Born to Run? You’d Better Be

By Peter Kray

In the wide world of athletics there is nothing as primitive and primal as the desire to run. Born as an essential element of survival, running is the most timeless of sports, combining the predatory hunger for eating up miles with the panic of prey struggling to outpace a pursuer.

 

For the big dogs of the running world, summer is the hunting season. Along with all the assorted marathons, 5- and 10-ks, and fun runs the mere mortals use to measure their mettle, a handful of truly awesome — and just a little bit wacko! — events set the stage for the best of the best to chase each other across Death Valley, the Alps, and even the entire United States in a protracted war of wills only the strongest can win.

 

Aptly billed as “The World’s Toughest Footrace,” Kiehl’s Badwater Ultramarathon covers 135 miles of extremes, from the desert floor of California’s Death Valley (the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere, at 280 feet below sea level) to the high alpine Portals of Mount Whitney (trailhead to the highest point in the contiguous United States), with three mountain ranges and 13,000 vertical feet of ascent in between. Held July 24–26 — the exact time when Death Valley is in direct competition with Hades as the hottest place in the universe — the Badwater regularly sees temperatures as high as 130 degrees Fahrenheit, with competitors taking as long as 60 hours to complete the grueling grind.

 

Up to 90 of the world’s toughest athletes, including legendary ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes and a veritable who’s who of triathletes and mountaineers, are expected to compete in this year’s 29th Badwater run.

 

If you think the high, cool slopes of the Alps would provide a welcome respite from the blistering heat of the Badwater, think again. In just its third running, The North Face Ultra-Trail Tour du Mont-Blanc, August 25–27, is rapidly gaining fame for its difficulty, breathtaking beauty, and international level of competition. The 158-kilometer (98.18-mile) course races through France, Italy, and Switzerland, topping 10 mountain passes with an Everest-sized 8,500-meter (nearly 28,000-foot) total elevation gain. From icy glaciers to bucolic pastures to some of the most famous peaks on the planet, this magnificent circuit boils the European tour down to three days of adventure and adrenaline.

 

Karnazes, whose personal motto is “Your health is your wealth,” is uniquely suited to the task, with personal accomplishments that include running 350 continuous miles, riding a mountain bike for 24 hours straight, and swimming across the San Francisco Bay. But even he admits to some special training for the task — which mostly includes “lots of running.”

 

Peter Kray writes about epic outdoor adventures from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Posted on July 17, 2006

 

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