July 21, 2008 11:40 PM

Littleton runner triumphant in return to Badwater

JAMIE DONALDSON (photo courtesy of Donaldson family)

I'm sure there are myriad angles to Littleton schoolteacher Jamie Donaldson's victory a week ago at the Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley. Redemption is one good angle, and it's the one presented in the race updates posted by race sponsor AdventureCORPS.

Donaldson, 33, had been poised to win the women's division the year before, but after 122 miles, shin splints, blisters and other problems took her out of the lead and almost out of the running with 13 miles to go.

She ended up fifth among the women finishers.

This year, Donaldson broke the women's division record by more than an hour in reaching the finish line in 26 hours, 51 minutes and 33 seconds. Winning in record time is some kind of redemption.

To accomplish it, Donaldson told Rocky reporter Bill Scanlon last week that she put in multiple 200-mile training weeks, running many of those miles on a treadmill inside a sauna to prepare for Death Valley's unrelenting heat.

That's the broader angle to her story: to accept the circumstances of her first Badwater run with grace, then summon up the determination to work harder and get stronger for another run at her goal.

Here is part of what Donaldson had to say about her finish last year in a race report on the Badwater Web site:

"Most people take about 4-5 hours to complete the last section. I was hoping for about 6-8 hours. Unfortunately, my power walk turned to a painful 1mph shuffle. I have never felt pain like that before. ... Sure, it hurts to lose the lead at the end, but as I looked around, I felt really lucky. I was on this road to the portal that was so amazingly beautiful. I had my crew still beside me cheering me on every step of the way. As people came down the mountain, they cheered me on. Runners passing me hugged me and wished me well. Other crews stopped to see if they could help out. That is what kept me going up the mountain."

Donaldson's words neatly sum up the strange and perhaps inexplicable lure of ultrarunning -- its extreme pain tempered by camaraderie, teamwork, determination, and accomplishment.

To come back to Death Valley, do it all again and win must be especially sweet.

I recognized two other Coloradans among the Badwater finishers who keep running ultramarathons over and over again: Marshall Ulrich, 57, of Idaho Springs, who finished 18th in 36:44:55, and Scott Snyder, 53, of Littleton, who came in 19th several minutes later in 37:09:49.

I met Snyder in 2004 when he and Jack Menard, of Denver, helped me train for the Leadville Trail 100. Each has finished Badwater twice that I know of, among other ultramarathons. Snyder has several Leadville 100 buckles, but Menard's attempts in Leadville's high altitude have always come up short.

After the two finished Badwater in 2006, Menard suggested I try it. "It's just a hot walk in the park compared to Leadville," he said.

I don't think so: Every runner has a weakness or two and one of mine is heat.

I ran 8 miles last Wednesday afternoon with the thermometer at my Roxborough Park home reading 97 degrees, and absolutely wilted in the final 3 miles. The official high in Death Valley that day was 116, the hottest in the nation.

So I'm trying to picture this: Add 19 degrees to the ambient air temperature I ran in, then leave my neighborhood trails and gravel roads behind to get out on a blacktopped highway. No shade, and only the white line at the pavement's edge to offer any relief.

And instead of going 8 miles, I have to run 135. That's a picture I don't see myself in.

Posted by Bob Findlay at 11:40 PM | Comments (3)