The Pride of Columbus

Rita and her "Ultra" Son

The Start

The Start with the Girls!

Woop!

As Mike said, Rita finished! It was incredible watching her cross the finish, fulfilling a dream she's had for years. Maria and I had a great time helping get the job done. It helped have such a great runner and other crew members to work with.

The weather was typical Death Valley hot, 115 degrees, on the first day then Rita got a little lucky the second day with temps only reaching 95 when crossing to Lone Pine. A little rain fell along with some scary thunder but on she pushed.

I am so proud to be able to be a part of this. She is the toughest person I know. I still can't understand how she kept moving foward even when she wasn't doing well. Maria and I had the priveldge of crewing her during the witching hours of 10pm to 5am and she hung tough.

I am working on editing the large amount of video I took and adding daily notes that I took. I have a whole weekend so don't get snarky on me, I'll get to it.

:-p

Bad Water

So since Jenn has not had a chance to post (even though she said she would last night :-p), I figured I would post something to let everyone know how the race went. My mom, Rita, finished the race in 42 hours, 21 minutes, and 13 seconds. The race had its ups and downs, which I'm sure Jenn will discuss in her upcoming posts, but it was an amazing race. As I type this she is on the phone with a publication back in Columbus and discussing the race. Pictures will be posted soon from my mom and Jenn. Overall the experience was incredible, everything from Bad Water in Death Valley to Mt. Whitney Portal was amazing. The landscape in this area is incredible, which I'm sure my mother would say was worth the battered feet she now has at the bottom of her legs. By the way, I would like to thank Jenn, Maria, and John for making this race a dream come true for my mom. She has been talking about this race for 4 years now, and I'm thankful that the four of us could help to make this dream a reality. Check back soon for Jenn's "detailed" race blog, pictures, and videos of the Bad Water race.

P.S. Congrats to my mom's "Ultra-Son", Jeff Schmidt on his completion of the race as well.

Best Wishes from Lone Pine California,
Michael Reggie

The gang's all here

We finally all met in person today and I think we have a darn good crew. We spent some time going over logistics and looking at supplies then Maria and I were treated to a great dinner at PF Changs. Afterwards Maria and I headed to Pahrump so we could get a little closer to Death Valley. We had to back track because the road was closed down by the police which added an extra 30 minutes to the ride. There are many flash flooding warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings so it is possible the road was washed out. We did see some incredible lightening driving into Pahrump.

For a quick intro to the crew, here is a short video. Left to right: Maria, John, Rita, myself (Jen) and Mike.

This is it for a couple days. When Maria and I check out in the morning we will be off the radar. Cell reception disappears within about 20 minutes of Pahrump then we are off into the wild! Next time I'll get to post something is on Wednesday when we reach Lone Pine. I'll be taking notes as we go and will do a long write-up when we finally reach civilization again.

Ta ta for now!

Las Vegas

Rita, John, and Mike have arrived in Las Vegas and are awaiting Maria and Jennifer. Vegas is unusually cool for this time of year. It's only 85 degrees in the middle of the day. It seems as though the weather followed her here just as it did a few years ago when we were here in april and it snowed. If this keeps up in Death Valley there will have to be an astereix next to the record breaking results.

blackberry test

Just a test to see if we can post via blackberry.

Headed to the Valley

Rita sent an email that she was in Las Vegas and Maria arrived earlier this week. I'm flying down tomorrow to join them.

We are all meeting tomorrow afternoon to get our car packed up and then Maria and I will be headed to Pahrump to do a Walmart run and stay at the lovely Best Western. They have internet access so I'll post a note tomorrow night.

Weather will get up to 120 on Wednesday so we'll make sure Rita keeps moving and gets off the road by then.

The adventure begins!

This strikes me as really funny

I've set up weather alerts for Death Valley which means I get daily weather forecasts and any type of alert issued for the region. I got this the last couple days and it strikes me as really funny.

EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM PDT /11 AM MST/ THIS MORNING TO 8 PM PDT /8 PM MST/ THIS EVENING... ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM PDT /11 AM MST/ TO 8 PM PDT /8 PM MST/ WEDNESDAY...
EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNINGS REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM TO 8 PM TODAY AND WEDNESDAY FOR AREAS BELOW 4000 FEET IN INYO...SAN BERNARDINO...NYE...CLARK... AND MOHAVE COUNTIES.

A STRONG AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL SETTLE OVER THE AREA TODAY AND WEDNESDAY...BRINGING DANGEROUSLY HIGH TEMPERATURES TO THE REGION. HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO BE AROUND 112 DEGREES IN THE LAS VEGAS VALLEY... FROM 114 TO 117 DEGREES IN THE LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA... LAUGHLIN...NEEDLES...MESQUITE...LAKE HAVASU CITY...AND BULLHEAD CITY...AND NEAR 123 DEGREES IN DEATH VALLEY.

AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO REACH DANGEROUS LEVELS THAT WILL STRESS THE BODY IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN.

History of Badwater

In 1849, a group of pioneers crossed Death Valley in search of a route to the gold fields of California. When finally making their escape from the valley, the group bid it farewell with the words "Good bye Death Valley!" christening it with the name it is known by today. A member of this party, William Lewis Manly recorded the difficulties posed in crossing Death Valley in his autobiography.

Badwater got it name when an early surveyor could not get his mule to drink from the pool. He wrote on his map that the location had "bad water," and the name stuck.

The History of The Race

Originally, the run was conceived as being between the lowest and the highest points in the contiguous United States: Badwater, Death Valley (-282 ft) and Mt. Whitney's summit (14,496 ft). The two are only eighty miles apart on the map, but the land route between the two points is substantially longer, 146 miles, because of detours around lakebeds and over mountain ranges. Additionally, since the finish-line is 11 miles from the nearest trailhead, anyone who competes over the 146 mile race-distance must be capable of a total physical effort of 157 miles. Due to the two mountain ranges that must be crossed between Badwater and Whitney, the course's cumulative elevation gain exceeds 19,000 feet (5,800 m).

Al Arnold first attempted the route in 1974 but was pulled off the course after eighteen miles with severe dehydration.

After vigorous sauna-training and desert-acclimatization, he attempted the run again in 1975. This time, a knee injury aborted the run at fifty miles. In 1976, training injuries kept him from even beginning his annual attempt on the course.

In 1977 he successfully pioneered the course, summiting Whitney eighty hours after his start at Badwater.

From: 1987: The Year Badwater Became a Race

In 1986, two Californians, Tom Crawford and Mike Witwer, tried to organize an official race from Badwater to Mount Whitney. Twenty-two ultramarathoners signed on, but the event was cancelled when the organizers failed to obtain liability insurance – not for the runners but for the support crews. Crawford and Whitwer, deciding to tackle the distance on their own, completed the course in 70:27.

On July 31, 1987 at 6:31 AM, five runners started the first race from Death Valley to Mount Whitney. Two women—Eleanor Adams and Jean Ennis—and three men—Crawford, Ken Crutchlow and David Bolling—began the course at the same time.

Adams, a 39-year-old Briton and the first woman to exceed 200 miles in a 4h-hour race, wasted no time racing into the lead. Responding to an ad for the race, she had written, “My philosophy in life is to never pass up an opportunity. If you do, you never know when it’ll come again.”

Sources include: Wikipedia, Untraveledroad.com

Welcome!

We've created this blog to track Rita Barnes' experience at the Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley, July 2008. From the Badwater website:

"Covering 135 miles (217km) non-stop from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney, CA in temperatures up to 130F (55c), it is the most demanding and extreme running race offered anywhere on the planet.

The start line is at Badwater, Death Valley, which marks the lowest elevation in North America at 280' (85m) below sea level. The race finishes at Mt. Whitney Portal at 8360' (2533m). The Badwater course covers three mountain ranges for a total of 13,000' (3962m) of cumulative vertical ascent and 4,700' (1433m) of cumulative descent. Whitney Portal is the trailhead to the Mt. Whitney summit, the highest point in the contiguous United States. Competitors travel through places and landmarks including Mushroom Rock, Furnace Creek, Salt Creek, Devil's Cornfield, Devil's Golf Course, Stovepipe Wells, Keeler and Lone Pine."