Above: Dreama Walton on New Zealand’s highest volcano 2023. Photo by: Jon Kedroski
Dreama Walton is showing the world that we are capable of more than we think we are. Walton has run and climbed mountains across the world and has impressive finishes at some of the toughest trail races in our sport (eleventh place at the 2017 Broken Arrow Skyrace, twentieth place at the 2019 Leadville Trail 100, twenty-second place at the 2021 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, and ninth place at the 2017 Pikes Peak Marathon), but she is first and foremost a mother. Walton, based in Colorado Springs, CO, raises her seven-year-old daughter and runs not for podiums (though she has podiumed at races such as the Ouray 50 Mile and Zugspitze 100K), but to show her daughter that life is about dreaming large. With the name “Dreama” what more would you expect? She is someone who lives up to her name, and similar to many of us who never imagined ourselves running trails, she “caught the bug.”
Motherhood and Family Dynamics
Walton became a “mother” earlier than she wanted to. At age eleven, her mother left their house in Florida and Walton adopted a role as a mother figure to her younger sister who was diagnosed with a neural tube defect (NTD) known as Spina Bifida. This condition left her sister largely unable to move and in need of constant care.
Although Walton was living with her father and stepmother (her father remarried only months after her mother left), it was largely Walton who took the responsibility of looking after her sister. Before and after school, she would forgo typical middle and high school extracurricular activities to assist her sister with the most basic of tasks including moving around the house (oftentimes pulling her around on a blanket), eating, and getting dressed.
Growing up without sports was an unusual path for a now accomplished athlete, but it is a time that Walton describes now as key to her strength as a runner and who she is as an individual: “In the lowest lows at races, I’ll often think of my sister and how she was not able to be able to move like this and run. I remind myself that I can do this for her and appreciate the ability to keep going even when I don’t feel my best.”
Dreama’s proudest mountaineering accomplishment is a car-to-car Mount Rainier run via the Disappointment Cleaver route in just 10 hours and fifty-five minutes. Photo by: Jon Kedrowski
Walton’s childhood household was one where the belt was used for discipline and Cinderella’s “wicked stepmother” was not a fairytale but a reality. Her stepmother fought often with Walton. She would also expect Walton’s sister to do more than she was physically capable of, which often put her sister at serious risk for her health. One such time, when Walton was sixteen years old, her sister almost died as a result of her stepmother forcing her to hold her head up by herself. Walton remembers leaving her sister to go to the bathroom and when she returned, found her with her neck completely fallen back. Walton performed immediate CPR and a helicopter had to medivac her sister to the nearest major hospital in Gainesville, FL.
Following this near-death incident, her stepmother decided that they would move her sister to a foster home, a decision Walton reflects upon with disdain, “My sister almost died as a result of her actions that day, then she used that as an excuse that we could no longer properly care for her. All to have her moved to a foster home. Once she was placed in foster care, my stepmother announced that we were all moving from Florida to her home state of Maine. She simply didn’t want to deal with my sister anymore.”
Walton refused to leave Florida with her father and stepmother. When her parents pushed her to join them, Walton threatened to expose them for shady drug activities she knew they were involved in. They backed down and left her to fend for herself at age sixteen. In search of a home, Walton used what little savings she had to purchase a $700 camper and parked it outside of her grandparents’ house, where she lived for the rest of high school. Similar to becoming a mother figure for her sister at only age eleven, adulthood and independence were also thrown upon Walton sooner than she expected.
Finding Joy
Losing her sister and clashing with her stepmother and father was draining, and Walton turned to sports to let off steam and find joy. Lacking the technical skills of ball sports, running seemed like an appropriate first sport. Walton joined her high school’s track team and quickly fell in love with it, despite having some work to do to keep up with more experienced girls who, unlike herself, had played sports growing up. In her first 3,200 meter race (eight laps around a traditional 400 meter track), she was lapped by every other girl. Despite lagging behind, she knew she loved distance running. She was determined to keep up. Through the “trials of miles” of consistent training, she found herself improving throughout the season. By the following year, she started placing on podiums at track meets and winning a handful of meets in cross country. Her journey as a runner had begun.
Dreama Walton during her first ultramarathon in 2011, the Swiss Alpine Davos 78K.
Military Roles
No one in Walton’s immediate family had attended college, and she had no plans of further education after graduating high school. Several of her teachers and parents of her friends saw in Walton more than she saw in herself, encouraging her that she had the potential to attend college. Walton had little savings, but she displayed a hard-work ethic and physical strength that led her to the military route to college. After graduating high school, Walton joined the U.S. Air Force as an enlisted Airman in Tampa, Florida. From there she was sent to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas for Basic Training.
Walton excelled in the military. Her career brought her around the world on several prestigious missions that led to surveying Uday Hussein’s personal belongings, defending the DMZ line of North and South Korea, and meeting the late General/Secretary of State Mr. Colin Powell. Walton was awarded a long list of medals by the Air Force including: the Joint Service Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal with one device, AF Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and a Korean Defense Service Medal. With all of her military medals, it’s almost hard to believe she has space in her home for an even greater number of running medals.
Walton’s Air Force career inspired her current love of travel and exploring the world. After finishing her service in 2007, she was inspired to live abroad as an ex-pat in Southwest Germany and accepted an IT position at a US military hospital. In addition to her travels and busy work schedule, Walton still managed to find time to run and climb mountains. She made it to the top of the famous Zugspitze peak in Germany and completed her first marathon in 2010, at the historic Athens Marathon, celebrating the event’s 2,500 year anniversary. She describes the experience of completing her first marathon, “I loved the marathon so much! Immediately after the race, I felt ready to race even longer distances and I signed up for my first ultra, the Swiss Alpine Davos 78-kilometer run in 2011. I wanted to work my way up to the ultramarathon distances and training for the road marathon was a good stepping stone”. Walton had not just caught the running bug, but the ultra running bug too.
2022 Everest Base Camp. Photo by: Avery Collins
Real Life Superhero Mom Movie
Walton decided to move back to the States in January 2017, with her then one-and-a-half-year-old daughter and planted roots as a single, working mother in Colorado Springs, CO. She fell in love with the trail running community and in addition to working a 40 hour work week as a Solution Consultant at Hyland Software and raising her daughter, her running and climbing career excelled more than ever.
As of 2023, Walton has completed over thirty ultramarathons, traveled to thirty-six countries, and climbed technical routes on Mount Whitney (the highest peak in the lower forty-eight states), New Zealand’s North Island highest volcano, numerous Colorado “14ers” (14,000 foot peaks) and her most proud mountaineering accomplishment: a car-to-car Mount Rainier run via the Disappointment Cleaver route in just 10 hours and fifty-five minutes.
With a worldly, inspiring, and positive personality, it’s no wonder Walton was approached in 2021 by Colorado-based filmmakers, Steve Vanderheide and Chad Weber, to tell her story for their next film project. The will be released May 2023, and centers not only on Walton’s life and running backstory, but weaves in footage from one of her most memorable race experiences, the 2021 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run.
Walton describes the process of working with the film crew, “The filmmakers initially thought they were making a short ten-minute film, but they ended up coming back to me six months after the Western States 100 and said that they were inspired to create a full-length film!”
A major theme throughout the film is showing the world, and youth in particular, that we are capable of more than we think we are. Walton shares more about this theme, “Growing up, I didn’t have any money for college, or anyone in my family that went to college and drugs were easily accessible to me, but I didn’t go down that path. I had people who believed in me and a good team of mentors and friends who helped get me where I am today. That’s the reason this film will be called Dreama ‘Team’. This film is not just about me, but the team that’s helped me realize I could do more than I ever thought I could with my life.”
Walton’s film will be released in late May 2023 and was also submitted to the 2023 Telluride Mountain Film Festival. Watch the trailer below or on YouTube and stay tuned for an incredible story!
In addition to this film, Walton is working to encourage more youth participation in trail running. She is hosting a youth trail running camp, the Colorado Springs Trail Running Camp For Kids (COSTCK) with two-time World Mountain Running Champion Joseph Gray, on August 14 to 16, 2023. Learn more and sign up for the camp here.
