Well, it has been almost a week since i returned from Badwater and the mystical place called Death Valley. I still have not had time to digest everything i experienced, but will try to get it all out here to share with everyone! First and foremost, our runner, Jacki Florine, was successful in not only buckling, but doing it with such grace. She never once looked like she was struggling and just moved forward the entire race, never getting down on herself, the race, or the crew. It was amazing and she made Badwater look easy!!!!! The whole experience went above and beyond any expectations i had going into the journey. For about 4 years I have been focussed on Badwater as my eventual goal in ultrarunning and finally it seemed that 2009 may be the year for me, but first i needed to crew and pace. Who knows, i may have gone out there and just thought it was dreadful! Well, that did not happen, and quite the opposite!

    After a loooong plane ride and some wrong turns, me, Eddie, Anthony and Peggy arrived in Death Valley and found Jacki waiting for us at the visitor’s center. Mike and Paul arrived shortly thereafter. Jacki wanted to take us to the Badwater Basin, where the race starts, before it got too crowded with other crews and runners. Badwater is the lowest point in the US and the hottest. It is just barren, but beautiful in it’s own right. When we got out of the car i felt like i was going to pass out. It was terrible. I felt extremely light headed and dizzy. I was hoping it was not the heat, but the long journey coupled with hunger and dehydration. After 3 bottles of water, i felt better and rejuvenated, but for a minute there, i was quite concerned!

After our time at the Badwater Basin, we headed back to the hotel in StovePipe Wells for dinner. I was exhausted from the travel and the time change that i barely made it through dinner! But, i did and finally hit the sack. I barely slept that night and finally at 4 am i decided it was prime time to go running. I woke Anthony up to ask him if he wanted to join me and much to my surprise he said ok! So as we got dressed, i said to him “i would like to go out for 2 hours” and he gave me a look that i wish i had gotten on camera! He said “let’s try 10 minutes first”. Well, we did about two hours and it was great. We started with our headlamps and headed down the road until we reached the sand dunes, which were great fun to play in. At the end of the dunes, i had to sit on the side of the road and empty my shoes! We refilled our water and headed back out in the other direction down a gravel road and then back to the hotel right about 7am.

At 7am i accompanied Jacki to a foot taping session with the infamous Denise Jones, who is the QUEEN of QUEENS of Badwater and foot taping. She was amazing. She spent over an hour taping Jacki’s feet. I tried to pay attention and take mental notes for future reference. I pestered her with lots of questions as well. Most of Sunday was spent preparing the van for race day(s). We loaded the van for a trial run and went thru all the supplies and order of items. Also, that afternoon was the prerace briefing which was very long, but mostly entertaining. It was weird to be at a race and not being the one racing. It was quite relaxing!!! After the meeting we had dinner then headed back to the hotel to wind down and prepare for the race morning.

Race morning came fast, but only half the crew could go to the start, so Peggy, Eddie and I wished Jacki well and sent them off for the 8am start. We ate some breakfast and before we knew it, it was 3.5 hours into the race and we wanted to hit Furnace Creek to see her pass thru and bring some ice for the boys in the other van. We got there and they were already out of ice!!!!!!!!!!! BUT, in a stroke of luck, right before the other van and Jacki got there, the ice truck came and we bought 5 bags off the back of the truck. We helped out with a crew stop and then headed back to wait for our shift to begin in the afternoon.

Once our shift started, it was hard for us to get a swing of things, so we had to reorganize the van a bit, and in short time we had the system down. Eddie, who was the driver, would run out with the ice bandana and ice hat. Peggy, who was the Kitchen Bitch, would run out with the Nathan pack which she had stuffed with food and whatever else Jacki needed, I would run out with the sprayer and spray Jacki, while handing her something to eat and drink if she wanted at that stop. Then, the van would pick me up, we would drive a mile down the road and repeat. While waiting for Jacki in that short time, Peggy and i would make the bandanas, put ice in the hats, fill the packs, get the food together, etc. After a few hours of crewing and pacing, we arrived at Stove Pipe Wells (mile 42?) and Jacki wanted to take a quick break in the hotel room. Peggy and I helped her shower and change, and Peggy even washed her clothes for later. I gave Jacki a good stretch out and helped her change shoes and socks. Jacki was impressive with the little amount of time she spent there. I would have been sucked in for sure! Within no time, she was up and out on the road again. At this point in the race, we were told there were flash floods and road closures and that the course would be detoured, but a few hours later, the roads were reopened and the race was back as planned.

When night fell, it was time to start pacing, which was a hard job! I did have fun walking with Jacki up to Townes Pass and then the downhill thereafter. The first time i went out with her i felt sluggish, but the second time, i had a second wind and felt stellar and was slightly sad when our shift was over! Unfortunately it was cloudy and i did not get a good view of the infamous Death Valley sky. 

After our shift, we headed back and tried to sleep, but it was hard! Before we knew it we were back out on the road crewing. The second day was not as hot and as a crew, we had the system down. We leap frogged the same runners every mile and it was neat to see how each runner dealt with the race and the demands of the distance and weather. When Jacki hit the 100 mile point we had a “Beer ‘thirty” celebration with ODouls and popcorn. It was a great point to reach. Jacki was just moving forward at a good clip, with perfect posture and poise. At one point, we could see a big storm in the distance and even hear the thunder. Jacki wanted us to stay closer to her, always in eye sight, but not do a crew stop at each stop. The storms in Death Valley move fast and can be fierce. Finally, the rain started. Jacki was soon in our van for shelter. She spent this time relaxing and fixing her feet, which looked pretty darn good!!!! Shortly after the rain passed (10 minutes tops), the road was a little flooded and we needed to get Jacki thru it dry. Wet feet over 100 miles into a race is not a good idea. As we looked and looked, Jacki just leapt over the flooded sections and shocked us all!

When the boys came to take over our shift, Jacki was moving with such ease that we were afraid she would finish before our last shift. We exchanged all contact info with the boys and headed ato Lone Pine for dinner and a nap. We did not sleep much, because between the contact with the boys, Jacki’s husband was sending us text messages thru the night on the weather conditions on Mt Whitney if they decided to climb it after the race. The final word was to be there at 4am. Luckily we left early and got to Mount Whitney in the nick of time. Jacki stormed that mountain, where most runners have a death march. We hurridly parked the car and met the other crew and walked down the road to meet Jacki. I did everything in my power not to cry as we neared the finish line. It was such a great moment and Jacki was a super start through and through. As we neared the finish line, Jacki started running and ran through the finish line tape. The race director awarded her the coveted buckle as well as a medal. We all posed for pictures and cheers.

During the race, Jacki had participated in a medical study which required her to swallow a transponder pill. Somewhere during the race, she pooped it out. It became a crucial moment of “what to do?” and what else was there to do but clean it up and bag it?????? HEHEHEHEHE. Jacki donned the rubber gloves, i grabbed the spray bottle and a baggie and we bagged it up. At the end of the race, Jacki told the guys at the medical study tent that she had a present for them. Imagine their shock and horror when she presented them with the transponder! They were all dying from the hilarity of the event. It was truly hysterical. She will be remembered fondly by them!

After Jacki finished, we went to the hotel and rested and slept. Peggy, Eddie and I cleaned out the two vans and that was no small task! Afterwards we all went to lunch and to my surprise, when i said i wanted to walk back to the hotel, Jacki joined me! She looked fabulous after that race. I cannot say enough good things about her, her attitude and her race. She could write the book on how to run Badwater.

Wednesday evening, we decided to head to Vegas and try to catch an earlier flight. We said our goodbyes to Mike, Paul and Jacki and the four of us headed out to Vegas. What a contrast Vegas is to Death Valley. After 4 hours of driving we got there around 11pm and basically crashed in bed. The four of us had breakfast at the airport and said our goodbyes. It was very nice to get home at 9pm EST as opposed to 2am!!!! Especially since i had to work the next day.

It will be a long while before i can grasp the entirety of the trip and the experience. I did learn that there is little way to be prepared to run Badwater without having crewed and paced there. The details of the van and the crewing and the race in general are much more complicated than i ever expected. I hope to run the race in 2009, but if not, i plan on crewing and pacing another runner, or volunteering with the race. There are a lot of details i left out, but that is life. I can only write so much!