No reservations...let the adventure begin!

The past two days have been a whirlwind of reservations, a statement which sounds paradoxical to me.

I've spent the past 30 hours or so working on Badwater business. Entry fee & paperwork sent via priority mail, hotel reservations, rental van reservations, airline tickets, figuring out how many Mt. Whitney permits and for which dates. Steph and I have talked on the phone a half dozen times.

Hammering out details for the return trip. Still waiting on a few last minute crew travel arrangements. A few little changes we've made to our plans for when we get there, like spending the first night in Las Vegas rather than Furnace Creek, so we can do our major shopping in the morning in Vegas.

Identifying the still-to-be-solved mysteries, like how we're going to get our coolers home at the end.



True, it is going to be a whirlwind, maybe we'll have a dust devil or two, but one thing is for sure... I have NO reservations! I can hardly wait to set foot in Death Valley again!



I can't count how many times in the past two days I've been doing something else and suddenly I'm running Badwater again, and I get this big smile on my face, and I get lost somewhere out there on the highway, overlooking Devil's Cornfield, with the Panamint Dunes in the background, feeling my searing skin and the sun blasting down on my head, seeing the heat blur a band of waves across the asphalt.

One of my favorite, but most difficult, places on the whole course is here, around 35 miles in, before you head downhill toward Stovepipe Wells. It's late afternoon and the hottest part of the day. It's at this point that the race is about to begin, because you've nearly survived the hottest part of the race and you're about to face a 5000 foot climb on hot asphalt as the sun is setting.



And then the stars at night. Under the black sky with silhouettes of the mountains, shadows of the rocks and sparse little plants, it almost looks like you're on the moon.

Let the adventure begin!

Photo credits: All photos by Nathan Nitzky

Just for Fun...A Little History

Death Valley Chuck-Walla, April 1907, ad
On a cold day it's fun to think about warmer places. One of my favorite things to do when I'm in Furnace Creek is to visit the little museum there at the resort. This ad is displayed in there. I always get a kick out of it.

It's really cold outside, and the forecast is for colder. I have a few more long runs planned before I start to rest for Across the Years. I'm planning a long one the day after Thanksgiving.

This week I didn't work too hard with the running, got 80 miles in but ran relaxed and easy every day. I didn't want to tire myself out with a couple of high mileage weeks coming up. I did a 30+ mile run at the lakes the other day and the weather was crazy. I froze my butt off for most of the first few laps, so I put more clothes on.

Then the sun came out and I got really hot, so I peeled those layers off and left them at the car, and then of course the sun went back behind the clouds and the wind picked up, and I froze again. Then I got the layers out again and of course the sun came out. By then it was nearing sunset and getting colder anyway.

I spent most of this weekend cooking. I don't know why I suddenly got in the mood but I made tamales, which take two days, and other stuff too. Must be the cold weather, makes you want to go inside and be near the stove.

An automobile trip through hell sounds pretty appealing right now.

Double Vision: Badwater 2009

This year I worked as a medical volunteer at Badwater instead of running the race. Last December at Across the Years I talked with Lisa Bliss about doing this while we ran laps around Nardini Manor. I'd met Lisa the year before at Across the Years, before I sent in my application to run it in 2008. She's the medical director of Badwater, a physiatrist (M.D.), not to mention an extremely talented runner and an all-around genuinely nice person. I figured with my nursing skills I might be able to help the runners, and Lisa welcomed me on the team.

There is no better place to be in the middle of July.

I flew into Las Vegas and rented a car, staying in Pahrump the first night. I wanted to take pictures, photographs for inspiration to paint desert scenes. I had time to take a few pictures on the way into Furnace Creek on Sunday morning and then I arrived at the visitor center and helped the race staff with preparing for runner check-in. I met up with at least a dozen of the regulars at Badwater, people I've known for several years through the race. This was an opportunity to get to know some of them better.


It was strange being on the other side from where I was last year. All the fuss and high energy and stress that revolves around being the racer, checking in, having your crew pampering you like bridesmaids, all of those feelings came back from last year. I was glad to be stress-free.












During check-in I was the "splitter", sending runners one way to get their mugshots taken, and directing the crews the other way to go shopping for shirts and race paraphernalia from the Zombies. I felt like half traffic cop, half social butterfly. It was very fun greeting everyone.

When Pam Reed's crew checked in, one of her crew members looked familiar, and then listening to his voice, I knew him from somewhere. Then I put the pieces together. Pam is from Tucson, and Rob, her crew member, is someone I went to college with, for a couple of years, at NAU. He eventually transferred to U of A but was roommates with the guy who lived next door to my friend (and ultrarunner) Kirk Apt. I haven't seen Rob in over 25 years. He is now running ultras too. Pretty cool.

After all the socializing it was time for our race staff meeting, and then the pre-race briefing, where Chris (Kostman, the race director) introduces everyone and talks about rules and other business. Lisa talked to the group about medical concerns. Right afterwards we had our medical team meeting over dinner at the restaurant in Furnace Creek. It took forever to get our food, with the big crowd of race people, but it was a chance to get to know everyone.

There were 10 of us. It was a big group, Lisa and Tim from Washington, Kim and Jeff from Pennsylvania, me, George, Dave, and Steve, all paramedics from different parts of California, and Woofie from Arizona. Woofie is one of my old running partners from Scottsdale. And Mary, who is also a physiatrist, from Pennsylvania, who was to chauffeur Chris on the course and stay at the finish line with him to provide medical support there for the last day and a half of the event as the runners finished.

What a nice bunch of people, and we worked well together as a team.

The night before the race started we all got together, went through the equipment and made our plans. Most of the medical team would go down to the start and weigh the runners in at each of the three starting waves. Steve and I stayed in Furnace Creek and got the medical room organized and got our supplies divided up for the boxes we would need later when most of the team would be in Stovepipe Wells and the others would go ahead to Lone Pine for the faster runners. We ended up not having to treat anyone in Furnace Creek. It seemed like it was going to be a hot day but the high temperature in Furnace Creek on race day was only 122. Not so bad.

We moved on to Stovepipe Wells. While I was driving toward Stovepipe, I stopped a few times to check on runners who didn't look good, or people we'd heard about that we were concerned about. Everything was pretty good, but a few were starting to suffer, which is always the case in that long hot stretch in the afternoon.

Once we got set up at Stovepipe Wells the runners started to come in, first slowly, then we got full. We had 6 cots set up and they were full for most of the evening! We were busy. Mostly dehydrated runners, who were down 8, 10, or more pounds. We'd give them oral fluids and electrolytes and they'd cool down for a while and then they'd get up and go back out. We had a small number of runners where we were concerned about hyponatremia, but we were able to fix them and they went on to finish.

There were a couple of more serious issues, one of which was a crew member, where we did end up contacting EMS, and one runner late in the race who went to the emergency room in Lone Pine. But everyone turned out okay in the end. And there was one runner in Stovepipe Wells who wasn't able to keep oral fluids down and eventually ended up agreeing to IV fluids, so he ended up as a DNF.

The runners would come in, we'd weigh them, ask them how long it had been since they peed, ask questions about drinking and eating, and we'd give them fluids and electrolytes if they needed it, and we'd hold them until they were able to keep fluids down, eat, and pee, give us a clear enough urine sample, gain a few pounds, and felt ready to go back out on the course. Occasionally I'd have to keep them moving along, sometimes they'd get too comfortable. And then there were a few runners and crew members who seemed to think the medical area was a recovery room, or a cooldown station, even though their runner wasn't in distress. Then I'd have to be traffic cop again.











Eventually the pee cups started to look more like a tasting selection at a brewery. Interesting colors, from dark amber to light wheat. We had a few colors outside of the beer spectrum, too.


The first night I got 4 hours of sleep. We had a few rooms at Stovepipe and we slept in shifts. I slept until 4 am and then woke up to drive to Lone Pine. I left in the darkness and there were very few runners left on the stretch going up Townes Pass, and the sunrise was spectacular. It lasted all the way until I got to Darwin. I did have to make a stop in Panamint Springs at the store to get coffee, and I wasn't to sure of what might be brewing in their coffee pots, so I opted for two pre-packaged Starbucks drinks from the cooler. $4.00 each, but I needed caffeine bad, so it was worth it. I thanked the guy at the register for putting up with us, since they had the store open all night just for the race. He said, "Everyone has been so nice this year!"

I passed the front runners on their way into Lone Pine and most everyone looked great all the way in. I saw Jamie Donaldson who won it for the women last year and this year. She gave me the thumbs up. She was a good hour ahead of Pam, the 2nd place woman.

Not long after I got to the Dow Villa in Lone Pine, where race headquarters is, the Brazilian runner won the race, and they radioed from the finish line that they were sending him down to us. He only spoke Portugese but I managed to communicate with him using Spanish. Note to self: Learn some Portugese before next summer. At least the basics, like drink, pee, eat, etc. Turned out he was fine, just a little dehydrated.

There was an extra challenge for the mid-pack runners. There was a fire in the lower campground, just below where the finish line is, and the top 4 miles of the course were closed for several hours during the race. Chris had to come up with a creative solution to deal with this, so runners were given an option to finish at 131 miles, or to come back later when the course was open and finish out the last 4 miles. Fortunately the fire was contained and the course was re-opened later so many of the later finishers were able to do the full course.

I learned a lot about the effects of heat stress on the body, how to treat dehydration, what to look for if you are not sure if a runner is hyponatremic or dehydrated, or both...I had a great time, met so many nice people, and got to hang out with so many of the people I already know from ultras.

Badwater has become another family for me and it's hard to imagine being away from it. Chris was so generous and appreciative of our efforts, he has turned this event into something that I think everyone on the staff and involved in the race was proud to be a part of.

Stovepipe Wells was the busiest spot for medical, as expected, it's at the end of the hottest part of the day. In Lone Pine it's been cooler and everyone has worked out their issues, and if they had bad problems they usually dropped out by then. There was a lot of foot care on the last day in Lone Pine, but not too many runners needing medical treatment. Mostly routine stuff. But some of the strangest requests came at the end of the race.

A crew member came in, telling me his kid had not had a bowel movement for 2 days. I felt like telling him to go down the street and get a salad at McDonald's, it worked for me. But I told him to go get something over the counter at the drug store if drinking more water and eating fiber didn't work. Sorry dude, I only play Poopsmith when I'm getting paid...

Then another crew member brought his teenage daughter in, she was sick, probably with some kind of viral thing, with a fever and vomiting...or maybe just dehydration, but I am not a pediatrician either. If you're crazy enough to drag your child to an event like this at least take responsibility when they get sick.

Most runners and crews were well informed about heat illness and took good care of each other out there. It was only a small percentage of the runners we ever saw in the medical station. Running in those conditions can put even the best trained runner at risk but it seems like the crews and runners are mostly very knowledgeable and well-prepared.

The only thing that I thought was weird were the very small number of crew members who brought their runners in afterwards and told us the runner needed an IV, as if we were a recovery tent. That was not our job either, and it annoyed me that they were telling us what their runner needed when clearly they had no clue. They just needed to drink, eat, rest and sleep. Sure we could all feel better after a few liters of normal saline living in this dry climate but IV fluids are just a quick fix for what they really need to do, which is take care of themselves and let their bodies recover. People expect things to be fast and easy. There is nothing about this race that falls into either of those categories.

The post-race party happened Wednesday evening and it was fun to see everyone one last time. I got to spend some time talking with Nattu and his crew, including Bob from Florida. Nattu kicked butt this year, he ran 37 hours, in his 3rd Badwater. We miss him around Colorado, he's been in California all year.

We were all exhausted, so we all got sleep and then Thursday everyone took off for home or wherever they were headed, some to Lake Tahoe, Lisa and Tim to climb Whitney, and I headed back into the valley to take pictures. I first dropped off the sharps containers at Ben and Denise's house so Ben could dispose of them for us. Being the coroner, he has the connections! Then I left to drive back across the course, in the heat of the day.

I wanted to catch both sunset and sunrise on Thursday night and Friday, and it was worth it, I got nearly 1300 pictures and probably 300 good ones. I spent the afternoon at the pool in Furnace Creek and then went out at sunset toward Badwater. The next morning I woke up at 4:30 and got out again to take more pictures along Artist's Drive. Then I drove back to the Las Vegas airport.

When I go back to run Badwater again, I hope it will be to do a double. I want to go back and run Badwater again in 2011, but I'm not sure if I'll actually do the double so soon. If I don't do a double then, I'm making it my age 50 goal.

When I was 40 and was just starting to get my health and energy back after getting my thyroid problems straightened out, I made a promise to myself that I would be fitter and healthier at 50 than I was at 40.

I know what you're thinking. I didn't say anything about being crazier.













There is something about turning around and going back across Death Valley after the race itself. For me, it's like closure. I can't just leave it with my back turned, I have to go back and see it in reverse.











Last year I can remember the morning Ken and I were driving back home, we left Lone Pine and drove back over the course and saw the few runners who were out there doing a double, and I wanted to be out there. I didn't want it to end at the finish line at Whitney Portal. I need to turn around and go back.


The colors in the rocks, the plants, and even the man-made objects in the landscape make you feel like you're on another planet. I know my running friends, even the ones I've known for many years and who share my love of running, don't understand why I love running in Death Valley in the summer. They don't understand how I can want to run, much less enjoy a race that covers 135 miles on asphalt. But they don't understand that this is the most beautiful, colorful, vibrant asphalt in the WORLD!


When I'm there, I have lost interest in how fast I run, where I finish in the pack, and in putting the race behind me as fast as possible. Running here is not an event to be put behind you. The elements are not separate from you, you are part of the surroundings. You become part of the landscape, the wind, the heat, the road, and the colors while you're moving through it. And there is nothing else like it.

This is why I want to go back. I want to see more sunrises like this, and as the day goes on, the relentless sun, the hot wind, the intense colors, the dramatic landscape that dwarfs you, while at the same time you belong to it. You become part of the whole picture. There is no other way to describe it, except to experience it.










Photos (from top): The temperature on the odometer on my rental car, Badwater sign near Golden Canyon, Artist's Drive, Badwater pools, the medical room at the Dow Villa in Lone Pine, George and Kim working on a runner's feet, runners along the course headed toward Lone Pine, the Dow Villa sign that changes colors throughout the day, celebrating the finish with a "Badwater ale", bottom of Artist's Drive, sunset over Furnace Creek looking toward Stovepipe Wells, road looking back toward Badwater, 3 photos of rocks along Artist's Drive, Panamint Dry Lake Bed at halfway along Badwater course, outrageous red rocks going up Father Crowley's, view from Father Crowley's at sunrise, near Darwin with lone Joshua tree in background, colors around salt pan around 5 miles into the course, gold rocks near Artist's Drive, more gold rocks looking back toward Badwater, sunrise over Stovepipe Wells from the road up Townes Pass, Alene at the park entrance.

Crew Notes

Before I left for the training weekend, I promised Steph that Nathan and I would take notes on everything we learned out there to help Team Towanda be prepared for race day. We're trying to get as many of the possible glitches worked out before race day as we can.

Like I said before, you can be prepared, but you can't overplan this thing. You never know what can happen and you need to be ready for anything.

The most important thing to recognize is that everything that happened over the weekend will need to be modified for the temperatures on race day. I expect it could be 20 to 25 degrees hotter. Or more.

Nathan took notes while I was running, and I took notes by keeping a pen and a few pieces of paper in my Hazmat shirt pocket, and every time I'd think of something I'd write it down in indecipherable scrawl across the torn out notebook pages...I had to put the pages inside of a plastic sandwich bag because every time I filled my ice bandana, the ice would melt down my neck and onto the pages.

I'll transcribe the notes here in chronological order, what Nathan wrote and what I wrote. It includes helpful tips, random thoughts, and anything else we thought was relevant to helping the crew.

Day 1: Furnace Creek to Stovepipe Wells, 42 miles. Slept well last night. Friday May 30th Start time: 0824 Temperature: 85
Nathan: 1st stop Heed, lipscreen
Alene: before start, ate peanut butter & honey sandwich, 1 banana, drank 20 oz plain water
N: 0900 90 degrees
A: need a hat flap, or 2nd hat
N: 0905 Pee
N: 0919 Ice in hat
A: only 92 degrees but needed to start with ice in hat, sandwich too heavy in stomach
N: 0925 Ice in bottle, 4.3 miles
A: pulled tape off feet at 1 hour. Itch, feeling friction, allergic to hypoallergenic tape?
N: 0935 1 salt stick cap in bottle with ice & Heed, took chicken crackers
A: unflavored Heed with Salt Stick, need to find unflavored Heed, chicken crackers 8 at a time in sandwich bag
N: 0944 ice in hat & bottle, pee
A: 1st hour, 4.3 miles, 2 pees, Awesome!
N: 0955 ice in hat & bottle, spray, 6.1 miles
N: 1000 crackers, banana, 1/2 scoop Heed in bottle
N: 1005 pee
A: need to start walking in place during sauna training
N: 1012 spray, refill hat, ice banadana
A: pen exploded! pen parts everywhere. not DV worthy. Buy different pens.
N: 1030 pee # 4, ice hat & bottle, Bad Pen!
A: car from Washington, wants to know, are you stuck? Look down, no tar on asphalt. Test feet, not stuck. Moving forward ok. Do I look stuck?
N: 1045 ice hat
N: 1100 pee # 5, ice bandana, change bottle to Heed & salt stick, pen
A: I wonder if Badwater runners ever get frostbite on their necks? Rocks below Zabriskie point on Furnace Creek side, psychedelic colors
N: 1124 12.6 miles
A: European tourist stopped to ask if I was okay, if I was just taking pictures. No camera. How could I be okay if I'm taking pictures without a camera?
N: 1145 pee # 6
A: starting to see heat waves on road
A: Furnace Creek list-check feet, dump shoes, re-tie, cold drinks, re-sunscreen, ice everywhere, food/slim fast, soak shirt
N: 1230 Furnace Creek, + 4 bags ice, gas & 8 bananas, & New Pens!
A: tour bus, give cow look as I run by
N: 1319 Pee # 7
A: Heat waves on road past Harmony Borax Works, ask for more chicken crackers
A: I feel the spirit of all the runners who have run down this road before me. Realize I can't plan too much, go with what the heat gives me and respect it.
N: 1452 Pee # 8, 103 degrees
A: Woman in car: Are you ok? Asks twice. Pissed me off. Not satisfied with yes, thank you. Leave me alone, I'm running, don't make me stop, I don't want to talk to you. Maybe thinks I'm writing suicide note?
N: 1500 Slim Fast vanilla
A: Austrian film crew?
N: 1511 Pee # 9, change bottle to water, not feeling well after Slim Fast
A: of all times they want to talk to me, I feel like puking. Good documentary material. Glad to be of assistance.
A: Film crew annoying. Having barfophobia. Need break, @ 30 mi? sunscreen taste in mouth. bad. Asked if I feel compelled to do? maybe if forgot Haldol. The voices told me to do it
A: break at Beatty sign, drove with AC on for 15 minutes, back to same spot.
N: 1612 28.8 miles, 103 degrees
A: next time, drink slim fast slowly, stays down. pee #13 after break Salt stick # 5 in fluid. tell crew not to overdo salt stick, dump capsule in bottle, dilute heed and unflavored best
N: 1710 Saw Devil's Cornfield, Spaz Attack! Doing well. 99 degrees
A: shades of brown in rocks. painting of Josh from here. don't want it to end.
foot friction, 20-25 degrees hotter race day, Devil's Cornfield & dunes awesome, get pics Damn bee chasing me from 2nd Beatty turnoff into Devil's Cornfield. Bug spray?
A: last 5 miles to Stovepipe Wells takes forever, 8:30 mile into Stovepipe
A: 10:46:47 for 42 miles to Stovepipe, want to eat something and go all night, will stick to original plan.

Summary crew notes from Day 1: Peed 15 times. Start using ice in hat and neck bandana from beginning. Find unflavored Heed. Don't eat a sandwich right before start. Brown foam tape does not stick, try tincture of benzoin. Drink Slim Fast S-L-O-W-L-Y. Need straws and maybe small plastic bottles to make portions of Slim Fast smaller. Avoid documentary crews. Do not take notes while running. Buy better pens. Watch for bees. Bring bug spray.

Questions to ponder: Are Death Valley tourists more intelligent than the average national park tourist? What are the demographics of Death Valley tourists? Does carrying 9 pages of salt-crusted, sweat-warped notes slow you down? Can you get frostbite in Death Valley? Am I stuck? Am I okay? Am I just taking pictures? Why do tourists ask runners for directions when they are going in the opposite direction of the runner? Don't they know we're running in a forward direction?

Day 2: I didn't sleep as well the night before day 2, I woke up early, decided to get early start. Went to Stovepipe Wells store to check out what they had, was worried about running out of crackers. They didn't have any good crackers and I decided to not get anything. The Furnace Creek store has more variety. We can get tourist crap there. I figured it would be a shorter and cooler day and I wouldn't need as much of everything.

For breakfast I had coffee, then chocolate slimfast. Attempted to use wi-fi in guest lounge to e-mail Steph, but Nathan couldn't get e-mail to send. I hit the road while Nathan got ice at the store, and met me up the road a few minutes later.

Day 2: Started at 8:07 am, 88 degrees. Saturday May 31, Stovepipe Wells to Panamint Springs, 30.3 miles, 5000 ft. gain, 3000 ft. descent.
A: Chafed along edge of liner of running shorts yesterday. Need body glide or vaseline soon. Feel heel friction, hot spot under ball of left foot. Saw piece of fried chicken on shoulder in gravel. I'm hungry.
N: 0807 start with 1 salt stick, feeling friction spots, contemplated fried chicken roadkill in gravel
A: Pee # 1 @ 27 minutes. 1 salt stick, Heed, iced hat and neck to start.
N: 0835 pee @ 43.5 mi
A: shirt and shorts need wrung out. Too much ice to start.
N: 0855 pee# 2 elev. 550
A: sign language: point to hat for hat ice and bottle ice, hold bottle out for empty bottle needs fluid. Pee # 2.
N: 0908 ice elev 610, elev 800 46.2
A: Car stops, European tourist asks: "Do you have problem?" Hmm. Should I take offense?
N: pretzels & ice
A: tell crew- never assume. Things happen fast. Pebble in shoe bad. Keep runner in sight. Mentally hard for runner if can't see crew. pacer watch sign language and carry double pack.
A: Pee #3 past 1000 ft elevation sign 1:08
N: 0924 pretzels, pee elev 1000
N: 0930 hat ice elev 1065, 47.2 mi
A: 2000 ft elevation 51 mi. 2:22 good to see parts of course where it will be dark during race. Snake wafer. Got cheese whiz?
N: new bottle Heed & salt stick, first trees
N: 0949 ice bandana, not drinking. told her to drink, wants food.elev. 1430
N: 0958 Body glide BAD! crackers, drank 1/2 bottle since 0949
N: 1007 Vaseline- wants to try and Slim Fast slowly soon
N: 1014 new bottle Heed
N: 1044 pee, ice hat, water, pretzels 52 miles
A: 2:33 pee # 4
N: lip swill & bandana, ok on ice
N: 1102 11 miles since SPW, took off ice bandana, WET! No more spray. Pee
N: 1108 added salt stick to bottle
N: ice to bottle, wants slim fast, offered grapes, didn't want. temp 85 degrees, 3225 ft elev.
N: 1117 stopping points getting rare, will try to stop every half mile or when find ok spot
N: 1125 trade bottle for Slim Fast chocolate, 3500 ft elev, 83 degrees
N: 1136 still drinking Slim Fast, no needs
N: 1145 finished slim fast, feeling good, back to bottle
N: 1149 doing well, no needs, 4000 ft elev 55.5 mi
N: 1205 56.5 mi, 4425 elev, still going- doesn't want 2nd bottle-thinks she could make it to pass without stops if needed, will park where I can.
N: 1234: Townes Pass 4:27, 58.5 mi, Jello break 10 minutes, No SUGAR FREE!!!!
Got new bottle Heed & salt stick. Pee- a little dark but ok amount
A: Townes Pass 4:27:31, 4956 ft elev. 10 minute break, jello break. Sugar free jello sucks, wildflowers last mile up to pass.
A: pee # 5 other side of pass
N: 60.3 mi 4400 elev still going, no stops since Townes Pass
N: 1315 New bottle Heed. Wants water next. Finished 1st 2.5 gallon water container.
A: Whitney view! Tour bus at 61 mi. run without bottle so I can run descent. Go back to ice and bottles at lake bed.
N: 1331 63 mi gave up bottle- running without fluid
N: 1350 65 mi drink
N: 1422 E. edge of lake bed, 95 degrees, returned to ice bandana, hat ice, heed bottle with salt stick & spray 68.1 mi
A: 6:14 to lake bed, 68 mi. 3rd salt stick, get bottle again, ice up
N: 1437 W. edge of lake bed 68.9 mi, hat ice, pee
N: 1453 70.1 mi ice in bottle, spray
A: 3000 ft descent, 3 hours. 7:19:20 at Panamint. Got Ensure? They knew I was coming. Gas $6 a gallon
N: arrive Panamint Springs resort. 96 degrees, 72.3 mi, 7:19:20 elapsed
A: Jello break, drove to Lone Pine to meet Ben and drive to Whitney Portal. Drove to Portal with Ben, then out for burger, then drove back to SPW. Restaurant on corner in Lone Pine with big gravel parking lot had good burgers, reasonable prices. Ben said there are some nice restaurants in town for a post-race dinner for crew. Awesome Joshua tree at 89 mi on course, took pictures. Darwin turnoff to Owens lake bed near Keeler, downhill & runnable. 100 mi mark is marked on road past original 100mi marker. Huge snakes on road at night. Ugh. Warn crew.

Day 2 Summary crew notes: Peed 6 times. Much cooler and less water needs. Buy regular jello. NO sugar free! Let me run downhill without weight but ask when I need a drink. Body glide breaks into pieces when soft. Use Vaseline. Wear my new shorts so liner of old shorts won't chafe crotch. Need padding on feet hot spots. Figure out easier way of dealing with hat, not stopping to refill and put it on every time. Ginormous, Huge Mega-snakes on road at night. Ugh. Crew please use Snake-B-Gon. Bring cheese whiz in case of snake wafers.

Questions to ponder: Do I have problem?

Got air?

A few months ago, I realized that it's been 5 years since I've been out to Death Valley. To prepare for Badwater, I really needed to refresh my memory of the course.

I'm writing two posts about the weekend. This one is about the trip in general, and I've made a separate post for the crew called "crew notes" to describe the run and transcribe the notes that Nathan and I took during my two day training run.

For years there have been unofficial and official training weekends over Memorial Day for Badwater. This year I really wanted to do the Wyoming Double and Houska Houska, and I'm not a big fan of traveling on holiday weekends. I'm not into crowds.

My brother Nathan is a big fan of Death Valley, the desert, and outdoors in general. He's also a great photographer, and when I mentioned the idea of going out to Death Valley for a training weekend, he was packed and ready to go before I even asked him if he'd be interested in crewing.

My sister, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew decided to go to Disneyland together this weekend, leaving Nathan a free weekend to travel. It was perfect timing. Memorial Day weekend turned out to be cool, only a high of 84 in Death Valley. This past weekend, it never got to be hot, but it did reach 103 degrees and 96 degrees on the two days of my training run.

I've been so busy lately, I never get a chance to really stop. The past few days I'd been working and didn't sleep well for two nights prior to leaving. As we flew over the Rocky Mountains and over Utah, I looked down at the Colorado River where I ran that race on the Kokopelli Trail a month ago, and then I closed my eyes and to try to sleep. Sitting there in the same spot for two hours was the longest rest I've had in months other than sleeping.

Nathan and I met each other in Las Vegas at the airport baggage claim for my flight. I forgot about two things that Nevada has, that we don't have here in Colorado. One is slot machines in the airport. The other one is smoking. Everywhere.

As we waited for the bags to unload, I was eating the only food I had, a piece of Starbucks chocolate pound cake that was left over from 4 days earlier, race food I brought for the Wyoming Double. While eating it in the Las Vegas airport, I realized I should save some for when we got into California. That piece of pound cake traveled to 4 states before being eaten!

I picked up my bag and we went to pick up our rental car, a mid-size SUV. It was a Dodge Nitro that drives like a brick and has no acceleration power. Regardless, it had plenty of room and served it's purpose as a crew vehicle. Gas in Las Vegas was only $4.50 a gallon. As soon as we crossed into California it was $5 a gallon, and in Panamint Springs we saw our highest gas price at $5.89 a gallon for regular unleaded.

Once we were in the garage picking up the car, Nathan started pulling out his gadgets. In line at the rental car counter they asked if we wanted GPS with our rental car. Nathan said, no. He brought 2 GPS gadgets of his own! The other thing about the rental car was that they give you two keys to the car, but they're locked together on this unbreakable metal ring. One of the cardinal rules of crewing is to always have a spare key somewhere separate from the vehicle in case you get locked out.

We asked if we could get the keys separated. They guy looked at us with that blank stare, the one that cows give you when you run by their pasture...

Whatever. I guess the rental car companies aren't up to speed on crewing for ultras. Can anyone answer that question for me? Why do they give you a spare key that you can't separate from the other key? Does that make any sense at all to anyone out there? I'll give a Vanilla Hammer Gel to anyone who provides the best answer.

We spent a couple of hours in Las Vegas driving around to Super Wal-Mart for supplies and a bike shop for Heed. We bought 4 cheap styrofoam coolers, just in case, some snacks and lots of water and drinks. Then we hit the road for Pahrump, to pick up the coolers at the post office.

As we drove into Pahrump, we saw some interesting signs off the road. One billboard was for the Brothel Art Museum. And then we saw these:


Only in Nevada.

At the post office, we walked in and Nathan was tall enough to see the coolers sitting behind the counter. We tried to get dry and block ice at the ice shop in town but it was closed, so we went to the gas station and got some. We got back in the SUV, and soon we crossed into California and I finished the pound cake.

More interesting signs along the road. One was, the Death Valley Health Center. Hmmm.

As we drove toward the park, I was thinking about how every time I'm in Death Valley I am sleep deprived, and the heat together with the fatigue make everything seem surreal. I'm always finding humor and irony in little things there. I need to come here some time when I'm not doing a run. I need to come back and be a tourist. So many interesting places to check out.
The sky is huge in Death Valley. The scale of things is different than anything you'd experience in most places. Everything is dwarfed by the landscape. Roads wind around mountain ranges and nothing is as the crow flies. It reminds me of how running in Death Valley is. You have to take what it gives you and make the best of it. You have to be prepared, but you can't plan too much, because unexpected things happen.

As we descended into the park, we stopped at the information kiosk and got our park permit. We were looking down toward Zabriskie Point, and I got this feeling like I never left since the last time I was there. I think this place bakes into your bones.

We checked into our room at Furnace Creek and went to get dinner. I noticed a few more little amusing things. One was the list of "Hot Weather Tips" given to tourists on the hotel map, which includes: Never leave anyone in a closed, parked vehicle during hot weather.

Never?...

On the menu, ice cream was listed under "drinks". I guess that would be correct in Death Valley. We had a good dinner, the food is really good at the cafe in Furnace Creek. Then we went back to the room and organized the vehicle for the next morning and put our drinks on ice.


Friday morning when we woke up it was 72 degrees at 6 am. I taped my heels with some foam tape, bathed myself in sunscreen, and we got our stuff together, checked out of the room, and hit the road for Badwater.

After a few pictures I got started at 8:24 am, close to the time of my race start and just as the sun was coming up over the top of the high cliffs above the Badwater monument. As you look up, there is a sign way up high on the cliffs that marks Sea Level. It was 85 degrees in the shade.

Within a few miles Nathan had a smooth method of crewing me figured out and I should have started with ice in my hat or around my neck, but I figured this out after a couple of miles. Then all was good.


It was amazing how many times people driving down the highway would slow down and pull up next to me to find out if my car broke down, or if I was okay. The first time the question caught me off-guard when this guy asked me if I was stuck. For some reason it didn't make sense. I lifted one foot at a time off the pavement, to see if I was stuck. My feet weren't sticking to the pavement..."No, I'm not stuck."

Then I realized why he was asking me. People don't normally go for a run out here?

After that, each time I would point to the crew vehicle and tell them, "I'm running" and thank them, and they'd usually leave me alone.

Occasionally they didn't believe me and I had to do further explaining, but I kept moving forward at my racewalk pace. Don't you think I'd be waving my arms trying to get their attention if I needed help?

There were lots of motorists who went by and gave me a thumbs-up. They must know about the race. There was only one car over the whole two days who tried to veer toward me and honked aggressively like they were going to run me off the road. In general, the roads were pretty quiet. Not much traffic at all, but quite a few tour busses went by.

The day went well. I averaged 4 miles an hour including two 15 minute breaks and all of the short but awkward crewing stops every 1/2 to 3/4 mile along the course. During the race crewing will be much easier with two or three crew members, and I won't have to stop moving forward, they can crew me as I go. With just one crew member it's not as efficient, but Nathan did an amazing job and my stop time was only 15 to 30 seconds each time.

Nathan has an unbelievable ability to multi-task. At one point toward the end of the day I asked him if he got a chance to take any photos because he was so busy crewing me. He said, "About 300 so far."


Multi-tasking must be another thing in the Nitzky genes because I decided early in the day that I was going to take notes and write things down as I was walking along the course so Nathan wouldn't have to worry about taking notes on top of everything he had to do; getting ice for my hat, bottle, and neck, spraying me with water, getting me food, sunscreen, assessing my general well-being, figuring out how far to drive before the next stop, and so on.



At one point another tourist stopped to ask me if I was all right. I was walking along the road scribbling notes and she asked me twice if I was really okay. Maybe she thought I was writing a suicide note?

I took a 15 minute break at Furnace Creek to re-sunscreen myself and get in the shade, but I never got off my feet. Nathan got more ice and did errands, and I took off with two full bottles once I re-iced my hat and neck bandana. He met me about a mile down the road.


Along the road I was looking at the scenery, in awe of the size of the landscape and the colors. The different shades of brown dirt and black rocks, the shades of lavender and pink and orange in the vegetation, the deep blue sky, the tan and pink sand dunes, and the red and bronze mountains. I could feel the spirit of all the other runners who have traveled along this road for Badwater. And I wanted to paint. I wanted to break out my pastels and spend the rest of my life painting scenes from this desert.


The only glitch in the entire first day was somewhere around 26 miles. I asked Nathan for a Slim Fast. I drank one earlier in the day and had no problem. As I drank the second one, it was the hottest part of the day and I didn't think about it as I slurped it down. We were laughing about something and I was almost spitting the Slim Fast out because I was doubled over laughing. About 5 minutes later I felt REALLY NAUSEOUS.

I thought, I am going to barf this up. I kept moving but I slowed way down. I asked Nathan if he thought it was the heat, if I looked like I was too hot, or if he thought it was the Slim Fast. I thought since it came on so suddenly and I'd been doing great up to that point, it had to be the Slim Fast.

Just then a truck stopped near our crew vehicle and two men and a woman jumped out with cameras and microphones. I had no idea what they were up to and I didn't care, I was feeling like puking. Then they leapfrogged us a few times, each time with cameras set up as I went by. Finally I felt less nauseous and I asked them, what are you taking pictures of? They didn't answer except for the woman who said, "runners".

They talked to Nathan, I was still moving forward as fast as I could while still having waves of nausea. I was wishing that Slim Fast would come up and was thinking about trying to make myself puke so I could get it over with, when suddenly Nathan appeared again.

He told me it was an Austrian film crew making a documentary about the hottest places in the world and they wanted to know what I was doing and if they could ask me some questions. They couldn't have done this at a better time...

Suddenly Ben Jones came to mind, with his barfing classification. I think this would qualify as "Barfolalia" which means, "Alert the Media" and I started laughing.


By then I was feeling better and the Slim Fast had stayed down, so I told Nathan they could talk to me but I wasn't going to stop. The woman caught me soon after that. First she asked me what I was doing. I said, "Training for Badwater."

Then they took off and met us another half mile down the road. This time she asked me, "Why do you do this? Do you feel compelled to do this?" I started laughing. I wanted to say "The voices told me to do it, I forgot my Haldol today". But I think I said, "I've always wanted to do Badwater and I love Death Valley." That seemed to make her happy. That was last we saw of them.

I was no longer nauseous but I'd been out 7 hours without getting off my feet and I decided it would be a good time to take a break. I stopped at the Beatty turnoff sign and I got in the car and we turned on the AC and drove around for 15 minutes until we got back to the spot where I stopped. I got out and started going again from the Beatty sign.

The descent into Stovepipe Wells was the best. I love the Devil's Cornfield. When I saw it I got so excited, I took off running and forgot my water bottle! Nathan had to catch up to me and bring it to me. I ran most of the last 5 miles into Stovepipe Wells.



We got to Stovepipe Wells after 10 hours and 46 minutes, including stops. Not bad at all, that's 42 miles. The air temperature hit a high of 103 but Nathan recorded it as 123 on the asphalt. The whole day I was very much aware of the 25 degree caveat. It might be 103 out here and I'm feeling great going at a relaxed four mile per hour pace, but on race day, it could be 128 degrees and that changes everything.



We checked into the room. My feet didn't look bad, some heat rash, no blisters. My legs were heat rashed though. I showered and then we got dinner. The restaurant there isn't quite so good as Furnace Creek, but it's okay. We woke up early and got another 8:00 start on the way to Panamint.






I made it to Townes Pass summit in 4 hours, 27 minutes. Before the top I had a Slim Fast but drank it slowly. No problems this time. Then at the top I took a 10 minute break and ate some jello.


I strted the descent into Panamint and told Nathan I wanted to run as much of it as I could. It's 13 miles from the pass to the resort and it's all downhill until you hit the east edge of the dry lake bed about 4 miles out from Panamint Springs resort.



About 2 miles down the pass you get your first glimpse of the snowcapped Sierra Nevada range with Mt. Whitney. That's where you can first start imagining the finish.


I ran almost the entire 9 mile downhill stretch and then quite a bit of the way to the resort. The view looking back across the lake bed and up to the road you just descended is one of the classic Badwater photo shots. It's really amazing when you see the tiny runners against this backdrop of these huge mountains and valley.



I reached the Panamint Springs resort, 30.3 miles from Stovepipe Wells, in 7 hours and 19 minutes. Just before the resort is the general store, which had a sign outside. They have ice, groceries, and Ensure.



They were ready for me.

I took off my shoes and washed off my feet and we hit the road for Lone Pine. My feet didn't look too bad. Some heat rash, but no blisters. I did have a few friction spots on my heels and under my left foot. I ate more jello and some baby food before we hit the road for Lone Pine. Ensure didn't sound too good.


We were to call Ben Jones when we got into Lone Pine for a quick visit. We drove the course to about the 120 mile mark when I called Ben just outside Lone Pine. He said he'd meet us at the intersection in town and drive up to Whitney Portal with us. We parked and waited for Ben for just a minute before he showed up, and we drove up the last 13 miles of the course. We caught up on Badwater gossip and trivia, and Nathan and Ben hit it off with their mutual love for techno-gadgetry. We stopped at Whitney Portal and took pictures then I went over and touched the tree at the finish line.


We drove back to town and Ben joined us for a burger at a restaurant there before we took off back to Stovepipe Wells. It was great to see Ben, it's been five years. He looks fantastic. At 75, he's still staying busy with running events like the Wild West 50K and Badwater-related activities, and still doing coroner's cases on a regular basis.

Ben provided me with the original inspiration to do Badwater. I'll be seeing him at Badwater in a few weeks, when I embark on my journey. He truly is an ambassador for running in Death Valley and that whole area of eastern California, along with being Mayor of Badwater.

On the drive back we stopped for several photo opportunities in the evening light, and I noticed how much of a descent there is on the course between 90 and about 110 miles. We saw two gigantic, monstrous snakes out on the road on the drive back. Ugh!
It was good to see the parts of the course in daylight that I'll be running at night during the race.

We left the coolers in the room in Stovepipe Wells along with the extra bottles of gatorade and water and Slimfast that we never used, figuring some employee at the park might be able to use them. Sunday morning we drove back to Las Vegas, stopping for some photographs, and in Furnace Creek at the general store for a few gifts. I saw some smiley face earrings and I couldn't resist.




When we got to the airport we had some time before our flights, so we reviewed the pictures on Nathan's camera.

The trip back was uneventful, my flight got in a half hour early, which was nice. On the flight I sat next to someone from Windsor, so we talked about tornadoes, mountain biking, and Death Valley during the flight. I used the drive back to Fort Collins as a heat training opportunity in the car. I arrived home to Dennis and the Buffaloes around 6:15, sleep deprived, sweaty and smiling earring to earring.

6 weeks to go! TOWANDA!

(all photos this post by Nathan Nitzky)