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Littleton woman sets course record at ultramarathon

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 16, 2008 at 11:52 a.m.
Updated July 17, 2008 at 12:13 a.m.

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Jamie Donaldson, 33, said training in Colorado was a big help.

Jamie Donaldson, 33, said training in Colorado was a big help.

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Jamie Donaldson never stopped, not when the mercury soared to 120, not when her stomach cramped, not when the sun went down, not when the sun came back up again.

Donaldson, a 33-year-old teacher from Littleton, never rested until she crossed the finish line of the 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon that takes semi-masochistic runners across Death Valley and up to the portal of Mount Whitney in California.

Then, with a first-place finish and a course record time - 26 hours, 51 minutes - in the women's division, Donaldson finally stopped, acknowledged the cheers and had a hot chocolate.

And nearly threw up.

"I wasn't ready for hot chocolate," she said from California, where she is recovering from the race that started on Monday of this week and finished for her on Tuesday, for others on Wednesday.

"I took nothing but liquids during the race," she said, enthusing about the great job her support crew did, instilling her with the right energy drinks, changing her socks, weighing her to make sure she hadn't dehydrated.

Sure, she ran for three hours hamstrung by nausea and cramping. Sure, she had a hot spot on one foot for most of the race, and at one point fell a half-hour behind the lead woman.

She couldn't believe how smoothly the race went.

"I had no blisters, except for the one hot spot," she said, still not quite believing it. "I just glided."

Last year, Donaldson was leading the women's race for the first 122 miles, but with a mere half marathon to go, "I succumbed to my blisters . . . and my shin splints . . . and my huge bloating problem," she recalled. She finished fifth among the women last year.

This year, she tried a new brand of socks, Drymax, for which she could be a natural pitch woman. "No blisters!"

This year, she also trained harder, shutting herself in a sauna where she jogged in place for 45 minutes at a time, inuring herself to Death Valley's heat and near-zero humidity.

"When it got warmer in Colorado, I layered up on my clothing and made sure that one of my runs each week was during the hottest part of the day," she said.

"I did a lot of 200-mile weeks," she said. "After what happened last year, I realized you need to tear your body down a lot more in training."

This time, she yo-yoed with famed women's ultramarathoner Pam Reed for a great deal of the race until her nausea and cramping slowed her down, and Reed built a big lead.

"For three hours, I couldn't shake it, but I finally did," she said. "I caught her at mile 105."

And then while she was climbing from below sea level to 8,000 feet up Mount Whitney, she kept telling herself she is glad she's from Colorado. "That kind of road is something I trained on all the time," Donaldson said.

She crossed the line, "and it was crazy," she said. "There were reporters, cameras everywhere, like I was famous."

After all the 40-mile training runs in obscurity, it felt sweet getting her moments of fame.

"You're not used to it," she said. "It's pretty overwhelming at times."

scanlon@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2897

Comments

  • July 16, 2008

    12:20 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    F1RST writes:

    T-shirts with the Phrase, "D's Nutz" are plastered on this home page. Really? Can this not be edited out? Someone at RMN is a little slow on the uptake. But it is funny!!

  • July 16, 2008

    12:35 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    mtb writes:

    Great job on the race! I'm looking forward to the Leadville 100 but don't think I'll ever have what it takes to do Badwater.

    Way to represent the Colorado Ultra scene

  • July 16, 2008

    12:41 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Vector049 writes:

    Who cares.

  • July 16, 2008

    1:13 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Radar writes:

    Klank! Klank!

  • July 16, 2008

    1:14 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    hlucki writes:

    Can she hum?

  • July 16, 2008

    1:27 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    IRUNMAN writes:

    Congrats Jaime!

  • July 16, 2008

    2:01 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    shoulder2shoulder writes:

    Deeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzz Nuuuuuuuuuuuuttttttttttttttttzzzzzzzzzzz

  • July 16, 2008

    4:26 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    bug1985 writes:

    Congrats on the run and all...

    But really this article's written like she just saved all of Africa's children from starvation.

    Spare me the heroics.

  • July 16, 2008

    10:08 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    aliciamac15 writes:

    I don't mean to insult anyone's intelligence here, but D apostrophe, is plural, and her last name is Donaldson, so Donaldson "is" Nutz, not Nuts, Nutz as in crazy not as a body part. And her whole family crewed her, and guess what, all their last names are Donaldson. DUH

  • July 17, 2008

    7:33 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    CO_Native_CO writes:

    GREAT accomplishment. Congratulations!!!

  • July 17, 2008

    10:32 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    oldredstring writes:

    'D apostrophe' is possessive, not plural. There may be many Donaldsons, but only one is the owner of Nutz. It could also be read as Donaldson 'is' Nutz, implying that she is crazy to do what she does. And she is. Purposeful, playful ambiguity.

    And she's amazing, that's why people care. A teacher that has time to train 200 miles in a week during the school year to prepare for a summer ultra? That's a lot of early mornings and late nights, and a brilliant testament to what can be accomplished.

  • August 4, 2008

    8:23 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    ConnieKarras writes:

    How nice to see hard work pay off like this after last year's disappointment - and with a new women's course record to boot!

    I was there this year as one of Scott Weber's crew members, and it was a thrill to see her running strong on the course.

    Love your running skirt, Jamie!

    Happy trails,

    Connie Karras
    www.conniespeaks.blogspot.com