Built ultra tough

For the average runner in Yuma, a three- to five-mile jog can be a grueling task during the summer months.

Not for Barb Elias.

She recently completed a 135-mile race through one of the most extreme climates on the planet.

Try to imagine running that distance through Death Valley, where temperatures can reach up to 130 degrees in the summer.

That is exactly what Elias did on July 14 when she competed in the Badwater Ultramarathon race finishing 32nd out of 80 participants.

An ultramarathon is considered any race that involves running longer than the traditional marathon of 26.2 miles.

The Badwater Ultramarathon starts below sea level at Badwater, Death Valley and ends at Mt. Whitney Portal at 8,360 feet.

Runners traverse the 135-mile stretch of paved roads through three mountain ranges, which account for 13,000 feet of cumulative vertical ascent and 4,700 feet of cumulative descent.

Call the race whatever you want, but she doesn’t think it’s as heinous as some people make it out to be.

That’s because Elias is no stranger to long-distance running. Her love for running can be traced back to her time spent on the track and cross-country teams at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa.

Since that time she has competed in several ultramarathons to include the Wasatch Front 100-Mile Endurance Race in Utah, the Zane Grey Highline 50 and the Crown King Scramble in Arizona.

Her running credentials were what allowed her to be accepted as a Badwater Ultramarathon participant. 

“They turn away a lot of people because they want to make sure they are physically capable of running in extreme conditions,” Elias said.

 According to the Badwater Ultramarathon Web site, they accept up to 90 of the world’s toughest athletes with a variety of athletic accomplishments such as marathons, triathlons and adventure racing.

Last year Elias competed as a rookie and finished in 52nd place with an incredible time of only 44 hours, 40 minutes and 15 seconds.

This year she was able to take four hours off her time and finish in 32nd place with a time of 40 hours, 18 minutes and 49 seconds.

Although she didn’t make her goal of less than 40 hours, she said she’s very pleased with her results.

She said, “I had a lot of support from my co-workers, friends, familiar faces and my boyfriend, that was there, that kept me going.”

Modesty aside, Elias knows not everyone can compete or even finish the race, if accepted.

Only 73 out of 80 participants finished the race.

As a matter of fact, Elias had a scare this year where she wondered if she would be able to complete the race.

Forty-two miles into the competition she lost 10 pounds in water weight and had to take a two-hour break so that she could rehydrate.

She said she sat there and thought, “Oh no. Can I get back from this?”

She learned after recovering from some problems the previous year that she would fair better off by taking a break when her body was telling her stop than by fighting it and causing more harm.

She said, “You have 60 hours to do the race, so if you sit down for 20 minutes, you’ll save so much time.”

To most, running 135 miles in two days seems impossible.

 Then again, Elias said, “You don’t have to run the distance to make the distance.”

 The longest Elias ran prior to this race was 62 miles.

 She said that because of the rough terrain, she and other participants walk, hike and run the course.

 She runs an average of 40 to 80 miles a week, coordinating her runs with convenience stores in between Yuma, San Luis and Somerton so that she stays hydrated.

 Living in Yuma, she said, is the perfect place to run and train for this event.

According to the Weather Channel’s Web site the average high temperature in Death Valley in July 2008 was 115 degrees, while Yuma was only 107 degrees.