Courtney Olsen of Bellingham broke the women’s 50-mile world record with a blazing time of 5:31:56 at the Tunnel Hill 50 Mile in Vienna, Illinois, in early November.
Olsen, 37, ran for Squalicum High School and Western Washington University, where she focused on the steeplechase and 1,500-meter run. After college, she found her stride as an ultrarunner and qualified for the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials. Closer to home, she’s a common sight at the front of the Bellingham Bay Marathon.
“I think our community is a mix of team-minded runners and individualists, and trail or track or road or short or ultra specialists; a full gamut,” she said. ”Bellingham is definitely an athletic community.”
Olsen is coached by Jay Sloane, who has a decorated history with the cross country programs at Mount Baker High, Nooksack High and Whatcom Community College, and has helped other runners qualify for the Olympic Trials.
Sloane has been working with Olsen for around four years. Before he started coaching her, she followed her own training plans and was dealing with some long-term injuries including plantar fasciitis.
“I’ve found that athletes who are self-coached can have a hard time paying attention to their aches and pain,” Sloane said. “Our priority when we started working together was backing her way off, getting her healthy and then doing a very gradual build-up.”
Olsen feels best when she’s running between 100 and 115 miles per week, mixing it up with speed workouts, hill strides and long runs, but has to balance that high volume of training with a full-time job, along with managing the Bellingham Distance Project, which she helped found 10 years ago, and other projects she can’t resist taking on.
“Training is where I show up 110 percent, whereas in those other veins of my life, I’m not operating at full capacity. If I could, I’d just train and race and minimize my stress load,” Olsen said. “But alas, it’s too expensive to live, and to live in Bellingham.”
Since 1991, the 50-mile women’s record of 5:40:18 has been held by legendary runner Ann Trason. Olsen had the record in mind for a few years, and finally, in the last six months, it felt tangible and achievable — she had the health, training, opportunity and support to do it.
In June, Olsen placed third at the prestigious 86-kilometer Comrades Marathon in South Africa, an experience she called “magical.” After winning the Bellingham Bay Marathon in late September, Olsen tapered for her big effort at the Tunnel Hill 50 Mile on Nov. 9.
Sloane didn’t travel to Illinois for the race but he FaceTimed with Olsen’s husband Matthew during the event and cheered for her over the phone.
Watching the race from afar, he saw Olsen’s competition, Andrea Pomaranski, who was also gunning for the record, open up a lead by mile 20. Sloane knew Olsen could only run her own race and keep a sustainable pace. And she did — as Pomaranski faded, Olsen surged and eventually beat second place by half an hour.
On Nov. 15, she was named the USA Track and Field Athlete of the Week for her achievement, an honor granted to many American Olympians.
“It was so well-deserved,” Sloane said. “She’s a wonderful person and definitely a badass. I’m still smiling a week later. It’s not every day you coach someone who sets a world record.”
Although long-distance trail races like the Leadville 100 and Hardrock 100 have gained notoriety, ultra-road running has remained a fairly niche endeavor. Olsen said the opportunities are rare and the sponsor support is little to none. She spent her own money to travel to Tunnel Hill and paid for drug testing so her record is official (ratification by the International Association of Ultrarunners is still pending).
Olsen isn’t resting on her laurels after the 50-mile record. She’ll represent the U.S. at the International Association of Ultrarunners 100K World Championships on Saturday, Dec. 7 in India, which she called her “personal Olympics.” In 2022, Olsen led the U.S. team to gold in the 100K and finished fourth individually, and she wants her team to win again.
“It’s important to me to be on these teams, even if it costs a lot financially, emotionally, mentally, physically,” she said. “I’m just a die-hard team girl.”
Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.
