Badwater 135 mile ultramarathon (Read 834 times)

The Badwater Ultramarathon is underway. This is a 135 mile ultra that starts in Death Valley and finishes in the Mount Whitney Pass. The runners finish this in times between 24 or so hours and 60 hours. Currently, the temperature in Death Valley is about 120 degrees. Registration requires that runners have met particular endurance criteria and have their application approved by the race committee; about 90 are selected each year. This is one of the most challenging and demanding running activities out there. Good luck to all the Badwater ultramarathoners and their racing crews. Several of us know folks running out there, and our throughts are with them. You can monitor progress on the (slow) website, www.badwater.com T

I know one via another message board, and a running friend knows one. The one I know I may see next month when I am in Colorado to run Pikes Peak. He is amazing, and is apparently ahead of schedule right now on the Badwater course!

I still cannot wrap my mind around a distance like that. Hubby is doing a 105 mile bike ride in Death Valley this Fall (when temps are a bit cooler)...even THAT astounds me! k

I'll have to find that book. It sounds awfully interesting. I like the idea that you're forced to keep moving or be shot. I don't know of anyone that's doing Badwater either, and everyone that's doing it is nuts. That's all I got to say about that.

When he was still a young writer and using pen-names, Steven King wrote a small book called, I think, The Long Walk.

Wikipedia is your friend : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Walk

Folks I know know three runners. Here are two of them: Mary Kashurba a doctor from Somerest Pa. Mary is 50 and is wearing bib#50 She is great runner,having placed 20th in 03. : Nattu Natraj is runner #63. He is a sweetheart and a big supporter of anybody's running efforts, great and small. He has a big following on another running message board community. Here is Nattu, prerace: Of note: Mary hit mile 73 @ 20:19:00 Nattu hit mile 73 @ 22:36:00 The winner, Scott Jurek, finished in 25:41:18. Many runners are still on the course, and the bulk who finish will do so during the night or tomorrow. It was especially hot this year. Sadly, the third runner we know, David Jones, took a DNF. I do not know any details. Nattu and Mary are still out on the course to the best of my knowledge.