbers and a more instinctive approach, she resisted prescribing one method.
“I think there’s a lot of methods to the madness of these endurance sports,” she said.
“If someone wants the data and that helps them set goals or feel progress, that’s amazing. And if someone wants no data, wants to run without a watch, wants to just go by feel, I think that’s cool too.
“And we can all be on that same start line and test ourselves with our own method that we took to get there.”
An IRONMAN adventure to come?
Beyond Sacramento, another challenge looks likely to make its way onto Dauwalter’s schedule.
She was in Hawaii with her sponsor Salomon, which takes over as title sponsor of the IRONMAN World Championship in 2027, and the experience clearly fuelled her interest.
“I would say there’s about a hundred percent chance that I’ll sign up for an Ironman at some point,” she told us. “It’s just so cool looking.”
There was no firm date attached to that declaration in our interview. There was, however, one familiar requirement when we asked whether her trademark board shorts would make the transition with her.
“It’s one of the things I have to figure out for sure because it’s gotta be board shorts.”
Inspired by those daring to start
For all she has achieved, Dauwalter still remembers how intimidating ultrarunning looked from the outside.
Asked which women had inspired her when she was starting out, she pointed to the simple act of trying.
“I was inspired by every single person who was daring to try because it sounds crazy,” she said.
“The distances of these races, the terrain that you cover, all of it felt so intimidating.
“I couldn’t understand how you could be brave enough to start it, but watching all of the women who were just doing that, pinning on the bib and trying, was a huge inspiration for me as I got into the sport.”
