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.