Don't Drink the Water, It's 'Badwater' 2008

For the second straight year, I helped out at Badwater to help a running friend conquer the heat and cross the finish line. Last year I helped Nattu finish, this year I helped Bob Becker, who, as it turns out, was also on Nattu’s Badwater crew last year.

Friday evening, July 11, 2008
Arrived at Las Vegas airport and was greeted by Bob and two of his Florida buddies, Bud and Jared. After talking a bit and getting acquainted at baggage claim, my luggage finally appeared and we headed out to hail a cab. The line was a mile long, snaking back and forth like security lines at DIA. I could hear the cattle mooing as we inched our way forward. I was able to get in a little heat training waiting for the cab, as it was quite hot out. We finally got a cab and got a ride over to the hotel and got settled in, then got on the hotel shuttle to the Mandalay Bay casino for some evening eats.


We found a nice little eatery with nice waitresses, and decided to eat here. The lowest steak fare on the menu was an 8 oz filet, at $48 a pop. They did have some nice Kobe 6oz fillets for $170. They also had caviar on the menu for $445. We went cheap so we could have more beer. We came up with Bob’s nickname for the race during our beers: Bobby Z. Too dirty and long to explain, but somehow it stuck. After dinner we walked around a bit and then headed back to the hotel for some sleep.

Saturday morning, July 12, 2008
Got up at around 5:30 AM, and decided to get up, shower, and check the e-mails on the hotel PC downstairs. While logged on, a couple of sweaty, stinky guys came up from behind. It was Bud and Jared. They just got back from a 5 mile run on the strip. We all had breakfast, joined by Nattu (helping this year) who arrived very late the previous night. We then took the shuttle over to the car rental place to get the vans. We had a nice conversation with the shuttle driver, who thought Nattu owned his own taxi and inquired whether taxi drivers in California could own their own cab. I know Nattu isn’t a cabbie, but the shuttle driver sure drove like one. Actually, he drives like Nattu, taking turns at 40 mph and weaving in and out of traffic. I looked over at Jared and he had a look of total fear on his face. I think I saw a puddle under his seat as well. Bud and I were laughing hysterically, mostly out of fear ourselves. I always like to laugh in the face of death rather than show my fear. More manly that way.


We checked out the vans, one a full size cargo van for crewing during the race and the other a minivan for shuttling crews to and from the course. Since the crewing would consist of two crews, 3 people each on 8 hour shifts, we needed a shuttle van to move crews to the course and off for sleep. We made sure we could use the minivan as a crew van in case the cargo van went tits up on the course (or as we commonly say in the military, Tango Uniform) we could use this as a backup if need be. While Nattu and Bob took the cargo van to WalMart to get a couple of ice coolers, Bud, Jerod and I went to the airport to pick up the remaining crew members Ed and Terri. We agreed beforehand that we would meet at the Pahrump NV WalMart for a supply run before heading to Death Valley.


We all got to Pahrump, filled up, ate lunch, and did the mad WalMart run for supplies. This is always a trip, as one shopping cart is filled with jugs and jugs of water. We also get any food items that Bob, as well as crew members, would want to eat out there. Juices, snacks, soups, butt wipes, batteries, misters, chairs, medical supplies, boxes to hold it all, and of course tons and tons of ice. Stuff we will need while we are crewing cause it will be tough to find it all in the Valley.

Saturday afternoon, July 12, 2008.
We made our way to Death Valley and decided to stop at Zabriskie Point just inside the park. A slight little walk uphill to view the hills and distant valley ahead. The boys from Florida were complaining about the uphill climb, only about 100 yards long and about 50 feet climb. The views were incredible though, and we all took it in. Really breathtaking. Or was it the heat doing that? We then piled into the two vans and headed to Furnace Creek, which is the first checkpoint in the race to get our park passes for the vehicles. We then charged on ahead to Stovepipe Wells to check into our rooms. We also unloaded the van of its contents into my room to keep things from melting in the vans.

Saturday evening, July 12, 2008
After having a beer and some food at the only restaurant in the place, we proceeded to chill out. Before dinner, Terri decided she wanted to go run a bit. Not long after, we were watching a big dust cloud moving in from the north east. Soon it was windy and dusty, and we were a bit concerned for Terri. But she showed up not long afterward, and shortly before the big thunderstorm dropped a ton of rain and lighting all around. While we were eating, we noticed the lights had flickered. We also found out during dinner from other runners there that some crew members had to divert and turnaround near Panamint Springs due to road washouts. Little did we know at the time this would be a major impact come race day, or could have been.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Ed, Bud, Jared, Terri and I decided to get up a bit early and run up Mosaic Canyon road, just a few yards west of Stovepipe. As we were making our way up the canyon, I decided I wanted to run on the paved road instead of the rough dirt road, so turned around and hit the pavement. As I was running along the road, I spied two runners up ahead about 200 yards or so, so I decided to see if I could catch up with them. Turned out it was Bob and Nattu. I did catch up with them and we turned around and headed back to Stovepipe. Took a shower and then we all met for breakfast. After taking a little break, we all jumped in the shuttle van and headed back to Furnace Creek for Bob to check in and get his race stuff. While waiting in line to enter, I saw Alene Nitzky and her crew of Stephanie Willingham, Katy Cotton, and Ken Eielson. Alene was kind enough to allow us to get some of her Mt Whitney permits for after the race. Also saw Phil Rosenstein, who was running (amazingly, he was coming off of major lung surgery from complications with pneumonia),


Scott Snyder and his wife Katie and John Hobbs and his wife who were crewing Scott. Also met up with Scott Weber and had a nice chat with him. After Bob had his check in and his mugshot taken, we then headed back to the restaurant for a mediocre lunch. Since the race briefing wasn’t for another few hours, we all decided to head to Badwater and check out the salt flats. Then we headed back, via the Artist’s Loop route, to Furnace Creek and the race briefing. Bud and I decided to go get ice before the briefing ended, and good thing we did as the guy manning the ice house and gas station was about ready to close. We all headed back to Stovepipe for
dinner, and afterwards get the crew van ready for the race the next day’s journey for Bob. We put “BOBBY Z” on the front of the shuttle van with blue painter’s tape.

Ed, Terri and I, being the second crew to be on duty at 4 PM, saw Bob and Crew 1 off to the race start around 7 AM. Since we had time to kill, we ate breakfast then headed over to the General Store for lunch items (since the only restaurant in the place wasn’t open for lunch). Took it easy and tried to get some sleep, then got ready to go crewing around 3 PM. Headed out around 3:30 and caught up with them about 30 miles into the course, 12 miles from Stovepipe Wells. We decided that the pacing rotation would be Ed for 3 miles, then Terri for 3 miles, then me for 3 miles, and repeat as necessary. While it was hot out and sunny, it wasn’t as hot as it could have been. We heard 114 degrees during the heat of the day was the max. We got briefed by


Nattu’s crew how Bob was doing, what he was eating, drinking, the procedures during the day. With that, Bud handed me the key to the van, attached to a necklace, so as not to lock ourselves out on the course. As was mentioned in the pre-race briefing the day before, we were trying to avoid a call to the off-duty highway patrol officer and his ‘AAA’ rescue: a rock painted with ‘AAA’ on it to be used to bust through a window. I likewise handed Bud the key to the shuttle van and we were now in charge of Bob’s progress.




Ed took over pacing right away, while Terri and I drove to the next mile marker and waited. We got things in order: filled bandanas and buffs with ice, filled Bob’s bottles with ice and water, sorted out where the food was, the drinks, etc. were and waited. Before long, Ed was radioing in what Bob’s needs were: usually a fresh ice bandana and ice buff with two bottles of ice water. Bob was looking great and moving well. Soon it was time for Terri. Ed made a comment that Bob needs to eat more, and we radioed Terri what he might want to eat. We found it was easier to offer a menu of items to Bob rather than ask him what he wants. Usually his answer to what he wanted was “I’m fine right now.” His other responses were stern looks or “No fucking way!”. This was going to be our main ordeal with Bob, getting him enough calories to get him through the race. Day 1 was much tougher than day 2.
Terri radioed ahead that they were going to come to the van and deal with his tight calves. Ed and I set up a chair in the van for Bob to sit in while Terri rubbed out his calves (I was jealous!). As Ed and I were lifting him into the van (man this guy was light!) his calves seized up immediately as we put him in the chair. Terri got to work immediately and seemed to get the calves to loosen up. Both Ed and I thought if we don’t get this dealt with fast his race may be over. Luckily, we weren’t far from Stovepipe Wells checkpoint, which had a medical station there as well. It was my turn to pace him, and I tried to get Bob to think of other stuff than his calves. We all took turns pacing him and reassuring him he will be okay, and trying to figure out what was going on. I paced him on the final leg to Stovepipe, and as we were heading in a nice chap handed me a map of the altered course due to road washouts near Lone Pine. We spied Bud and Nattu ahead and told them Bob needed to go to the med station to have his calves and feet looked at.





Bob spent about an hour and a half at Stovepipe. Part of that was having his feet looked at, taking a shower, eating and getting off his feet for a few minutes. Denise Jones was in the station and ascertained Bob’s calf issues were due to not broken in Baer shoes. Bob said he had another pair more broken in, but opted to wear his older shoes with the toebox removed. She suggested coming back to have his feet taped after his shower. During this time I was looking at the map. Nattu came over and said that the new course would have the runners turn around before Keeler and head back up Father Crowley’s and finish at Panamint. No Whitney Portal. As we were waiting for Bob to get his feet tended to, Don Meier came running out saying the original course was back on. No detours.

Not long after, out came Bob and Nattu, and Ed took over pacing Bob. It was still light out, but we would have to take out the flashlights soon as Bob was heading up Townes Pass. We made our way along the ever climbing road to Townes’. We managed to keep Bob moving, but still struggled with getting him to eat. He was eating, but not to our liking. It is quite impressive looking back along the long stretch of road and all you see is car lights on the left, and little specks of light from runners on the right. All runners and crew are required to wear reflective vests with lighting attached. Some runners went pretty elaborate: I saw some vests totally illuminated with blinking lights all the way up and down. Thank God for the radios as it was very difficult to see the van at night. We ended up jury rigging a blinker on top of the van to see it from the pacer point of view, which worked out fairly well.

Soon it was time to be relieved by the first crew (although it was a little early for our liking). We briefed them on Bob, trying to get him to eat. His feet were okay but still sore. No tight calves. Bud and I switched keys and we headed back to Stovepipe Wells for some sleep.

Tuesday, July 14, 2008 – Day Two

I got up fairly early, took a shower, then made sure we were all checked out of the rooms as we were responsible for taking all the bags out and leaving them for the relief crew to check in at Lone Pine. In order to meet them by 7:45 AM, we had to forego breakfast as they didn’t open until 7:30. As we made our way toward Panamint Springs (another runner check point) we noticed a lot of water in the valley right up against the road. I guess this is where the road washed out several days earlier. We stopped at Panamint Springs to get some breakfast. Walked in and talked to some other runners and they said be prepared to wait awhile. We opted to get some junk at the convenience store instead. We did notice that gas was $6.51 for regular. We opted not to fill up here. We did pick up some ice (10 bags @4.25/bag). Turns out the other crew picked up some as well. We left going up Father Crowley’s and met the crew a few miles before Father Crowley’s Point. It was about 7:15 AM. We discovered that we didn’t need to get any ice, so we decided to go back to Panamint and off load to others who may want it. Bob was also in the mood for popsicles so we would get a few there as well. Got back and met the crew at Father Crowley’s, exchanged keys and once again Bob’s fate was in our hands.



Bob was in pretty good spirits, but was complaining a lot about his feet. He was still in his toeless shoes, but was planning on switching to his other more worn in Baer shoes on the descent into Darwin and Lone Pine. We all took turns pacing Bob, getting him to eat what we could talk him in to eating. It was already 9 AM and it was getting hot out. We found out Bob’s sense of timing was way off, as every 45 minutes we would remind him to take salt. His standard reply was “I just took some not too long ago!” We would radio ahead and refer to the log entries for each mile and they verified that it was time for some salt. Terri was great in reminding Bob, whether she was pacing or on the radio, that Bob needed to eat something. We would throw out menu items for him to think about and he would choose something. A new item we threw out there was cashews. He loved them!



About a few miles east of Darwin checkpoint, we had an F-18 flyover heading toward Lone Pine. He was probably about 500’ above the deck. He did wave his wings as he flew by. About 10 minutes later, he came back, but this time heading up the valley towards Darwin at about 50’ off the deck and a few hundred yards away. AWESOME!



Then a miracle happened: the clouds started building in, dropping the direct sunshine down to tolerable and the temps down considerably. I noticed Terri was wearing a long sleeved shirt as she was getting chilled. The other miracle included Bob running more. Since the downhill he started running more and more. Here is where he would pick up some of the lost time back at Stovepipe tending to his feet. He was also eating more now. Maybe it was the clouds and temps or he was just hungry, but he was eating more, and it didn’t take a cattle prod to get him to do it. Bob’s big concern was getting rained on. He would ask me a number of times if I thought the rain that was behind us would catch us. It never did, so we were all happy.



We were having so much fun it was a bummer to see the relief crew show up. Nattu was happy Bob was doing so well and making wonderful progress. By this time, we were just a few miles from Keeler, which meant 12 miles to Lone Pine (108 miles into the course). We gave the relief crew the rundown on Bob, exchanged keys, and told them we would meet them in Lone Pine at the hotel.



We headed back to the hotel to clean up and get some late lunch. We settled on the pizza place. We met some nutcase 10K-marathoner who was trying to tell us how to run Badwater while he was questioning the staggered start system, crewing every mile, etc. I noticed Terri and Ed quietly walking away leaving me to deal with this clown. Thanks guys! [Just kidding] After we all had our meal, we then headed back to the hotel to relax until the gang arrived (we estimated around 7:30 PM). I was watching TV and chilling out when I got a call on the phone from Nattu: he was at the back door of the room wanting in. Bob was coming in. We all went out to greet him and offered any assistance we could. Soon, he was off again into town and the final 15 miles of his journey. Nattu suggested we meet them around midnight. Since no more than two crew vehicles on the road at the same time, we would have to drive all the way to the finish and run down to meet them. Ed and I left Terri with the crew while we drove on up to the top. Ed decided to stay awhile, I opted to run down to meet them. I caught up with them about 3 miles from the end. Bob was really moving well in here (not bad for a flatlander Floridian) despite having been running for nearly 40 hours now. It looked like he was going to be able to beat Nattu’s time from last year (which was 41 hours). I decided to just stay and crew and not pace anymore.



As Bob was nearing the finish line, we drove on up to the top and walked down to meet Bob and Terri. Met up with Ed and caught up with Bob and ran the last few yards in with him. Bob did it: Finished in 40:48, beating Nattu’s time by 12 minutes! Way to go Bob!!



While we were driving back, Bob immediately passed out in the front seat. He was entitled. After dropping everyone off, Ed and I wanted to find and meet up with Alene’s crew and figure out how to get the Whitney permits. After driving for 20 minutes we decided we must have missed them and headed back into town. We saw her crew vehicle just ½ mile from downtown and stopped and talked with Stephanie and Ken about Alene and when to get the permits. Earlier yesterday afternoon Alene had to stake herself off the course due to horrible blisters. She had her feet worked on in Lone Pine by Jon Vonhof and Denise Jones, for nearly 2 hours. Well, you’d never know it seeing Alene cruise on by like a BMW sports car smiling and laughing. One tough gal! After talking with them we met up with Scott Weber and chatted with him a bit as well. It was 2:45 AM and time to get back and get some sleep. Breakfast call was scheduled for 6:30 AM.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Got up and showered, then went to the front lobby and checked e-mails. No one from our gang yet, and ended up talking to some of Scott Weber’s crew. Ed and Terri showed up and we started trickling outside for our breakfast run. Had breakfast, came back and started cleaning out the vans. We sorted out the throwaways from the keepers or donations. Jared and I took over to the race HQ in Lone Pine leftover water, unopened food and beverage items, as well as two coolers and assorted items for the local charity. I drove by later that day and found it was all gone. Glad someone found use for it all.

Nattu had to leave to catch a plane back to San Francisco, and I had to move my stuff from my current room into Bob’s room. But as he was asleep, I waited before making a lot of noise. Hung out for awhile and decided to meet up with Alene’s crew to see about Whitney permits. I got there and Stephanie was not feeling well, but we went over to the ranger’s station in town to wait in line to pick them up. We noticed on the info sheet Steph had that permits needed to be picked up by noon. It was now 1:30! Luckily, we were still in the system and got them just fine. We took five for our bunch. Bob decided earlier that he was not going to be in any shape to climb, and with Nattu out of town five covered everyone else. Got back and everyone was ready to eat. We then went into town for nice, cheap hamburgers and fries. Now it was time to chill out for the awards dinner.





This year they moved the awards to an air-conditioned building. Chatted with lots of people: Scott Snyder and his wife Katie, John Hobbs, Phil Rosenstein, Alene and her crew Steph, Ken, Katy and Nick and lots of others. Saw a pretty good movie put together for this years’ race…very well done. Afterward we went into town for ice cream, then headed back to the hotel for sleep for early morning wakeup for Mt Whitney. Before turning in we did a surprise birthday celebration with Terri, and dolled her up with beads, tiara and balloons. Happy Birthday Terri!



Thursday, July 17, 2008



Woke up around 2:30 AM and got ready for the climb. We all met at 3:30 in the parking lot and loaded up the van and headed out to the Portals. We arrived at the Portals around 3:50, so everyone headed to the John for last minute rituals. Katy Cotton showed up, the only one of Alene’s crew to climb, so she joined our party. Ed was leading, then Terri, Bud, Jared, I and Katy. I wanted to take it easy on the climb so Katy and I let the lead pack continue on. Katy and I chatted away about this and that, and had a good time doing so as it made the time pass so much quicker. Saw an awesome sunrise. We lost sight of the gang but continued on up. Mt Whitney isn’t a terribly hard climb, it’s just long, about 11 miles.



I was having some breathing issues as we were approaching the crest trail at 13,650’. Katy was having some headache issues, so I offered her some pain meds. After another couple of miles we got to the top around 9:45 AM (about 5 hours and 45 minutes), and saw the gang up there taking in the views.



It was starting to cloud up so we left pretty quickly, but not before Katy signed the guest book at the shelter. Ed, Terri, Bud and Jared had already left. Now I was feeling great and decided to run.



Katy and I passed everyone as we picked our way down the trail. Some we had to walk as it was pretty rocky and somewhat steep. Ed and Jared soon joined up with us. Terri and Bud were walking. On the way down we met several Badwater runners (Bob Haugh, John Radich, Alex Nemet, Mary Gorski and her crew, and Lisa Smith-Batchen and her crew. We got down to the middle lake and stopped to refill our water packs. As we were filling, we were trying to get a glimpse of Terri and Bud. It was now cloudy and starting to rain lightly. I was getting cold, and wanted to leave. Katy joined me as did Jared. Ed said he would wait for Terri and Bud. I asked him if he was okay with us leaving and he was. So we made our way down, but ended up walking a lot of the wet rocks as they were quite slick. By the time we got to the trees, the rain had stopped and we were able to run again, this time on dirt and not on rain-wet rocks. Katy and I would hammer down, then wait for Jared who was having issues with his feet. We did this all the day down, except for the last few miles when Jared told us to go on ahead. It was raining again so we were happy with getting down to the cars. Katy and I got to the gift shop/restaurant around 1:40 PM. It took us 5:45 to get up, and 3:55 to get down, for a total time of 9:45, give a take a few minutes. Katy and I ordered a hamburger and waited for Jared to arrive. It wasn’t too much longer when the rest of the gang showed up. I looked at the temperature gauge outside and it was 60 degrees. When we finally left and got back into Lone Pine, the temperature was in the mid-90’s.

I chilled out in the room (Bob was gone). Bob came back and was surprised to see us. I started packing up stuff. We later went to dinner at a local Mexican place. Not great, but it wasn’t awful. The service sucked though. Then we went for ice cream, then to the bar for an evening beer. Bob got picked up by a local biker gal and she showed him off to some of the local guys at the bar.

Then it was time to get back and get some sleep for the trip back to Vegas.

Friday, July 18, 2008
Vegas bound baby! After having breakfast and getting the vans gassed up, we left Lone Pine around 9:00. On the way back we saw Danny Westergaard heading toward Darwin for his Badwater double. Not far ahead, we saw Anita Fromm running uphill for her double as well. We stopped in Stovepipe Wells briefly to retrieve a left item, then got back on the road. Stopped at Pahrump for lunch. We got to Vegas around 2:00 PM and dropped off Terri at the airport. We then guessed our way back to the rental place to drop off the vans. Took a shuttle back to the hotel we were at on the previous Friday. After getting ready for the evening, we took a shuttle to the MGM Grand for dinner and the show, Cirque de Soleil ‘Ka’. The dinner was great (Asian) and the show fantastic. After the show, we headed back to the hotel to dress down for the indoor skydiving that Bob was able to arrange for us afterhours. Took a cab ride (the cabbie was trying to find out if we wanted to hit any strip shows) to the place.



Got a briefing and decided after watching that I wasn’t going to fly…my chronic back issues played into my decision and I opted to be safe rather than throw it out. So I watched as the others suited up and flew in this tall cylindrical room with a jet engine down below. It was loud and hot.

We got back to the hotel around midnight.

Wrapup
The week seemed to last forever, but was over before we knew it. It was a pleasure to help Bob reach his goal of finishing, and finishing under Nattu’s PR of last year. We all had a good rappor, and Bob made us all feel like part of the family. The whole experience was very intense: what with the heat, the schedule, the shifts, the pacing, crewing, all that is involved with getting Bob to the finish line. This was my second time out here in as many years, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So mush so I would like to take a stab at it myself. Not sure when it will be, but I’d like to put this race on my calendar in the near future.