NicoleBadwater. The World’s Toughest.
Here I am, in a thankfully reasonably cool hotel room thinking about why I’m here.
I’m in Death Valley in the middle of July. It’s like hanging out in a dry sauna, and someone decided to turn on a hair dryer and turn it towards you. And Sandra, along with almost 100 other athletes, will be running in this. I am here as one of three people to help make sure she gets from the Badwater Basin, 282 feet below sea level on Monday night, to the Mt. Whitney portal at a bit over 8000 feet, in under 48 hours.
I heard of Badwater a long time ago. My thoughts were always, “Wow; crazy people that try to run way too far in beyond extreme conditions. Why would they want to do that?”
Now that I’m here, I can see how the harsh conditions and beauty of this place is extremely captivating. As humans, we often ask, “Can I do a little more?” So those who like to run long distances often think, “Well, can I run that far and manage the environment?” An environment that must be utterly respected.
Somehow I ended up here with Rodney and Khem on Sandra’s first Badwater 135 crew. Despite my broken elbow, I am here to help her see what her “a little more” is.
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The crew arrived in Las Vegas Friday. Once we were all together, we got the rental minivan, made the obligatory In-N-Out burger stop, and then did our shopping for as many provisions as we could get. We were headed to the middle of nowhere, so the more we could get here, the better.
Then we were off to drive to Furnace Creek, California. There is a reason towns are named certain things. We made our way on the desert roads and stopped where the race will start at Badwater Basin. The car thermometer read 125F. The wind was strong and crazy hot. After that brief stop, we found the Furnace Creek Ranch. Sandra had already arrived. She’s lucky she could drive down and bring all her supplies with her.
We got our room keys from her (she had already checked us in) dropped off our bags, and then went for dinner at the 49er Cafe. The restaurants here at the Ranch are pretty much the only options around here. After dinner we were all exhausted from a day of travel and were not yet adjusted to the heat, so it was time to turn in for the night.
Saturday:
We did our major sightseeing today. This really helped me gain some more understanding of Death Valley. It really is an intriguing place. Might be more comfortable to visit when it’s not 120F… We visited the Mesquite Sand Dunes, Stovepipe Wells, did the short hike to the Natural Bridge, drove around Artists Drive, and then went back to the Ranch for a late lunch. Before dinner we went over to the Furnace Creek Visitor Center and got photos by the thermometer…115F.
Sunday:
Nothing much on the agenda today other than athlete check-in. After breakfast (the buffet again) I got some work done. We went for a quick bite before heading to the check-in. After that we visited with Sandra’s parents, then went to the visitor center to check it out before the athlete/crew-chief meeting. More interesting history to learn about! When the meeting was about to start, I went back to the hotel to get a little more work done before dinner. Then we had a massive dinner at the steakhouse (same place as the breakfast buffet) with Sandra’s parents.
Monday pre-race:
Sandra is hanging out in her room all day. The crew is just relaxing. We slept in a bit, had breakfast at the buffet, hit up the general store for some souvenirs, and then went back to the room to pack. Then we went to an information meeting to get any last minute questions answered, had lunch, rested some more, packed up the van, and planned to get Sandra to the start at about 8:45pm.
Here are some more pictures from the trip:
Nicole
