For her second ultra ever, Pamela Chapman Markle chose the deceptively difficult Keys 100 in Florida, accompanied by her crew of one, me (her husband, back then fiancé), and cemented a trend that has followed her across the country and around the world. She has been competing in ultras ever since, including the Brazil 135, Tahoe 200, Hurt 100, Spartathalon, Umstead, Arkansas Traveler and many others. “It is important to me to run alone, with my thoughts and prayers. It is a meditation for me,” said Pam. “Knowing that my husband is just down the road waiting for me, is the icing on the cake.” A six-time Badwater 135 finisher who has set the age-group course record four times, Pam has returned again and again to the Keys 100, with just me in the support vehicle. This race means so much to us and after the first finish in 2012, we got married three weeks later. Pam had to make sure that I knew how to crew an ultra first.
In 2019, at age 63, she finished with a PR and age-group course record of 21:22. In 2024, when 55% of runners dropped due to scorching temperatures exceeding 100 degrees, combined with suffocating humidity, Pam finished 40th out of the 191 runners who started the race. “The Keys is a hot race, very hot, at a time (the third week in May) when very few runners are adequately heat trained. That, combined with the humidity in the high 80s, makes for lots of DNFs,” said Pam. At a race where the percentage of participants that fail to finish routinely approaches 50%, Pam’s unprecedented record of ten finishes in ten attempts (all between the ages of 56 and 69) is all the more amazing. Race director Bob Becker sent a text to Pam after her historic finish: “Your praises were sung at both awards ceremonies, and the applause was sustained.”
When asked what’s next for this accomplished ultrarunner as she approaches her 70s, Pam said, “Well, my passion for the sport has not diminished, even after my total hip replacement in 2022.” She thought for a moment and added, “Ten Badwater 135 finishes and becoming the oldest female to ever finish that race is a goal of mine.” When asked if she will continue to run the Keys 100, she smiled and said, “Of course.”