Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Badwater Has Been Conquered!

A MUCH longer post will follow when I get back to DC, but I wanted to quickly post about what an amazing 135 miles Team Roman had at Badwater the past two days. Having never been a part of this race before, I was in continuous awe the whole time at the scenery, the athletes, and the life-sustaining crews. Badwater is simply a one of a kind event.

...and Chris ran a once in a lifetime race! From the opening 41 miles of scorching heat on the pavement through Stovepipe Wells, up the next 18 miles of continuous climbing up to Townes Pass (5000 ft) in a 25mph headwind (this was no fun!), all the way back down through the darkenss to Pantamint Springs, right back up to 5000ft to Father Crowleys, back into the sun and heat from Darwin (mile 90) all the way around the huge salt flat to the first sign of real civilaization in town of Lone Pine at mile 122, and finally up the BRUTAL last climb to 9,000+ft up Mt. Whitney, Chris stuck to the plan (both pace and nutrition-wise), and finished an amazing 16th overall in 32:27!

We're all so happy and proud and totally exhausted! It took 300lbs of ice, 35 gallons of water, and 6,767 utterances of the phrase "Holy s#!+ it's hot out here!", but Team Roman got the job done brilliantly. Can't wait to tell our amazing tale (with a tons of photos!) when I get back in a few days!

3 comments:

Ric Munoz said...

Congratulations to Chris and to Team Roman! Following along on the webcast was so exciting as Chris reached each section that recorded his splits. Can't wait to read all the juicy details and see all your photos. (But get some rest, first!).

Amelia said...

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS!!! I can't wait for the photos.

Runner Tammy said...

Congratulations!!! I was so excited to see Chris's progression throughout the race.

I am looking forward to reading your report. I know it will be super exciting and will provide all sorts of details about the awesome Crew Chris had!

Now go get some rest:-)