Some random thoughts

The notices have gone out to runners who have been accepted to this year's Badwater Ultramarathon.
The deadline for sending in the application paperwork and entry fee is Monday and the list of accepted runners will be posted a week later on the site.

With this in mind, I have had several random thoughts and memories from my race after hearing three friends have been accepted to this year's race. I hope to keep updating this entry as I get more ideas and recall more useful information:

Oven Mitts:
Sounds silly that a pair of oven mitts or heavy gloves of some sort might be a valuable part of your vehicle gear during the race. A friend who crewed at a race watched a runner's race end one year, when his family who were crewing for him were unable to continue after getting a flat tire on their vehicle. The family were unable to change the flat quickly and continue because the jack and wrench were just too hot to handle.

Jumper Cables
In 2006 while crewing, our follow vehicle provided aid to the runner and pacer but after they continued when the vehicle would not start. The car had been tuned up the week before the race but with all the starting and stopping during the race, the battery died at a bad time. Luckily a vehicle came along with jumper cables and the vehicle was started and continued to Lone Pine where the battery was replaced. Another crew vehicle was able to replace the battery-less one. A good idea not to constantly shut the vehicle off. Some small tools to help would be handy too! Jumper cables do not take up much room and cold save a race and life!

Great Book for runners and crew

If you are looking for a book to help get organized with most of your need for Badwater I highly recommend Death Valley Ultras: The Complete Crewing Guide.
It's available on line from Lulu here.
I referenced it before my race and used several of the things offered.
From Lulu "Death Valley Ultras: The Complete Crewing Guide is a collection of everything runners and their crew need to know to crew a successful Death Valley ultra compiled into one well-organized, easy to use reference. Details and considerations for all aspects of a Death Valley ultra are explained:
· Selecting, Structuring, and Scheduling Crew and Using Pacers
· Selecting Crew Vehicles
· Pre-event, Event, and Mt Whitney Crewing
· Step-by-Step Foot Care Instructions and Photos"

The neck's important too

Another spot to keep ice applied during the heat of the day at Badwater, is the back of your neck.
Several commercial scarves with those magic crystals inside that swell after being soaked in water. They are supposed to keep your neck cool. I found they did not work.
I created the top scarf with a hidden pocket lined with an artificial chamois from a cheap handkerchief.
I placed a handkerchief over the chamois on a flat surface. I then located a zipper on one half (based on a line run from one corner diagonally to the opposite corner) and sewed the zipper in place. I then opened the zipper and cut through the scarf and chamoise to create an opening.
I then folded the scarf in half along the diagonal points, forming a triangle, sewed around the edges and then to form a pocket in the triangle that the scarf was now formed into.
The bottom scarf in the two scarf picture is a commercially available from Zombie Runner here.
I have stuck a water bottle in the side opening where the ice is loaded. The scarf is also lined with a chamois.

She's going back

I got a nice note from Jamie Donaldson after Chris Kostman, Badwater's race director, mentioned my blog in his monthly newsletter.
You might remember I talked about in an earlier post and how inspired I was by her run despite her difficulties. She said the race had really changed her life and can't wait to go back this year.
You can check out her website here.

Staying cool!

Obviously there is nothing more important while running Badwater then staying cool somehow.
This is an ice hat I wore in 2006 while pacing Monica Scholz.
The hat is a standard running hat with a handkerchief pinned to the sides to offer protection to the back and some of the sides of you neck and head. The benefit of a pinned on skirt versus a hat with one that is permanently attached is you can make adjustments to just how covered up you are.
On the inside of the hat, a pocket has been sewn with a Velcro closure. The pocket is loaded with ice during the race, during the heat of the day, to cool the head.
Nothing is more important then keeping your head covered and cool during the race.
It is very easy to get into trouble otherwise.
I have not seen any commercial versions of an ice hat lately.
Western States 100 race had one as part of it's race logoed items available for sale several years ago but I have not seen it in recent years. It was better then this because the pocket was sewn on the outside of the hat and had a zippper running it's length making it easier to fill.
You need several ice hats for the race. You wear one while the crew can be filling another for the next time you meet up with them for a water bottle exchange and ice hat.

Funny Read!

Kirk Johnson was a reporter for the New York Times when he met Lisa Smith to do a story about her training for Badwater.
He would end up taking a year off from his job and training to run the race in 1999, the year the documentary Running on the Sun.
He would finish the race and write a book about the experience To the Edge: A Man, Death Valley, and the Mystery of Endurance.
In it he talks about the van his crew packed to the ceiling with every imaginable food stuff for his race.
It is a good read on how to truly be prepared for every possibility at the race--or maybe not.
The story about the Vaseline jar lid struck me as especially funny. (You'll have to read to find out what I mean).

What's to eat???

What exactly are you going to be eat at high-noon with the sun blazing over heat and the sweat running down the back of your neck and your stomach turning over yet again after six or seven hours on the road already?
Standing there in the isle of Walmart gazing at all your options it hard to figure out just what is going to sit well in your stomach no matter how many ultra-events you've done before.
What exactly is going to meet those hunger pains head on or end up coming back up as fast as it went down.
The year before I went to Badwater I ran two 100-mile races on mainly watermelon.
When the gun went off, so did my stomach on the watermelon. I suffered from severe gas which with the gusting tail winds came right back to me.
Here's what I remember I did eat at Badwater:
4-pounds of smoked chicken
4-pounds of Provolone cheese
12-Boost with extra calories (not the protein one can apparently be difficult to digest while running--or so I've been told).
12 bags of Shot Blocks.
?-containers of apple sauce or fruit cups (I really cannot remember--Just Eat What You Are Handed)
1-bag of beef jerky
several Hammer Gels

Other items that were along but cannot remember whether I ate them or not (bacause much remains a blur even today!)
Gold Fish (those little cheese crackers that are easy to carry in your hand but tough to eat while running)
Pop Tarts-remember those from when you were a kid?
Corn Tortillas-I brought those to make sandwiches with the chicken and cheese but they did not hold up well and I ended up eating Monica Scholz sandwiches (the chicken wrapped in the cheese with nothing else).
Cookies--I like the raspberry Newtons (soft sided cookie with jam filling)
Saltine crackers--they can help settle the stomach.

The rest seems lost.
The best thing is to remember you will go through lots of ups and downs. The heat will affect your appetite.
We did not bring a stove to heat anything along the way. I know lots of people who like chicken soup for the salt content while racing. I used other sources but when the temperatures dipped to 68 degrees F overnight, something hot might have been nice.
Remember there are minimal opportunities along the course to buy things.
One of the things that tasted great going through Stove Pipe Wells was the Freezies the crew purchased and brought out to me.

Two incredible stories

One of the many reasons I like ultra running is the incredible support of the runners for one another.
My run was a personal best for me, better then I had hoped for. Two other runners though showed what true heart is all about.
Jamie Donaldson, 35, is from Littleton, Colorado. I had never heard of her before the race but will never forget her after it.
She had won a 100-mile race before Badwater and started in the 10 a.m. wave but at some point passed me (I have to admit, much of the race is an incredible blur).
I caught up to her when I notice a stake driven in the ground on the side of the highway (see leaving the course.) Each runner is given a stake and if they need to leave the course for what ever reason, they must drive it into the ground and return to that exact spot to continue in the race (I have to admit I thought we were going to be fending off vampires when I saw the thing in my race bag).
Jamie was so worried about following the race rules, she had staked out just to cross to the other side of the road to get her aches and pains taken care of.
I would see her next (she passed me again somewhere) hobbling along the side of the road with her husband at her side outside Keeler. I should explain that Keeler, a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, seems to be where most runners have a big break down. You can see the switch backs leading up Whitney and the finish in the distance but are still more then 30-miles away.
She was suffering with a GI problem. We offered her some help but she was worried about being disqualified and almost panicked at the thought. Eventually the all knowing John Turner was able to offer her some advice and she continued to hobble along as she fell behind me.
The last I saw her was on our way off Mount Whitney after I'd finished. She was hobbling along the portal road but even before I could recognize her I could see her glowing red shins. She had developed a horrible case of shin splints and was again incredible pain. But her face was set in a determined grimace and she would finish despite the incredible pain, in 41:00:57. My hat goes off to her!

The other performance of the race was my friend Don Fallis, 65, from Kaneohe, Hawaii.
Don has a small problem that when he runs, he eventually starts to lean to the right until by the end of a 100-mile race he is almost dragging his right hand on the ground. Before Badwater he had developed a problem with a foot and almost had to pull out.
Don had gone to Badwater to prove that age is only a number and that 60 is not such a big one.
He sure did that!
Somewhere around mile 95 he was leaning in a bad way. A chiropractor from another team told him he'd better end the race or risk being permanently in that position. His team has trained for the problem, and had been treating him with massage and exercises.
He left the course for a good night's sleep.
The next day it was decided to continue to mile 100 before calling it a day. But others got in his way.
My crew on the way back to Las Vegas stopped to cheer him on and helped drive him past the 100-mile mark.
David Goggins, a Navy Seal who had finished the race in 3rd place, reappeared wearing a pair of Crocs and started to push him along. Eventually David's whole crew would return with proper shoes and his whole crew joined in.
Eventually Beth and I would join the fun when I awoke from my coma.
One he went, bent to the right, at points carrying a rock in his opposite hand for balance but still with his sense of humour intact.
As the clock ticked down the plans kept changing. All runners and trace of the race have to be off the course 60 hours after the start.
When reaching Whitney became impossible in that time, the goal was the school where the post race dinner was to be held. Don would run in as a victory of sorts.
Eventually Don would make it to 122 miles, the Lone Pine time station, in 59:55. He was spent. It was the end of the line. He was so tired he almost fell over trying to mount the curb.
There was hardly a dry eye in the crowd as we watched his race end. He done himself proud and proved his point.
Age has nothing to do with it.

During Don's race his beloved Heather Spencer was filming for a television station. The footage has been edited into Mission Possible: Badwater.
On March 2, the 60-minute long documentary movie as part of the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. The film shows Don's incredible journey.
The movie will be shown on Sunday March 2, 2008 at 10:05 pm at the Village East Cinemas, 2nd Ave. & 12th St, in the East Village. Tickets are $12.
Tickets can be purchased through www.ticketweb.com 855-468-7619.
You can read about his race at his site.
The movie's trailer:

Salt, Don't leave home without it!

The one item you should not go to Kiehl's Badwater Ultramarathon without is salt tablets.
The runners need it and your crew better be taking it too.
Since I fell into ultrarunning and the ultrarunners in this area, I have used almost exclusively Succed S-caps (just so you know there is no sponsorship or remuneration for this plug).
I do not work on the scientific side of things and know only the combination of items in the caps, reportedly the highest doses of what you need that you can get in a salt cap, has always seemly worked for me.
The race can seriously deplete your body's salt content from not only the strain of running it but also the heat induced sweat.
During the race I weigh just under 200 pounds and was talking one cap every 20-minutes during the heat of the day.
After the sun was down I was taking one every hour or so. Last year the temperature really dropped to about 68 degrees just before the sun came up. After the heat of earlier in the day, it seemed really chilly.

Scott Weber, Badwater compeititor

Scott Weber is an amazing man.
He's been to Badwater, a lot.
In 2007 he had a few problems and did not make the official time cutoff of 60 hours.
But he's driven. After a good night's sleep, he was back out on the road finishing the job.
I was in the restaurant in Lone Pine having the post race breakfast when he walked through town and turned up the Portal Road. Others in the restaurant rushed outside and cheered him on his way.
I finished my breakfast and Beth and I drove up the road and I walked with him for a while.
He said he just had to finish what had been started in the basin at Badwater. He had to finish it for the crew.
Way to go Scott!
See more about him at his website.

There is nothing really healthy about this.......

Badwater Party Video

A crew, do not leave home without one!

I cannot emphasis how important a good crew is.
Meet mine: from left, Sandra and John Turner, my lovely wife Beth, Monica Scholz, Phil McColl and Geoff Linton.
You success depends on their success. A crew that does not pull together has led to many runners dropping out of the race.
This was the first race I have had a crew at.
I have absolutely no doubts I would not have finished the race or maybe even made it to the start line. During the course of the many hours it takes to run this little adventure they have to nurse-maid your every need. They must be there constantly handing you drinks and food. Reminding you to take your salt. Keeping you focused and it my case out of the front seat of the van when all you want to do is sleep.
My crew rotated shifts of three people on for 4-6 hours and then going to rest as the other three took over. It's a long hot race for them too! They need their rest! Grumpy crews make for upset runners!
The members of your crew have to understand they are there primarily to support you. But even before they do that they have to take care of themselves. They have to be healthy or risk becoming a liability to the runner and the success of the race.

Pay attention, there will be a test!

You have convinced yourself you really want to do this.
No one can talk you out of it.
First you better read the rules-twice.
Next is to see if you qualify.
There are several ways to make it into the three wave starts of the race. (The applications are in for this year's race with successful entrants getting their e-mails this week.)
I highly recommend you take to heart the suggestion that you crew for a runner before entering yourself. It will definitely expose you to all the problems you might never otherwise considered before venturing into the valley of death for yourself.
Did you know that the nuts on a car's wheels, the rims themselves and the tools required to repair a flate can become so hot, you need at least oven mitts to handle any of them. I also do not recommend sitting on a car's body with bare skin touching metal at high noon!

Welcome to hell, or something like it....

So you really think you want to run what has been called "one of the toughest foot races on the planet"?
What are you crazy?
Don't worry you are not alone. People have been questioning my sanity since I began running these things called ultra marathons.
First I have never run a marathon.
I started this nonsense about seven years ago after my wife Beth force me to join the gym with her. She'd decided she was going to compete in an triathlon before she turned 40.
I started by running on a treadmill. I would not go near the muscle-heads using the weight piles.
I ran my first race that summer. It was the 5-km race portion of the 30-km Around the Bay Road Race here in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. As I waited for my race, I remember watching the 30-km runners line up and saying out loud "Who the Hell would want to do something for three hours straight, especially run!" (Things we say always come back to bite us in the arse!).
I had heard about the Marathon Des Sable race in the desert and had been intrigued by this race. The thought of running with all my belongings on my back seemed like a natural extension of my interest in back packing. I had seen a special on the race and a Hamilton area runner named Monica Scholz was featured.
Two years later, the paper I work at (The Hamilton Spectator) did a feature on women in extreme sports and Monica was interviewed. I volunteered to do the photos for the article. The result has been a lasting friendship and a further push into ultra marathons (I was already training for my first 50-mile race at the Sulphur Springs Trail Race).
In 2004 I ran that 50-miler (and another later that same year amongst other races). In 2005 I ran the 100-mile race at Sulphur Springs and an iron distance triathlon. In 2006 it would be 4 100-mile races.
That same year I crewed for Monica in her first place female finish. The year was incredibly hot with high temperatures near 130 degrees F and 25-per-cent humidity. You could taste the moisture in the air--if you could breath at all.
For 2007 my wife Beth would be at it again. She said I should enter. It was a case of do it now or never......and so the entry went in and here starts our story.....