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:
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