I'm a runner on the “downhill side” of my 50s training for my first ultra while juggling camping trips, broken air conditioning, exhaustion, self-doubt, and back-to-back long runs that didn’t quite go to plan. But what starts as a story about misreading elevation gains on a map turns into a powerful celebration of endurance at every age, because I was rapt by the legendary Cocodona 250, especially the women over 55 (as identified via Ultra Signup) who crossed that brutal finish line. From course record smashing performances to everyday grit, this episode celebrates older athletes proving that adventure endures.

How I Procrastinate

• Sleep with Rock Stars, the Gen X Sleep Podcast
• Country Fried Rock, Podcast Archives from 2009-2020
• Music Playlists
• Support This Podcast
• Dive Bar Music Club, the Low Key, High Taste Happy Hour for Music Nerds

Chapters

• 00:02 - Introduction to My Ultra Marathon Journey
• 00:14 - Preparing for the Cocodona 250: Training Challenges and Learning Experiences
• 01:46 - The Peak Week of Training
• 02:37 - Celebrating Older Athletes in Endurance Events
• 04:38 - Notable Ultra Runners Over 55
• 05:32 - Endurance Running Beyond 55

Cheers to These Women* Athletes 55+ Who (I'm Pretty Sure) Finished Cocodona 250

• Rachel Entrekin (smashed the course record and won the whole damn race)
• Pam Reed
• Peggy Shouse
• Tracy Denbleyker
• Mary Deane Davis
• Fengling Liu
• Arabelle Higgins
• *Runners are cross-referenced via the Cocodona 250 Finisher Leaderboard, which is super confusing to read, and their Ultra Signup pages. Please correct any errors or omissions in the comments on YouTube.

Recommended If You Like

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Hey y'.

All.

Welcome to Mama Runs an Ultra.

I'm a runner on the downhill side of my 50s, training for my very first ultra marathon.

And this podcast is me saying all the quiet parts out loud of what the hell am I thinking?

So, a year ago, I'm not even sure I'd ever heard of Cocodona 250, but it certainly was glued to my leaderboard updates over the last several days.

But meanwhile, I was on vacation, camping up in the middle of nowhere and still needed to get in a bunch of my runs, including my two back to back long runs.

And turned out that I did not plan well for this.

So I had searched ahead of time for some routes that had the elevation I needed and I did end up getting the distance I needed, but I did not even come close to the elevation.

I needed about half as much as intended on my first long run and again, about half as much as I needed on that second long run as well.

Maybe three quarters on that second one.

Nonetheless though, the mileage was there.

But man, camping, which is something we do a lot, I was worn out.

Out.

I mean, that second long run was again, not even close to the amount of elevation I've been previously doing.

I was beat.

I was so beat.

I walked so much of it and I just was like putting in the little run notes to my coach, like, I'm exhausted.

I'm completely physically exhausted.

Everything's been awesome.

I'm super happy, everything's great.

My body is tired.

It was like a cutback week in my overall mileage and everything.

And I was just like, oh well, if this one week derails my entire race, that's just the way it's going to have to go.

Because up until now I have done exactly every single thing I was supposed to do exactly as told.

So I wrecked recognize that this one weekend of less elevation than intended is not going to ruin my race.

However, you can kind of end up in that headspace sometimes when you're new to something athletic like this.

But this week is a big week, mileage wise.

Not.

Well, not mileage wise.

It's a big week in the back to back runs.

I think this is actually my peak week.

I have to double check, but I think that's right.

So I'm just like rolling with it.

I should have already run by now for today and it hasn't happened.

But it's going to happen.

Just hasn't happened because our air conditioner went out.

So hey, life.

Grateful to have air conditioning, grateful to be able to get it repaired.

But anyway, I ended up glued to the live stream leaderboard, not the actual streaming, because like I said, I was camping and didn't have the kind of wi fi that would make that happen because there was no WI fi.

I don't have enough data on my plan.

So anyway, I kept updating it and I kept updating it and I kept updating it and holy cow, what an inspirational, unbelievable run by everybody who attempted the event, never mind people who finished, but that front pack, Rachel Entrekin.

Holy cow.

And I had coincidentally just listened to a podcast from maybe a couple weeks before on my long run, right before she came in with the new course record.

Just absolutely smashing it, winning the entire race.

Unbelievable.

But as you all know, I am intrigued by fellow old people who are doing great big adventures and I'm including myself in this, in that a I am old people.

But Also attempting a 50 plus K is a big adventure, especially when you've never done it before.

So the fact that there are people my age and older who are not only attempting Cocodona 250 but finishing it is mind boggling to me.

So I actually went through and like pulled up a few name teams as best as I can figure because it didn't look like the leaderboard gave people's actual ages.

So I was cross referencing it with Ultra signup in guesstimating on ages based on the last race they ran.

So I may be a little off on some of this and I'm definitely not an expert, but I want to give big shout outs to these people who are.

And I arbitrarily chose 55 because as I say, I'm on the downhill side of my 50s and that's kind of like where the peak goes when you're in your 50s.

So to the best of my knowledge, these people who are identified through Ultra signup as women runners over the age of 55.

Again, I don't know any of these people and that I am identifying them as they choose to be identified.

And guaranteed I'm going to mess up all your names.

But still, whoever you are, this is amazing and I want to give you a shout out somewhere because the likelihood is you're not getting the attention you deserve and you are magnificent.

So these are not in order of Cocodona 250 finishes.

And again, I may have some mistakes here.

Feel free to correct me in the comments.

I'm just doing my best because I don't think there's anybody else out there covering these runners but Pam Reed who's in their 60s crossed that finisher line at Cocodona 250.

Pam Reed has run 265 races that are listed on Ultra signup so clearly a mega athlete.

Peggy Schauss most recently did Canyonlands Half Marathon and five miler half marathon race.

Unclear exactly which distance.

Looks like probably the half maybe has 24 races listed on Ultra signup crossed that finish line at Cocodona 250.

Tracy Denbliker most recently did Bootlegger 100 mile trail race.

Looks like they crossed the finish line at Cocodona 250 as well.

Has 119 races on their Ultra signup page.

Mary Dean Davis Most recently the Yeti 711 Hour Endurance Run did the 7 hour version of that 146 races listed on their Ultra signup and crossed that finish line at Cocodona 250.

146 Races on their ultra signup.

Fengling Liu 16 races on their Ultra signup page.

Most recently did shore to shore 100K crossed that finish line at Cocodona 250.

Arabelle Higgins did blue hair and 100 miler back in April crossed that finish line at CocodonA 250.

92 Races on their ultrasound page.

Again I may have some mistakes on that list but trying to cross reference the leaderboard finish line off of Cocodona 250 with ultra signup information.

That's the best I could come up with of people in the women's category according to Ultra signup who are 55 and older.

If I left anybody out I would totally love to hear about it and if you know one of those folks, let them know I want to shout them out down the road.

I'm probably going to do some interviews with people who do big things like this after the age of 55 because this is what's most interesting to me and there is nobody else covering what we are all doing in the world of endurance running so I think it's pretty darn cool.

And congrats to all of them.

Well if I procrastinate any longer I'm going to be running in the dark, which I can do but I don't love doing so I better get myself out the door.

It's this big week.

Hopefully I'll be back next week to tell you how it all went.

Thanks so much for leaving those comments, especially of errors or omissions that I may have had about finishers of Cocodona 250 this year.

You leave those in the comments or review section of your favorite podcast app.

While you're there, click that.

Five star rating makes a big difference in helping other folks find out what's going on with other people like me on the downhill side of their 50s doing endurance running like this because Mama runs an ultra.