Are these people insane?

[jtvang125]

DEATH VALLEY ? The inevitable question is why. That's what people really want to know. Why would a 45-year-old mother of two who otherwise lives comfortably in upscale Hidden Hills choose to run 135 miles through one of the hottest places on Earth, without sleep, in July, during a heat wave that has left most Southern Californians uncomfortably sitting on their living room sofas?

On Monday, 85 runners ? 68 men, 17 women ? left from Badwater, a map dot about 30 miles from the Nevada state line at the eastern edge of Death Valley National Park, the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, 282 feet below sea level. The finish line, more than five marathons from the start, is at the Mt. Whitney Portals, trailhead to the highest point in the contiguous United States.

Along the way, the course winds through three mountain ranges, salt flats, sand dunes and aptly named places such as Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek, where, years ago, the air temperature is said to have hit 134 degrees.

The hottest point of this year's race, according to organizers, was 123 degrees on Monday afternoon. A day later, however, it was a relatively comfortable 94 degrees ? with 23% humidity ? as Farar-Griefer reached the checkpoint at the Darwin Road turnoff off Highway 190.

They would understand even less had they seen her Tuesday afternoon, more than 80 miles into this year's race, well into her third pair of sneakers ? she started in a size 7, expected to finish in a 9 ? one of her toes resembling a small, partially inflated balloon, the insides of her groin area raw from chafing.

"I can't wear underwear and you should see my feet," Farar-Griefer said as she paused to slow to a walk. "They're all blisters. I'm in so much pain."

Hours earlier, and many miles ahead, Scott Jurek, a 32-year-old from Seattle, had already won the race in a time of 25 hours 41 minutes ? 17 minutes ahead of Akos Konya of Oceanside.

I can understand running for charity or for a prize but all they get is a pewter belt buckle if they can finish within 48hrs. Crazy.

 

[MoPHo]

why not?

people get drunk and throw themselves down a muddy hill knowing full well they could kill themselves @ a Mass University...

people just do that kind of stuff because they can

 

[Ika]

Bragging rights?

"I just ran a marathon... man, am I proud of myself!"
"Oh yeah? Well, I ran a 135-mile marathon through Death Valley in two days... sucker."

 

[imported_Stewy]

I saw a PBS documentary on this a few months ago. When running this race, these people have whole support teams who drive along side of them, supplying them with water almost every mile of the race. I forget how much the people drank, but it was something like ~1 gallon per mile? The people who the camera crew were following didn't run the whole race, rather they walked in the hot part of the days, and then ran when it was cooler out, which makes sense.

Why would you do something like this? Bragging rights? Proving something to yourself?

Why do people run marathons? How about Iron Man competitions?