Lessons in flight booking
Maria Dalzot’s race of her life came at a time when she completely didn’t expect it. Dalzot, a varsity member of an NCAA Division I Championship fourth place cross country team, top-ten finisher at Italy’s prestigious Lavaredo 80K, member of four US mountain running teams, winner of the 2014 National Trail Half Marathon Championships and sponsored La Sportiva athlete for over a decade, has a storied history as a trail runner that has taken her around the world on many memorable adventures. Out of all of her trail running experiences, however, her race at the 2011 NACAC (North American Central American Caribbean Athletic Association) Mountain Running Championship in Ajijic, Mexico is one she still reflects on thirteen years later as a personal favorite.
Four months before racing at the 2011 NACAC championship, Dalzot was cleared from the hospital following foot surgery to remove a bunion. She received an email from women’s team director Nancy Hobbs that an athlete withdrew their position on the NACAC team. Dalzot was next in line.
Dalzot had represented the US on the historic 2007 silver medal-winning US women’s junior mountain running team but had yet to race internationally on the senior level. If she accepted the spot on the team, she’d not only be the youngest member of the team but become the first woman to represent the US both as a junior and a senior in international mountain running competitions. Dalzot had a chance to make history and decided to accept. Physically, she would have to work smart and efficiently with only four months of training on a questionable, newly operated foot.
Dalzot spent the majority of her training for the race in her home state of West Virginia. She recalls driving across the border to the nearest ski resort in Pennsylvania where she could train on larger hills. Dalzot describes the build up to the 2011 NACAC Championships as one of the most exciting in her career, “I didn’t have a lot of time to train, but I had just enough to put in some solid work. I had no expectations going into the race. I had never been to Mexico before, I was coming off a major injury and at that point in my career I still felt new to the sport. I simply went for the experience. Long story short, I ended up winning the race!”
Dalzot not only placed first but won by over a minute to secure her first win on the international trail running stage. It was a moment of realizing her place as a major player in women’s trail running. Chris Lundy, two-time NACAC mountain running champion (2007 and 2009), three-time Olympic Trials Qualifier in the marathon, and member of the US senior mountain running team when Dalzot was on the junior team, placed second to Dalzot in this race. Beating one of her trail running idols was another indication to Dalzot that she was beginning to achieve the level of mountain running she’d always looked up to. Dalzot reflects on the experience, “It was just by far the most incredible experience of my life. I was just beside myself. It was one of those magical days where I felt good, and I kept moving up through the field. I remember how the energy and intensity of the crowd seemed to pull me along.”
Assuming there was no way she would podium in the race, Dalzot actually booked a flight immediately to the beaches of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico after finishing. The trip turned out to be a perfect victory vacation but unfortunately stole away Dalzot’s opportunity to stand on the podium at the awards ceremony with the national anthem playing in the background. Dalzot laughs about this missed opportunity, “I didn’t even get to go to the awards or celebrate with the team, so I was really bummed about that. It’s silly looking back on it now but I just thought there was no way I was going to run like that. It was a complete surprise to all of us.”
Luckily for Dalzot, the NACAC association in Mexico saved Dalzot’s award and prize money. On a trip back to Mexico in 2014, she received her much-deserved awards. Lessons learned. Never doubt your own strength. Don’t plan your flights too early!
West Virginia mountain trails, take me home
Dalzot did not grow up as a trail runner. She was a competitive track and cross country athlete and earned a scholarship to run Division I cross country at West Virginia University. She was the fifth member of the 2008 NCAA D1 Cross Country championship team, finishing fourth place.
Trail running entered Dalzot’s radar when fellow West Virginian Andy Benford made the US junior mountain running team in 2006. The opportunity interested Dalzot, who had always gravitated naturally towards trail running in her training, “I was prone to injury when I ran fast track and cross country races, so I would always be training on the trails, which was better for my body. Trail racing turned out to be in natural alignment with how I trained anyway. I performed well at a few mountain races in the off-season during college and submitted a resume for the US junior team. I was accepted and my world changed. I was introduced to Nancy Hobbs and a whole mountain running family that I’m still honored to be a part of to this day.”
“When they found out that we had a medal I remember our whole team was jumping up and down. It was a fantastic experience, and I was so captivated. How could I not keep doing this sport?” – Maria Dalzot
Silver medal moment and a lifetime of trails
“Being a member of the US Junior Team was really exceptional. I felt like I was walking in the footsteps of trail running legends. Chris Lundy, Brandy Erholtz, and Megan Kimmel were athletes I always looked up to. I saw them as pioneers of women’s mountain running in the US and I look up to them today. I still want to be Megan Kimmel when I grow up.” — Maria Dalzot
Dalzot knew she wanted to dedicate her life to trail running when she raced for the 2007 US Junior mountain running team that competed at the World Championships held in the Swiss mountain village of Ovronnaz. In addition to being on the same team with one of her major idols (Lundy), she describes the entire experience as so large and exciting for a young eighteen-year-old who had never raced internationally, “I remember just being in awe from the moment I saw the Swiss Alps. In the opening ceremony parade, the teams walked with local kids holding our country signs and in my young mind it felt really over the top exciting.”
Dalzot used her excitement and energy to fuel an exceptional race. She ran fearlessly on the 4.3-kilometer, an up-down course that featured 850 feet of elevation gain and descent. On the first climb, Dalzot led the field and gave it her all to hang on to the lead pack as the race developed. Dalzot describes the experience, “It was the first time I’d ever seen a course so challenging. I was shocked at the steepness of the downhills. Race organizers had even put padding on trees to cushion in case we crashed into them! It blew me away.”
Dalzot finished eighth with a time of 21:48 and was the second American (her teammate Anna Lieb finished fourth). The women’s junior team placed second, winning a silver medal. Dalzot still reflects on the moment with excitement, “When they found out that we had a medal I remember our whole team was jumping up and down. It was a fantastic experience, and I was so captivated. How could I not keep doing this sport? I made it my goal to one day make the senior women’s team and follow the path to become a pro trail runner.”
Dalzot chases a trail running career at the highest level
In several other interviews I’ve conducted with former US junior athletes, there has often been a switch to other careers or a delay in continuing trail running (see our interviews with Denver Perry, Ben Butler, and Levi Thomet)
Such was not the case with Dalzot, who was eager to establish herself as a competitive athlete not just on the junior stage but on the most competitive stages in the sport. For Dalzot, running had “always taken front and center in my life.” She continues, “I could not imagine a world without it. Trail running seemed like the natural progression for how to continue competing at a high level after graduating college.”
Before the days of the UTMB, XTERRA, or Golden Trail World Series, the La Sportiva Cup was one of the most competitive race series for US runners. The series featured ten races across the country, offered prize money, and held a competitive final each year, which drew some of the best short-distance trail runners in the sport. After graduating college, Dalzot established herself as a competitor in the series and faced off with competitive athletes, including Megan Kimmel, Megan Roche, and Dani Moreno. Her results earned her a sponsorship with La Sportiva in 2012, and she also went on to win the series in 2015. Dalzot established herself as a competitive runner achieving podium finishes at the Deception Pass 25K, Moab Red Hot Ultra, Lake Padden Trail Half Marathon, Mountain Marathon and Hillbilly Half, Don’t Fence Me In Trail Run, Mt Tam Trail Run, and Marin Ultra Challenge among many other races throughout the 2010s.
Starstruck junior to super senior
In 2019, Dalzot returned to the NACAC Mountain Running Championships for a second time—this time not as the youngest team member but the oldest. She describes the differences between the two experiences, “It was funny being the one to tell people what to expect or being a leader so to speak. It was neat to come full circle from the youngest not knowing anything to the older, somewhat wiser, experienced runner.”
“I got my butt kicked,” says Dalzot about her 2019 NACAC Championship performance. Although she was (and still is) a very competitive runner, her training focus in 2019 shifted to longer ultramarathons as she noticed her leg speed declining. The short, steep twelve-kilometer NACAC course was not her specialty anymore. Dalzot explains how her training and race focus has shifted in recent years, “The NACAC championships was an eight-mile race, and I was training for a 50-miler. Training and racing fast was becoming less a fit for me, but it still never gets old to wear the Team USA uniform and to be a support and cheerleader for the team while giving it my best out on course. I had such an appreciation for being there because so few people have the opportunity to do something like this.”
Unlike many talented trail runners in the US, Dalzot did not immediately shift into racing ultramarathons when she entered the sport in 2007. She took her time to build up to longer distances and maximize her time training at faster speeds in her younger years. Dalzot completed her first ultramarathon, the 2017 Chuckanut 50K (placing fifth), nearly a decade after racing on the US junior mountain running team. Dalzot completed her first 80K last year in 2023 and described her progression through distances as “incredibly slow, but sustainable.” Dalzot has already found success in various distances in the sport, and it’s exciting to think that she still has potential for longer races and exploring her talents at new racing styles.
Photo by: Tad Davis
Dalzot is not a runner; she just runs sometimes
As is the case of most professional trail runners, Dalzot has another occupation to support her lifestyle. After passing her dietetic registration exam in 2012 and completing a master’s in Human Nutrition and Food Science, she launched her own nutrition therapy company. Dalzot describes how she balances her running and therapy work, “I run and train in the morning, eat lunch, take a nap and become a dietician during the second half of the day. When I wear my dietician hat, I don’t think about running at all. My work involves connecting with people who are in eating disorder recovery, who have challenges with disordered eating or have chronically dieted for their entire life and are tired of the hustle. I work with people looking for peace within themselves and the ways they eat.”
She describes her therapy work in more detail, which differs from the majority of dieticians in the field, “My sessions actually hardly ever talk about food. My passion doesn’t lie in figuring out what you should eat before, during or after runs, but lies in helping people learn to trust their bodies. After losing that trust due to factors such as trauma, diet, culture, etc., it becomes a slow process that needs a lot of patience and safety to get people to a place where they can be open to learning, change, and feeling healthy again.”
Dalzot shares how her career as a trail runner has applied to her work, “Given the nature of what I do in my social media, I tend to attract people who enjoy running. I work with many runners, and what I like about that is that running is often a great way to get in tune with your body. You have to look inward, and that’s a practice you can apply beyond just running.
“There is, of course, the other end of the spectrum where people use running as an avoidance or escape from reality. Running becomes an abusive relationship that is the only resource people have to feel okay. I always tell people that you have to want to run, not need to run.”
Dalzot describes her own complicated relationship with running, and how she’s developed an entirely new attitude towards the sport over the years, “When I was younger, I took my running very seriously. I would not go to parties. I would not stay up late. I was really rigid. I was strict with training. As I’ve gotten older, that rigidity has drastically reduced. I’m more flexible, and I have a healthier relationship with running. In my early years, this focus on training alone brought me athletic success, but at the same time, I’m glad those days are over.
“Now, I’m not a fan of saying I’m a runner. I always say I run sometimes. It’s not all of who I am. I write, I’m a dietician, I’m a friend, a partner, and there’s so many other parts of ourselves that we all have. We don’t need to be fused with this identity that we are runners all the time.”
Great distances, one small step at a time
In 2024, Dalzot has one major goal for her racing: completing the longest race of her life, the Lavaredo 120K (nearly 75 miles!), which will be hosted in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy, on June 28, 2024. In 2023, Dalzot placed seventh at the Lavaredo 80K (the longest race of her career), and she now plans to return to Italy and move up in distance once again. Dalzot has family in Italy, and it is also the home mountain race of the La Sportiva brand, both of which make it a special place for Dalzot to test her limits. She describes her current training towards this event, “My goal is to be as prepared as possible for the Lavaredo 120K. Last year’s race went really well, and it’s become a special event for me. I had some great experiences last year with my family and getting to hang out with the La Sportiva international team. All of my training is going towards this daunting but exciting new race distance!”
Dalzot is no stranger to seeking out new challenges that lead her to new discoveries about herself and the breathtaking sport of trail running. Her seventeen-year career is already storied with many podiums and life-changing adventures. Something tells me Dalzot will continue to find many more of these moments ahead.
Follow Dalzot’s adventures and training on her social media here. Curious to learn about her nutrition therapy work? See her business website here.
All photos for this article have been generously provided by Maria Dalzot.
