Original subtitles

( wind gusting )

( wind gusting )

( wind gusting )

( man ) Far more people have climbed Mount Everest

than have ever completed the Badwater 135.

( music playing )

( man ) It's a very forbidding, dangerous place.

It's called Death Valley for a reason.

( man ) This is the hardest foot race in the world.

( cheering )

( man ) The air is so hot, it feels like

there's this massive hair dryer

that's blowing on you.

( speaking Spanish )

( man ) A lot of people are trying to understand,

"Why would you do this?"

( woman ) When you start to really feel

the pain, it's my favorite.

I love it.

( man ) You get exactly what you deserve.

We made small mistake with feeding, and Badwater never forgives.

( woman ) There's no other course like it on the planet.

( man ) Everyone who's been at this race,

you don't leave the same person.

Let's do this, man.

( music continues )

( music continues )

( woman ) Ultrarunning for me is

like speaking to God and Him speaking back.

( man ) These runners are the toughest athletes in the world.

( woman ) The people that just see the end go,

"Why does anybody want to do this?"

It's a death march. It's not pretty.

( man ) What makes these events rich and exciting

is the overcoming adversity.

The crazier the event is, the crazier the stories.

( music continues )

( man ) This place is magic. That's why I'm here.

( woman ) I always like to push the boundaries.

I like to do things that scare me.

( in Spanish ) My problem with hemophilia is when I have an injury,

if I have internal bleeding, it takes a long time to recover.

( woman ) My best running memory is always doing Badwater.

Always.

( man ) You see every star in the sky,

and it's 117 degrees and the sun's not even up.

( woman ) Through Badwater, I'm going to prove

something not only to other people but to myself.

I deserve to be here.

( in Brazilian Portuguese ) Running brings inner peace.

Running can save lives.

( in Danish ) My family and friends think I’m crazy.

( speaking Danish )

It's 93 degrees, I guess.

I wouldn't be running fast in a couple of hours though, that's for sure.

You don't want to overdo it.

( song playing )

( woman ) We're live from Huntington Beach, California.

- Let's have some fun. - ( cheering )

Where do you want it?

I shouldn't be doing any of this stuff.

( song continues )

( clattering )

( sighs )

All right.

Welcome, I am Chris Kostman,

the Chief Adventure Officer at Adventure Corps,

and the race director of the worldwide series of Badwater races.

And why are we here today?

Well, the reason I'm here is to announce the incredible field

of athletes who have been selected to compete

in the world's toughest foot race,

the 2022 Badwater 135,

presented by Adventure Corps.

( Chris ) My name is Chris Kostman,

and I live in Los Angeles, California,

and I am the organizer

of the Badwater 135 ultramarathon.

So it begins at Badwater Basin,

which is 282 feet, or 85 meters below sea level,

It's the lowest point in North America,

and they start on the side of the road there at Badwater Basin,

where there's literally a stinky pool of bad water,

which is why it has that name.

Then they run from there

to the end of the road on Mount Whitney,

the tallest mountain in the continental United States.

What people don't realize, or many people don't realize,

is that there are three mountain ranges

before you get to the finish line.

Now, Lone Pine is the only town actually on the route.

There are three settlements before that,

but Lone Pine is the only place that,

you know, is like a town.

( music playing )

The best way to describe the Badwater runners

when they come into Lone Pine

is it's a living representation

of "The Walking Dead"...

at their very limit just to survive

when they're coming in through town.

It's absolutely amazing the mental fortitude

these people go through to get to Lone Pine,

and then they still have the climb up to Whitney Portal.

It's absolutely amazing, like, how much torture

the human body can endure, honestly.

I mean, these people are ultrarunners,

but they're also, like, professional suffer machines.

( music playing )

( man ) To become an ultrarunner, you have to be crazy.

Your body is saying to you, "Do not run."

Your mind is saying to you, "Do not run."

You keep pushing yourself to run.

( song playing )

Running is mostly about happiness.

You know, when you run, it's, like,

maybe not comfortable,

especially at the beginning

when you try to compete and training is tough, yeah?

But after training, in your normal life, you feel happiness.

- ( child shouting ) - ( speaking Kalenjin )

( laughter, chattering )

That's in Kalenjin, like, "Hi."

( speaking Kalenjin )

I have to close the gate. Bye.

Bye!

Soul of Kenya... children.

Yeah, here I'm keeping shoes.

This is a... this is a toilet and shower.

Yeah, it's together.

And here, living room.

So I'm working here, also I'm doing exercises here.

Yeah, I like to keep everything in order.

Like, bed is like a reward after heavy training, yeah?

This is like a regular house in Kenya.

Like, all houses looks the same.

( music playing )

My name is Damian Kaczmarek.

I'm an ultramarathoner.

I grew up in small village in Poland.

I used to take my dog to the lake just to swim.

Just to be there faster, I started to jog.

At that time, running wasn't so popular,

and it was pretty strange to run.

At one point, I saw an article about Badwater.

And I was like, "Really?

People are doing this? That's impossible."

( zipper, fabric rustling )

I have a huge goal in my life...

to run Badwater under 24 hours.

For sure, it's not easy.

Just eight guys did this in history.

But I will try as long as my body responds for training.

When I wake up, I feel so strong,

so huge happiness, that I want to scream.

It's feelings like this, when you wake up,

you want to scream.

This specific feeling, I have only here.

Only in Kenya.

At one point I realized that most important

during the preparation is to stay on high altitude.

Of course, there is a lot of places in the world with high altitude.

But there is only one place, only one country,

where running is a religion.

It's Kenya.

This place is magic.

That's why I'm here.

Of course, to run Badwater under 24 hours,

you have to sacrifice a lot.

So, I'm a long way from home.

- ( chattering ) - You are lonely here. It's tough.

- I'm fine with that. - Yeah, it's okay.

Maybe I will run Badwater under 24 hours, maybe not.

But in the future,

I don't want to realize that I didn't try.

It's like this.

Even if you don't succeed, yeah?

You have to try as long as it's possible.

That's the goal.

( wind gusting )

The Badwater 135 ultramarathon began in 1987,

but it didn't just come out of the clear blue sky.

Before the race happened there were a handful of runners

who ran from Badwater Basin to Mount Whitney,

and the first one to do that was a man

named Al Arnold in 1977.

We call him the Neil Armstrong of ultrarunning.

He was the first person to prove that it was possible

to run this insane, outrageous, epic route

from Death Valley to Mount Whitney.

And he did it in August, because he wanted to be there

at the hottest part of the year.

( narrator ) "My mind would just take off for hours.

I really began to feel like I was part of the desert.

All the time, I'm looking for Mount Whitney...

and I see this grey ominous thing way in the distance.

Hours later, I find I'm on the same mountain I'm looking at.

Barely kept going all through the night.

Finally, after 84 hours, I reached the summit.

I just laid down on a rock and bawled my fool head off.

I had a hard time putting into words

what I learned about myself.

But I do feel I've become more of a tranquil person."

And then the race started in 1987.

And it was actually a U.S. versus U.K. four-person race

with an American man and woman

running against a British man and woman.

After it was held once, a shoe company heard about it and they took it over,

and they put it on basically as a promotional event for their shoes.

From there, Hi-Tec made it a little bigger,

didn't impose many rules.

There was hardly an entry... I think the entry fee was $25.

And it was sort of go as you please,

there's a time cut-off at the end, and,

"Have a good time and stay safe."

In 1999, when Hi-Tec said, "We can't do it anymore.

We're too busy with our company,"

we were in this quandary

of this is a precious thing to us.

Who do we get to race direct?

( Chris ) When I was given the opportunity to take it over,

I met with the Park Service, and they actually thanked me.

They told me that they had planned to shut that race down.

They weren't going to permit it anymore

because it was out of control and dangerous.

Basically because there was just nobody there running it.

There were just two people from the shoe company and that was it.

So I went out to the 1999 race to watch,

and then they sort of passed the baton to me at that event,

and that was how it started.

( thunder )

( woman ) I've been running for about 20 years.

My first ever run, I couldn't run for a minute.

But every time I went out, I progressed,

I ran a little bit further.

I think that's now why I started doing, like,

really extreme races.

Because I've been doing it for so long

and I always like to push the boundaries.

I like to do things that scare me.

The higher the failure rate in a race,

the more I'm interested in it.

I'm Debbie Martin-Consani.

I live in Glasgow in Scotland.

Do I look intense? Like bitchy?

And I guess you would say I'm an ultrarunner.

You know, running is not what I do. Running is who I am.

I basically just love running.

I love the motion of running. I love the freedom.

I love that I can just go anywhere.

I love running around here.

I love the architecture and the buildings.

I'm obsessed with murals and street art.

I run in streets and industrial estates

and along rivers and anywhere.

I just love the motion of running

and just being outside and the freedom.

You know, I can just put on my trainers

and I can run from my doorstep or...

I don't need anyone or anything, I can just do it.

It fits around my schedule.

Anyone who's an ultrarunner has heard of Badwater.

It's an iconic race.

Most people would say it sounds horrific.

To me, it looks like utter hell,

and I'm sure it'll feel like hell at the time.

I am so scared of the heat.

That's gotta be my biggest weakness.

I'm not bothered about the fact that it's 135 miles

or the tarmac or the ascent.

The biggest factor for me is gonna be the heat

because living in Scotland, I just can't prepare.

A popular expression in Scotland is,

"I love the Scottish summer.

It's my favorite day of the year."

( laughing ) Because, you know,

we're probably gonna get one really good day to train in,

so I'm having to do some artificial-type heat training

because we're just not gonna get anywhere

near those temperatures.

- 36.7. You're okay. - Whoo-whoo!

So I'm training in a heat chamber,

sitting in saunas a lot.

Having some really weird conversations

with people in saunas.

I've also built a DIY heat chamber in my garage.

Bought some plastic sheets from Amazon

which I've stapled round,

and I've got three portable heaters

that I'm gonna put in there.

So I've just gotta do the best I can with what I have.

There's so many ups and downs in ultrarunning.

I have never done a race where I haven't hit some massive bad patches.

But it's gonna be a rollercoaster

and there's gonna be a lot of dark patches in there.

I think there's one of the questions

on the application form where it says,

you know, "Why do you want to do Badwater?"

Or "Why should we give you a place?" or something.

And I just wrote, "I'm Scottish and ginger

and don't belong in Death Valley."

So I only assume they've let me in for the comedy value

of seeing a Scottish woman melt somewhere along the road.

( chattering )

The application for the Badwater 135

is probably more challenging than applying to go to the university.

To even enter that selection process

a runner has to have certain credentials to even submit an application.

The most common is that they have to have done

at least three 100-mile or longer ultramarathon races.

So not stage races, not 24-hour races,

but actual ultramarathons

that are at least 100 miles or longer

where they go straight through.

Nobody gets into this race casually.

There's a minimum requirement to apply.

The expenses are tremendous.

It's probably one of the more expensive races in the sport.

You have to rent one of these vehicles.

You have to stock it up with ice and gas.

And you have to rent hotels at a few different spots

along the Badwater route.

Denise and I probably at least spend $1,000 every year,

and we live here.

We also have another option,

which is to complete our sister race,

the Brazil 135 in South America.

And if they've done that and at least a 50-mile race or longer,

that's another route for applying.

And that basically reflects the fact

that there aren't that many ultramarathons

being held in South America,

and so we're trying to create

a pathway for those runners.

( music playing )

( singing in Brazilian Portuguese )

( song continues )

( in Brazilian Portuguese ) My name is Kleber,

I am 42 years old,

and I am a professional athlete from Brazil.

My life before running,

sometimes I don't even want to talk about it,

because it was a very sad life.

It was a constant routine. Work, home, work, home, work, home.

Sometimes I worked 14 to 15 hours per day.

To be honest, I never wanted to become an athlete.

It wasn't really my goal.

It happened gradually.

The first race in my life, my God, it was so difficult.

At the end of the race, I said, "I'll never run again."

I think God heard this "Never again" and said,

"No. Your life will be made of running."

To go to Badwater, it costs around $12,000.

It's very expensive for us.

Especially for a Brazilian athlete

that's particularly hard to come by.

But it also motivates me.

It's even more expensive for us,

especially coming from a small village.

My dad was my first sponsor.

He always helped me by paying part of my transportation

or my food wherever I went.

( speaking Brazilian Portuguese )

He always encouraged me,

but he always worried about me.

He worried about where I was going, how I was doing.

I am very proud of the fact that my son is doing his races,

that he arrived where he is now.

I pray a lot for him to win.

He was a very humble child.

He never spoke badly to me,

but sometimes he was a bit naughty at school.

He was running away from school.

I had to call him to order several times,

but thank God, now I see it paid off.

( chattering )

( Kleber) My life completely changed.

Now I run, I'm an athlete, an ultramarathoner.

I was very calm, very shy.

I couldn’t express myself very well.

I didn't have a goal in my life.

I was not going anywhere.

I had a talent like a hidden gem.

I needed to hone it.

Nowadays, I feel ready

to tackle any of life's challenges.

My goal in life is to influence people,

show that it is possible to change your life.

People who do not see a possibility to go further, to develop,

my goal is getting people out of that state of mind...

"That's it. It's over. Nothing is going well.

I'm not able to live like this."

From this state of mind, transform them so that they can in turn

be able to transform other people, too.

As for running Badwater,

it's a challenge for me.

A very personal challenge.

Badwater has always been a race

where I want to finish in the top.

Up until now I haven't succeeded.

But now I finally managed to go back,

try and get a better result. That's my goal.

That's why I'm returning,

to try do better than the first time.

I saw you had a bunch of food on top of the ice.

So what ice are you gonna free up

to be able to get to for every bottle?

( Jimmy ) One of the things that makes Badwater distinct and unique

is the support crews.

You are required to have a support crew.

( music playing )

Yeah, watch out. Watch out, watch out.

They're getting out of the van every mile,

mile and a half, two miles.

They're going to carry all of your ice,

your fluids, your calories,

change of clothes, change of shoes,

anything that you might need that's going to get you

from Badwater Basin to Mount Whitney Portal.

But as long as you can just get to the ice so you can fill her ice...

( man ) A runner cannot stay alive without a support vehicle,

It's a runner's job to run.

It's the crew member's job to do every single other thing.

And that means, do the thinking for the runner,

suggest things early in the race,

and then demand things later in the race,

because the runner suffers

from exhaustion, malnutrition.

So, you really have to take over

and do the thinking for everyone.

I've done a lot of jobs in my life,

a lot of manual labor,

and I've been a trial lawyer for 40 years,

and crewing is the hardest job I've ever done in my whole life.

And I've told people that if you don't think it's hard, you're not doing it right.

- Okay. - Uh, bagels...

The truth of the matter is about crewing

is I hate pretty much every minute of it,

but I would hate not being there for my wife even more,

because I know how much it means to her.

( woman ) Spencer has been the man

encouraging me to do more ultrarunning.

Ultrarunning for me is like speaking to God

and him speaking back.

And it sort of reminds me of healing when I was young.

My parents could not afford to send me to college.

I actually got a singing scholarship

to go to school at University of Michigan.

So, I was going to go to school and be a singer.

I moved to Florida,

and I had gotten diagnosed in Florida

at age 17 with cancer.

My life was just about over.

It made me feel so angry.

I was angry at them telling me

about this diagnosis

and not telling me about the 10% of cases

that have survived it.

So here I am today at 66,

and I have had three children,

and I have eight grandchildren.

I just feel extremely lucky and grateful.

- ( chattering ) - Okay, okay.

I decided to change my major.

I became a nurse.

I worked in ICU.

From there on, I have just loved every day

- of my working life. - My name is Pam.

- I'm with anesthesia. - Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you. I'm going to lay you on a nice little warm bed,

and hook you up to a bunch of monitors.

But as I'm hooking you up, you're just going to lay there

because I've got a little cocktail to give you.

- You'll love it. - My approach to my health care

is to take really good care of the patient

I am dealing with at that time.

When I put a patient to sleep,

the last thing I say to them is...

You're going to do really good.

Concentrate on your breath.

Slow deep breath in, and blow it on out.

We're gonna take real good care of you here.

That's the last thing they hear when they go to sleep.

I got into ultrarunning just to run Badwater,

and that is the truth.

I've never ran a marathon, never ran a 5K,

never ran a 10K,

because I just like running by myself.

So, I do run my own race.

I run it because it's my prayer time

and it just silences me.

I was starting to realize

I could do things without my kids,

which is hard for a lot of women to see in life.

It is. You raise kids all your life,

and then, poof, they're gone.

The empty nest syndrome is truly a big depression,

and it happens when you're going through menopause,

so you have hormonal changes.

I want women to know no matter how old you are,

you can be good at anything.

I don't care what it is.

You have to create your own life,

and create and make up your own passions.

If I could come off with just, um...

and I'm trying to say this without tears...

just inspiring one person, then I've done my job.

There's four seats right here. There's three seats right there.

So, why don't you guys...

you know, if there's a group of four...

( chattering )

Remember, we're in a very remote place.

Hospitals can be very far away.

Really great hospitals can be even further away.

You do not want to be in a position where

you need to go to the hospital.

And I'm talking about the racer or the crew members.

You don't want to be in a position where you need medical care

because you are very far from it.

My goal is to have 100 runners stand on the start line,

and then award 100 Badwater 135 buckles at the finish line.

And that's one of the main driving reasons

that we put such an effort into trying to select the field.

Go back, like, 10 feet, 15 feet.

I need all the runners to back way up.

- See those banners? - Smile!

- ( cheering ) - All right! Let's hear it.

- Badwater 135! - Yeah!

We got 24 nations represented.

Awesome! We're done.

You guys have a great evening.

We'll see you at Badwater Basin

for the world's toughest foot race.

( cheers, applause )

Mm.

( in Spanish ) Do you want me to uncover it?

Mm-hmm.

( in Spanish ) I got diagnosed with hemophilia,

when I was about 20 years old.

- Is it warm enough? - ( in English ) Almost.

( in Spanish ) Where I am from, there were no hematologists.

My parents and I, we didn't know that I had hemophilia.

Hemophilia gives me trouble when I hurt myself.

I develop internal bleeding, and it takes time to heal

if I don't get appropriate treatment.

One time I panicked. I was at the hospital.

I was in a coma. I didn't know what happened.

I didn't know how many days I stayed that way.

But when I woke up, I couldn't see anymore from one eye.

But progressively my vision came back.

After that, I decided to go to the United States.

It was a radical change for me

because my whole family lives in Mexico.

I didn't have anybody here. I had to start from scratch.

I didn't know anybody.

At first, I didn't have access to medication.

My brother who stayed in Mexico, he also suffers from hemophilia,

and he has access to medication.

So he would send me some of his medication,

but I would only use them in case of an emergency.

Now I've got access to medication here.

I've got medication in the house.

I can take it whenever I need it.

Living with hemophilia is difficult,

but not impossible.

( music playing )

Badwater is a special race to me.

It's a race that I hold dearly.

I really would like to finish it.

I want to show people who are diagnosed with hemophilia

that it is possible, because a few months ago

my grandson was diagnosed with hemophilia.

He's only 18 months old.

He got diagnosed with hemophilia

and I want to show him that he can live a normal life.

Not only for him, but for my daughter,

because she's the one taking care of him.

Now that I have my treatment at home,

if I have a wound, an injury, or bleeding,

I don't have to go to the hospital anymore.

I feel protected, more confident.

It allows me to live a normal life.

( Jimmy ) The temperature of the air,

you know, is going to be somewhere in the 120,

125 degree Fahrenheit range,

and the pavement readings are going to be off the chart.

They're going to be 165 to 185 Fahrenheit.

They are almost at the point you could fry an egg on the road.

Hearing about that type of searing heat,

going to the hottest place on Earth

in the hottest week of the summer,

people throwing up on the side of the road and heat stress.

Well, I mean, I'm not vomiting everywhere anymore, so that's good.

Liza, you have vomited in very beautiful places.

- It's true, I have. - And this is one of them.

So, how do you get the body ready for this extreme heat?

And not just extreme heat, but you're likely going to be

running or hiking through two nights.

Sauna training is a very common tenet of Badwater participants.

You'll sweat more. That will help with the body's cooling mechanisms.

And just getting in a lot of miles, specifically road miles,

beating the body up so that it can get a little bit stronger

and tougher and more resilient,

so that when you're on 135 miles of desert road,

you can start to, you know, survive that.

( cooing )

( woman speaking Danish )

( speaking Danish )

( woman ) It's called Mother In Shape.

It's something I have made in Denmark.

Mothers who come with their children, and then we train together.

( speaking Danish )

There was no offer for mothers like me who wanted to train.

I could only do, you know, singing with the children.

( speaking Danish )

And I thought it could be good to have something...

work out together.

It's really funny because mothers are coming

in three months, every day,

and you get a friendship with the mothers.

Afterwards, you still write with them, and you see them,

and you miss them, and you have a special bond.

You can have this as a memory,

and think of Stine.

( in Danish ) I have always been very active.

I have always done some kind of sport since I was a child.

So I have always run in some way,

either through soccer or other kinds of sports.

In a way, I can't remember a life before running.

( cheering )

As a child, I had my energy channeled

through many forms of exercise.

I also think that's why I spend a lot of time with young people,

trying to motivate them to engage more in sports,

because it helped save me.

When I run, I experience focus and peace.

My first run is during the morning from 5 to 6 AM.

During that run, I often plan the day in my head.

I also found it awesome that I felt like I forgot time and space.

My thoughts just drifted.

( speaking Danish )

I run because it gives me mental clarity.

I run because it helps me manage my thoughts.

I run because I love to run, and I love to be outside.

Problems I can't seem to solve,

for example, work stuff,

I always seem to find a solution when I'm running.

I think the coolest thing about ultrarunning

is the adventure aspect of it.

The fact that you have to travel somewhere,

and the fact that you have to prepare for it.

( in English ) It's really funny.

Sometimes there's people to talk with,

and they relax and I just train.

They think I'm really, really crazy.

( producer ) Do you think you're crazy?

- I know I'm crazy. - ( laughter )

( in Danish ) Normally, I don't have a structured training program.

Right now I do have one because I have to run Badwater.

So at the moment I run almost every day in a room

where the temperature is around 40 degrees Celsius.

I run 45 to 60 minutes in that room every day.

So for the first time in my career, I have a program I have to follow.

( in English ) Just do it.

( in Danish ) My best advice to people is take a chance,

because even if you don't succeed, you'll learn a lot,

and then it will probably work out next time.

The need to over-analyze things, feeling secure about everything

isn't the way to go in my opinion,

because you will never be certain about the outcome.

I asked Dan, my husband,

if he thought I could run 6 hours.

He didn't even have to look at me.

He said, "Of course you can!"

I asked do you think I can run 12 hours?

He said, "Sure, you can always walk for a bit."

At last I asked, "What about 24 hours?"

Then he said, "No, it's only crazy people who can manage that."

So I registered for my first 24-hour race,

and I ended up beating the Danish national record,

which also got me a place on the Danish national team.

So it was quite a crazy start on my ultrarunning career.

( in English ) So, just do it.

( wind gusting )

( Jimmy ) My picture of desert

was this idea where if you drive from Los Angeles

to Phoenix, Arizona, it's hideous.

It's like tumbleweeds

and dust bowls and just not...

not something you would go visit on purpose.

And once I got out to Death Valley,

it's one of the most unique parks in the United States.

It's got these epic marvels of geology.

It's one of the most unique places in the world.

( man ) Badwater is the craziest landscape I've ever run on.

I always tell people it's like running on Mars.

At night, you can see every star in the universe,

and then some bonus ones they throw out there.

It's kind of what the race does to you.

It kind of strips your soul bare.

Whoo!

( cheers and applause )

You find out who you are.

It doesn't matter what you're wearing.

It doesn't matter what you know.

It doesn't matter the money in your bank account.

None of that can help you get to the finish line.

( cheers and applause )

You figure out who you are.

You figure out your true worries in life.

Whoo!

( laughter )

( music playing )

When you're out there, there's only one person

you can really hear, and that's yourself.

( no audible dialogue )

And most of us never really hear ourselves

in our daily life because of all the noise.

( music continues )

When I read about Badwater, I kind of had

that same initial perspective that it was something

just so crazy and so out there,

and it was these really especially gifted athletes

that show up to do that race,

and I'm about as normal as it gets.

- Giddy-up! - ( chattering )

I've always had to balance being a father

and being a parent and being a runner.

I've basically been a stay-at-home father most of the time,

and I was running Run It Fast, my side business, out of the house.

So I was taking these kids to school in the morning,

picking them up in the afternoon... different schools.

If they had a problem or something,

I was usually the one taking care of it.

- Whoa! Good one. - Oh.

So, I mean, that's always been the number one priority in my life,

and I've worked running and training around it.

To be able to get the training in and have a flexible schedule,

you gotta be able to put a lot of pieces together financially

to try to pay the bills.

( beeps )

I get to talk about my passion of running,

I get to talk to people that come in the store,

whether they're new to running

or whether they are a very experienced runner

because we have that connection and that bond.

I like seeing, like, newer people into the sport.

They're usually really excited, and I try to help them

to get to where they wanna get to.

Your left's at 8.2. You have non-existent arches.

They're somewhere over in California.

This year's been extremely tough with a lot of things

I've been dealing with in my personal life

and trying to figure a lot of those things out.

Running is something that's always leveled me out.

Especially in the further you run,

it's kind of like you get to where the only thing

you can think about is survival.

It's kind of always been like

a therapeutic release in a way.

And then of course, you know, when people look at how much

and how far you run, and you say,

"Oh, running's my therapy," which a lot of people say.

When you run as much as me, you know, people are like,

"Mm. How messed up is this guy that he's having to run

this much for therapy?"

( music playing )

When I'm into something, I, like, keep pushing the pedal.

And that's where I'm able to oftentimes process

a lot of things going on in my life.

I've always said it detoxes my soul, it bleaches my brain,

and it helps me just, like, get grounded again.

If I go a couple of days without running,

everything starts to kind of shut down.

I start to kind of overload mentally.

So I have to go out and run.

Run or go to the gym and lift weights.

They're both good for me.

Oftentimes, when I'm in the middle of the desert,

even a hundred miles before the finish line,

I'm thinking about my kids that are camped out

at the finish line.

They're waiting for me to get there.

Their smiles, how proud they'll be of me

no matter how well I did in the race.

In my lowest points in the race, I kind of focus on them

and I can see the mountains in the distance,

like, from 50 miles away.

I'm like, "I gotta get to my kids.

I gotta get to my kids."

Sometimes I just do crazy scenario games in my head.

I'm like, "All right, the world's ending.

There's only one way to get to my kids

and they're 50 miles away and I gotta get there by foot."

So, like, I've gotta get there.

It's, like, a necessity to get there.

At the end of the day, I feel like you have to do

what you're passionate about, what makes you happy.

And as long as you can... you know, for me,

keep my kids first in my life

and running somewhere below that,

I believe that I can handle the balance

and that's what I try to do.

( chattering )

( man ) Yeah.

Hey! What's up, guys!

- We have blue tape. Uh-huh. - Okay, so take this.

I'll need your runner check-in form.

And I'm going to look at your...

( woman ) For me, this is probably

the greatest moment of my life so far,

being accepted into Badwater and then getting to run it.

Okay, Lindsay is ready to run! Lindsay is out there!

I can't really think of anything greater in my life

that I've looked forward to for so long.

This is my calling. No matter what happens, I'm gonna just...

I'm gonna be so excited to just go stand at that start line

with these legends of the sport that are still running it.

This is who you need a picture with!

- So I hear you... - Truly the best in the world are gonna be there,

and I get... like, how am I gonna be standing there?

Like, it's truly mind-blowing.

( music playing )

When I was, I believe 13, about in seventh grade,

my dad actually gave me a book by an author

that is very well-known in the running community.

His name is Dean Karnazes.

So he wrote a book called "Ultramarathon Man,"

and in it he just describes this race that's Badwater.

He talks about how it's so hot and you have to wear all white,

and you've got to run on the white strip.

Like, he really fantasizes the whole thing.

And I don't know what that says about me,

but I read this as a 13-year-old

and I was like, "I've gotta do Badwater."

Like, I've gotta do this.

I've gotta be one of those crazy people.

( music playing )

Living in Los Angeles is like the best training ground.

It truly is, because we've got endless amounts of canyons,

and then you also have pavement roads that go up forever.

You can easily get 5,000 feet of climb in your training run.

As far as roadblocks go,

I fractured my back when I was 14,

so my training is definitely vital

in making sure that my core is strong,

making sure my back is ready for 135 miles.

I've also had foot surgery, which gives me trouble from time to time

due to wearing high heels for x number of years as a model.

I don't wish that on anybody to have to learn how to reuse their foot again.

Since I have been modeling for the majority of my life,

a lot of kind of stigma that comes with that is like, "She can't be tough."

So for me, I've got something to prove.

I feel like, yes, I've been very blessed in certain areas of my life

and I've been able to travel the world and be this model.

On the other side, I feel like I'm working out of a disadvantage

in the ultrarunning world.

People really do judge you

before you even get out on that course.

So, for me, I feel like I've got a lot to prove.

Through Badwater, I'm gonna prove something

not only to other people, but to myself.

I deserve to be here.

It's very, very tough to win this race twice in a row,

because you have to have a great day both times

and you have a target on your back the second time that you're here.

( cheers and applause )

( overlapping shouting )

Harvey Lewis, he's probably the top American contender here.

He's the nicest guy in the world,

but he is so serious when it's game time.

He has the running talent, the experience.

Being a 10-time consecutive Badwater veteran,

he knows what he's doing on this course.

So I would not ever count Harvey out

of maybe pulling off a win,

but certainly being in the top three or top five.

( man ) "I'm psyched."

We'll just get a little bit of ultrasound gel.

It's all warmed up, Harv.

( Harvey ) If we didn't do this right now, can you imagine?

- ( man ) Aw, Harv. - I'd probably be, like,

breaking up across Death Valley or something.

( man ) You should feel this pretty good in a second, Harv.

- ( device clicking ) - No, that's good.

- No, I don't want to feel it too much now. - But you can feel it?

See that? How tight that is right there, Harv?

- ( clicking continues ) - Yeah, you think it's tight...

like, the right side is tighter than the left side?

( man ) Yeah. We'll check it really quick.

- I might have to switch it... - Nah, I think that's pretty good.

- Are you sure? - Yeah, I'm sure I'll be ready to go flying later today.

( music playing )

It's 93 degrees, I guess.

I'd say my suit's about 200 degrees right now.

It's part of my heat training.

( song playing )

I wouldn't be running fast in a couple hours though, that's for sure.

Especially within almost 10 days of the race,

you don't wanna overdo it.

Whew.

It's hot.

Hot, hot, hot, hot.

Oh, man, I feel the steam coming down my legs.

( panting )

( sighs, laughs )

( woman ) Harvey's mind is so different than anybody

that I've ever met.

He only sees positive, all of the time.

I used to say I thought he was just totally out of touch with reality

was like the way that I viewed it.

I was like, this guy is, like, you know, off.

It's hotter than anything I'll experience in Death Valley,

and it's also really dangerous.

Like, if someone normally did that, they would die.

But to him, it's like, "Go, go, go," all the time.

He always has an idea.

He's always ready to go do something big.

It's good.

All right, now we can go out and run some more.

( Harvey ) I became a teacher because I felt driven

to work with young people.

I actually really struggled in school growing up.

I had to apply myself longer to get the same achievement

that someone else probably got through a shorter time.

There was a major switch in ninth grade.

I was on the track team.

I wasn't a very competitive runner.

I'd usually finish towards

the middle of the back or the back.

And I decided sort of on a whim,

I was gonna run the Cleveland Marathon

about eight or nine days before the race.

My mom agreed to go ahead with the idea,

even though it kind of sounded crazy to everybody.

I really struggled through the marathon.

Ran the first eight or nine, ten miles,

and then after that, I ran and walked.

It was a real pinnacle moment for me

because it taught me that through endurance,

you can achieve great things.

- Whoo! - Congratulations.

Our 2021 champion of the Badwater 135,

Harvey Lewis.

10-time finisher and two-time winner.

He won the race seven years ago, 2014.

( Harvey ) Winning the Badwater 135

for my second time was a dream.

This was my 10th year running the race.

It's kind of crazy because back when I was a younger person,

my mind back then would never even imagine going out

and running for 135 miles in 120-degree heat.

Like, that would have been, like, pretty daunting.

The Badwater race is more than just a race to me.

By putting myself through that hardened experience,

the struggle, the discomfort,

I come out of that with some greater appreciation for life.

The desert is timeless.

It's something magical.

It's serene.

Every time I return there,

it's like visiting an old friend.

Just imagine you're out in the middle of nowhere.

You can see for as far as the eye can see in all directions,

and there's not a single human.

( woman ) That alone makes it very unique.

Starting at a really low place

and going through a really harsh desert...

that course is so much like my life.

I always had a natural love for running.

I noticed at a young age, too, in elementary school,

I was always one of the fastest kids in the whole school.

I loved being able to beat the boys at the races.

And when boys would try to chase me,

I loved that they couldn't catch me.

You know, when I was younger,

I wanted to be a professional soccer player.

I didn't think that I was going to be

an ultramarathoner.

It was through a series of

just really sad events in my life

that I didn't continue pursuing soccer.

When I was 15 years old,

we found out that my mom was very sick.

The doctor said, you know, "You have breast cancer.

There's nothing we can do to help you."

You know, "This is... you only have a couple years to live."

My mom was my greatest encourager.

She was at every soccer game, and she was always the one

that believed in me when I didn't believe in myself.

I really couldn't imagine my life without her.

When I was 17,

we had our final soccer game in high school.

She, for a few weeks, wasn't able to come to my games

because she was so sick and she really needed to be in bed.

I was running down the soccer field.

All of a sudden in the corner, I notice my mom

standing beneath an umbrella.

And I was like, "What are you doing here?"

I missed the shot on goal, and I run over

to the corner of the field. She's there all by herself.

She says, "I just... I wanted to watch you play.

I love watching you play."

A couple months later she passed away,

and I lost all hope in soccer.

The last birthday I had with her was when I was 17.

She gave me a whole bunch of yellow presents.

A little yellow candle and a yellow picture frame.

And she basically just said,

"Don't be bitter that I'm gone."

And that's where Yellow Runner comes from.

( music playing )

This year marks the year

where I have finally outlived her.

As a teenager, I started wondering

what my life would be like when I was her age.

I wondered, is that gonna be the same path for me?

Am I gonna find out when I'm 40 years old that I'm gonna die?

For so long, it was all about me being a famous soccer player

and making all this money.

And when my mom died, none of that mattered anymore,

and I realized that that was a very small dream.

As years went on, you know, I always would remember

that image of my mom standing in the rain

when she was so weak and in so much pain.

I always like to give her credit as to why I was curious

or thought I could run an ultra in the first place.

Because I thought if someone can stand in the rain

when they're so close to death and in so much pain,

I think I can run 100 miles.

( music continues )

( woman ) How do you feel?

Good. It's race morning.

Start at 11 PM. Got eight hours of sleep.

Doing good.

Most races start in the morning.

So, like, you go to bed the night before,

if you wake up at, you know, 3 or 4:00 in the morning

and the race starts at six, you don't have that long to think about it.

Like, just a couple of hours and then you'll be fine.

You're starting and the anxiety's gone.

This is like a whole day to let you think about it.

( man ) You're talking about changing your start time.

Yeah, I'm having a bit of a panic.

- Having a... - It's just a...

- Crisis. Confidence crisis. - Last minute jitters.

It gets worse because you have three different start waves.

So you have the 8 PM start wave, the 9:30 PM start wave,

- and the 11:00 start wave. - If it's possible, I'm gonna do it.

Just give myself that little bit of buffer

just, um, so I don't go off too hard.

( Eric ) So the people in the first wave,

if they were starting later,

that cut-off at mile 50 would be very tough for them.

But the downside is the sun is still up when they start.

The 11:00 wave, it's the darkest,

but that cut-off is closer for them.

So even though that last wave has very fast runners,

if they have just a rough patch,

their margin's smaller than the other two waves are.

So that's kind of the downside.

I personally believe the middle wave

is the easiest one because

you have the sun being down,

and you have an extra hour and a half buffer.

But I think anyone would tell you,

if you're having a bad day,

it doesn't matter which wave you're in,

it's just a challenging thing to do.

Now we're getting serious, Pam.

Now we're getting serious.

It's her Xena braids.

You ready to rock this thing?

Ready to rock it.

( woman ) Let's see.

We've got 30 minutes

until we gotta get our butts out of here

and to the start line.

- All right, so... - Almost time!

We're gonna do a quick little last minute check

to make sure we have everything for Pam ready.

And it looks like we have a can of Coke that exploded.

That's the Death Valley heat for you, folks.

That's regular. That's regular.

- That's for the final calories. - When we get to the start,

you guys will wanna fill this with ice and water.

But let's get to the start first.

Yeah, we gotta get there first.

( woman ) Debbie?

How you feeling?

I'm nervous and excited. More excited, I think.

- I think I just wanna get started. - Yeah, we're gonna go.

- We're gonna do it! - Leaving Lone Pine, heading to the start.

( indistinct chatter )

I wanna sleep.

Last minute packing.

( man ) There's not many moments in life

where you have this much freedom,

where you're just, like, on this grand adventure

and you get to do it with the best friends

and people you trust.

And you just gotta soak it up while you're in it

because no matter how long it feels during it,

it'll be over in the blink of an eye.

( woman ) Here we go to the start line.

- How you feeling, Spence? - Oh, I'm feeling relaxed.

How about you, bombshell?

Oh, you wonder why I'm on blood pressure medicine

- ( woman laughs ) - You...

( woman ) What time is it, Debbie?

It's 8 PM in the evening and it's 47 degrees.

( man ) Would you like to do this one day?

No.

( woman ) Hands in.

Good and gracious God, thank you for bringing us all together here today

to glorify you and all the gifts and talents

that you've blessed us with.

Be with us as we guide Mom through, um,

the desert, and keep her safe and healthy,

and all of us safe and healthy and in positive minds

- and, um... - ( woman ) Bodies and spirit.

bodies, spirit, all of the things.

- In your name we pray, amen. - ( all ) Amen.

( woman ) Beautiful, Stace.

Do you wanna a cool thing on...

- Yeah, that'd be great. - Don't trip.

( man praying quickly ) Dear heavenly Father...

We just want to thank you for this day and bless this life...

( continues praying )

as he gets ready to go across the desert, Father.

Just give him the ability and the fortitude

to be able to... whatever comes his way, Lord.

- Let's do this! - Yes.

- You're gonna smash it. - You're gonna do awesome!

- Thanks so much. - You're gonna be awesome.

- Please don't die. - Don't die? Okay, thanks.

( woman ) Say good luck to your mom.

- ( woman ) How do you feel? - I feel good.

- I think so. Maybe. - You ready?

- I not ready, but... no. - You're not ready?

I think you're more than ready. Do you need help with that?

- Yeah. - Okay.

( music playing )

( indistinct chatter )

- ( man ) All right, everybody. - Let's go!

- Let's go! - Whoo!

( man ) Okay, all the runners line up at the sign.

( music continues )

( exhales )

We're here. We made it!

( indistinct chatter )

- All right, one, two three. - ( chatter continues )

I think we have a couple minutes before we have to go down.

Hands and face.

( laughter, chatter )

( man ) You all earned your spot on this start line.

We all believe that you are capable of doing this.

( indistinct chatter )

Everybody look straight forward. Look straight forward.

- Three miles, okay? - ( man ) Three miles.

- ( indistinct chatter ) - ( Chris ) You guys ready?

We're gonna count down from ten

and then you are gonna begin

the world's toughest foot race.

Ten, nine...

( crowd joins in ) Eight, seven, six,

five, four, three,

two, one!

( cheers and applause )

( Chris ) Don't start thinking about the 135 miles

of scorching desert mountain highway

between here and the finish line.

Just don't think about that.

Don't think about how you'll be running all night

and then you get to go 5,000 feet up Towne Pass!

Over 17 miles!

And you hit the top and you're not even

anywhere near halfway yet.

Just don't think about those things.

But definitely think about how I will be

at the finish line waiting for you.

( cheers and applause )

- ( man ) Let's go! - Whoo!

- ( cheering continues ) - ( woman ) Let's go, papi!

( cheers and applause )

- ( man ) Yay! - Now the fun begins.

- All the fun. - Lot of work went into it.

A lot of work's fixin' to go into it.

We'll see you guys out there.

( Eric ) That first overnight,

that's when their body realizes

you're not gonna sleep tonight.

And it's where you see a lot of mistakes start to happen.

Let me ask you this.

What happens if you lock yourself out

and you have to call AAA?

You're gonna take that rock

and you're gonna break my window.

- 11 times in 23 years. - No. You know why?

Spare keys around the neck! You've heard my speech!

Please water up. It's really, really hot.

It's 121. Don't stand in back of the car.

If somebody drifts over, we don't wanna go to no legs land.

- Okay. Am I good to go? - You're good to go, brother!

Go, Pam! 5-2.

She's gonna be here in just a couple minutes.

- Oh, yeah. -Okay, we're ready?

- Yeah, we're fine. -All right.

( Eric ) There's pressure on the crew, certainly.

You don't wanna do something

that jeopardizes the runner's race.

Yeah, one now.

We can do another one in 30 minutes.

- You gonna spray her? - Yep.

- Have you put... oh, you have. Well done. - I put ice, yep.

Um, yeah, make sure that's pumped.

- Yep. Sure. - You want me to do that?

Uh, would you give me half a scoop of scratch please?

Yeah, that's perfect. Thank you.

- What about a Maurten gel? - Got it.

- Yeah, it's in the... - You got it?

- Okay. Water? - Got it.

I believe this is one of the hardest parts of the race,

even though it's very early, because you can't see very much,

you have a lot of runners on the road together,

and it's just a lot of tail lights of crew vehicles

and headlights of the runners on the other side of the road.

( man ) All right. We're going, we're going!

Yep, going.

Yep. Got it.

- Ready, Mom? - Keep moving.

( indistinct chatter )

- Is that dead? - No, it's too hot.

( woman on radio ) You're gonna have to make her water colder.

- Make her water colder. - ( woman ) Copy!

So that means, I guess,

- uh, put the ice in the water. - Yeah?

Put the ice in after we stop,

- not before we stop. - Yeah. I've got... on it.

- Everywhere. Yeah. - Everywhere?

- Is that okay? Good? - Yeah.

- Stace, you want a little splash? - Sure. Thank you.

Yeah, she really wants it cold, I mean, it's coming out...

it's ice cold water to begin with,

- but it's pretty hot outside. - ( woman ) Yeah.

- It is hot outside. - Okay.

- Well, let's do the best we can with that. - Yep.

( music playing )

( indistinct chatter )

( indistinct chatter )

( speaking Spanish )

( speaking Polish )

( chatter continues )

- Go, go, go! - Go, go!

- I'll just take nutrition. - Okay.

- Just nutrition. - Yeah, yep.

- And then thank you, guys! - All right.

- Yeah! - ( indistinct chatter )

All right, what do you need?

- Um, handheld. - Or both? Handheld.

- Maurten. Okay. - Dumping those.

- I need ice, yep. - Want some ice? Yeah?

- Thank you. See you in two. - Yep, yep.

- You good? Okay. - Yep.

( man ) Just over marathon distance.

2:00. Been running for four and a half hours.

Outside temperature is 109 Fahrenheit.

It's chilly compared to the start!

Debbie is motoring so fast just now

that actually we're playing a bit of catch-up.

You're not drinking enough, Debbie,

according to what we always said!

That was a quick section.

Um, we don't think she's drinking enough,

so we're actually trying to say drink more.

We expected we should have been about three liters by now.

( Eric ) They call it banking time.

Just try to go faster

while it's dark and not quite as hot,

to then have less time in the sun

climbing in the full exposure.

The problem is they're going too hard

and they don't realize it.

( Marco ) Susie!

Susie, did you get a Coke?

- Coke. - Coke?

- There's a ginger sweet. - Yeah.

- Why don't you suck that? - Yeah, thank you.

- And a Coke? Okay? - Coke. Get some Coke.

- Just in a flask? - Yeah, yeah. Please? Thank you.

( Marco ) How you feeling?

- Just a bit sick. - Yeah?

- Okay? - Yeah.

Why don't you just walk for a while?

Just try a wee jog. Could we just walk for the next bit?

( Susie ) Are you going two miles, yeah?

- Two miles. You walk. - Halfway to 50, Mom.

You're doing great, You're ahead of the pace.

- I... I am? - Yes, you are.

-You're doing really well. - Yes, you are.

- Doing brilliantly. - Brilliantly.

You want another Maurten gel or...

- No. Yeah. - I'll hang on to it? Okay.

- Do you have any more ice? - Yep.

- Boob ice? - This one's for my back.

- For my hip - Okay.

- ( coughing ) - Good?

- Yep. Good. - All right.

- I'm gonna spray you again. - Thank you.

- Mm-hmm. - Okay, baby, you're doing great.

- Okay. Thank you. - You're ahead of the pace!

- Keep it up! All right! - Run, run!

Run like the wind! Whew.

( Spencer ) Our focus now is the 50-mile cut-off.

That's our focus. That's our laser focus.

Get her across the 50.8 mile by 10 AM.

All right, what do you want to drink?

( music playing )

( woman ) Is this thing for the bra or is there another one somewhere?

- ( man ) Uh... - ( indistinct chatter )

Spray it with that spray. Yep.

Just some ice. Thank you.

- Thank you. - Nice work.

Keep it up. Keep it up.

( man ) 5:00 on the dot.

You can see the cars out in the distance.

They're crewing the other runners

all the way as far as you can see.

- Sun's coming. - Yeah.

( Marco ) We'll go straight to the checkpoint,

and we'll get you there.

I'm a million times better.

Yeah, you are. Yeah, I know.

I can tell. You perked right up.

- Here take a sweet. - ( muttering )

- Do you want Marco to get ready to pace? - Eh...

( Marco ) I'll get ready.

I'll just take a couple of these.

Cool.

You're looking great. Well done.

Bye!

( woman ) Lights off soon. Sun's coming!

I can take this off?

( man ) I think so.

( man ) Yeah, it looks like... yeah, I think so.

( indistinct chatter )

( Lindsay ) Pain is something I really welcome.

The first 30 miles of a hundred-miler

are the hardest for me because I know that pain is coming

and everything kind of, like, it doesn't feel right yet.

So around mile 30 when you start to really

feel the pain, that's where I thrive.

I can sit with that feeling of just torture for what feels like a lifetime.

What do you want?

Uh...

( indistinct chatter )

Yep.

( woman ) Good job, Lindsay.

( man ) Danny's, like, two people up.

( man ) Nice job, Linds!

( music playing )

( indistinct chatter )

( music continues )

( indistinct chatter )

- Shorter than usual, right? - ( woman ) Yeah.

- Fantastic. - Uh...

I'm gonna put this lamp right here, guys.

- Yep. - It's gonna need to be charged.

- Charge them all for the night. - You got it. You got it.

( indistinct chatter )

Do it for my legs.

Back. Grab my deodorant. It helps.

( woman ) Yeah.

Okay. I might at some point do a shoe change

into the white Cliftons.

( woman ) White Cliftons? Okay. Got it.

Rock and roll all night, party every day.

( muted chatter )

You're good. You're good.

( indistinct chatter )

- Five! - Five. Got you, Debbie!

High-fives all around.

I'm just gonna take a...

I had a very rough night.

She was throwing up a lot.

It was a little bit worrying

for quite early on in the race.

She didn't slow down, but she was throwing up,

and she just kept running.

We were like, "Slow down," and she just kept running.

Now she's looking absolutely perky as hell, so thank goodness.

We don't have any...

( Eric ) Starting at mile 42,

you're allowed to have one runner only...

and you can rotate who that is... running with you.

So the pacer helps you.

They can also carry things for you,

often like a spray bottle to kind of cool you down.

If you didn't have a pacer,

it would be really tough mentally.

- Number one, checking in. - Got it!

That sounds, like, so prideful.

- "Number one, checking in." - Nice!

- Nice work! - Thank you.

You go, girl.

( man ) We have the van right here.

I almost stopped my watch like I was done.

That was a good 42, guys, so...

( man ) She's doing great. She's in great spirits.

Yeah, she's in, like, maybe 30,

40 minutes quicker than last year.

Yeah, let's go, you guys.

( man ) Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead.

This race is all about patience, right?

And so much is going to happen between now and the finish line,

and she's really kind of focused on time and just keeping at it.

( woman ) She's not feeling sick?

No. Unh-uh, no.

- Not yet. - But you never know.

It's a long race.

Really good.

( man ) Yeah.

( in Brazilian Portuguese ) I want to change here.

( in Brazilian Portuguese ) No, to take a shower.

She said no.

He wasn't able to eat at the beginning

and was feeling a bit weak.

But now he his able to eat again,

and has gained some strength back.

I am just gonna take it off because I am burning.

No, dry yourself and put on Vaseline.

And one other thing, you were running next to another runner.

You can't do that. You can be penalized.

I can take some Coca-Cola, and I'll catch the car there.

- Do you want to keep walking? - No, I'll stay here for a bit.

( woman, in English ) Oh, another Brazilian runner!

( in Brazilian Portuguese ) Water from Caxambu!

( woman, in English ) Pretty exciting.

Oh, we got some film crews...

( in English ) Very hard. Whew!

( Eric ) So the next section is a 17-mile climb to Towne Pass,

and it's about 5,000 feet of climbing.

So it's a very steady climb.

The best runners that are here are just patient.

They know that it's a long race,

you have so much time to make up.

And those little minutes you're saving here and there?

You could be giving up hours, tens of hours,

or out of the race later on.

This is the ultimate test

of when little things go wrong

that you're doing kind of improperly,

the penalty is massive.

Okay, uh...

( speaking Spanish )

- That hurts. - With hemophilia this is a...

( woman ) It was a pretty small blister.

It bled out pretty good.

But I think he was able to squeeze all the blood

and get it to stop and tape it up really well.

So I think he'll be fine.

I think if he had waited longer, it would have been a lot worse.

( in Spanish ) My bottle?

- ( speaking Spanish ) - I can only do so many things.

( in English ) Okay, thank you.

( Susie, on walkie ) Sorry, can you repeat that?

- Over. - Yeah, some more ice

for the sleeves, and we're coming up behind you.

Roger that.

( Susie ) She's been doing this periodically,

just getting in the car, lying down,

having five minutes, regrouping,

and popping back out again.

- How about some... - Rather than plowing on,

I think it's like a little reset.

- I'll try it next stop. - Can I, um...

( Sally ) I feel like sometimes just

a few minutes of resetting,

now I feel a lot better.

So, yeah.

And my crew won't let me stay longer in the van.

They're like, "You get three minutes.

That's it. Then you're out."

So it's good.

She willed herself, you know? After a rough night.

( Pamela ) When the cut-offs are very steep

and you get pulled from the race,

that's... especially early, that's really hard.

( Eric ) There is a cut-off at mile 50.

If you asked all the runners in this race

are they worried about the heat or the mileage

or any of this stuff, they will tell you

their number one fear is missing that cut-off.

Because if you have just even

one hour overnight where maybe you're nauseous

or vomiting or slowing down or walking,

all of a sudden, that cut-off becomes real.

( woman ) It is 9:24, and we are waiting

where Pam needs to pass by 10:00.

There's the Adventure Corps team, including Chris,

- ready to sweep people off the race course... - Ooh.

if they don't make it here by...

Here come the bearers of bad news.

We think we can see her. We hope we can see her.

It's not gonna be easy.

- ( clapping ) - Woohoo!

Bring it in!

♪ She'll be coming round the mountain ♪

♪ When she comes ♪

- Nice work! - First checkpoint.

- The most important one! - Yes!

- Done! Boom! - Good job.

- ( sighs ) - ( muffled chatter )

For us! It's all for us.

- Awesome. - What do you want, Mom? Do you want...

- I wanna sit. - Sit down.

- We got a seat for you. - Here, sit in the shade.

Thank you.

At some point in most races,

your series of A-plus goals are out the window.

We made small mistake with feeding, and Badwater never forgive.

So now we have to fight to finish.

It's gonna be a long way because it's more time in the sun.

You don't just quit when your goal isn't going to be achieved.

You have to find a way to reassess and reevaluate and set a new goal.

The goal is just to finish.

Yeah, we still have a lot of fun.

( music playing )

Yep.

- ( woman ) Nice breeze! - Hmm.

( music continues )

- How you feeling? - Hot.

( woman ) You're doing great.

No.

- More than usual. - More than usual?

- It's hot down here. - ( indistinct chatter )

Alrighty.

- One more. - One more.

It's hotter than two minks having sex in a wool sock.

( Harvey ) We're struggling, man! But that's all right!

Wouldn't be worth it if it weren't a struggle though, right?

You're doing great. You're killing it. She loves us both.

These mountains are nothing, man. You're doing awesome.

Here, this is coconut water.

( indistinct shouting )

- Yes, sir! - I am concern... I...

- I am thinking of Kelly. - Yeah.

- I hope she... - Yeah.

- ( man ) She's right behind ya! - Let's go!

- If you don't speed up, she's gonna beat ya! - Let's go!

Lots of pieces of pretty shit up ahead.

It's my favorite place.

Favorite highway in the whole country.

Maybe the whole world.

Let's do what seems impossible.

Let's do this, man. Come on! Let's do it!

( Eric ) Once you come over Towne Pass, you have a really,

really steep descent for about eight miles.

- Whoo! - Feels like you're falling off the mountain.

And then you end up in Panamint Valley.

( wind gusting )

( wind intensifies )

- ( muted chatter ) - Right here.

We go in the van?

( Harvey ) What place are we in?

- ( man ) We're in fifth. - Fifth place.

- I gained 10 minutes? - On the leader, yeah.

- I gained ten minutes. - From the last time.

It was like seven. It was like seven minutes.

- I gained seven minutes. - Yeah, here...

Well, I just lost three minutes, so...

( Chris ) So Ricardo and his crew have a vehicle

that is totally not allowed under the race rules.

It's too big, it's too wide, it's too tall.

We're issuing them a time penalty,

and so Ricardo will actually have to stop for one hour

while the clock keeps ticking in Lone Pine.

( speaking Spanish )

There has to be some kind of penalty,

and so that's how we're handling it.

( speaking Spanish )

( woman ) Bye, papi!

( man ) Bye, papi!

My back has gone out,

so I just laid down for a minute

to try and get it to reset before climbing.

Climbing hurts it.

It happens sometimes, and today it happened, so...

The heat, I think.

I've got a lot of heat rash.

Tomorrow, it'll itch, but today it feels like sores or something, yeah.

I'll make it to the finish line,

just might be bent over sideways.

When you get to Panamint Springs

and you know that you have this 18-mile climb

starting right there... it's full exposure.

There's no shade anywhere on this course.

You climb up to Father Crowley, which is what

most people consider the hardest climb of the race.

( woman ) Do you like that climb?

Not really.

Not really.

( music playing )

This doesn't hurt, right? You're gonna get through it.

The pain will be more comfortable as you go.

( man ) She had a big IT issue.

It was kind of going through her glutes.

Kind of locked up so she wasn't able to run for a big stretch.

( music continues )

( speaking Danish )

( hisses )

( man ) How are you feeling?

( speaking Spanish )

( woman, in English ) Yeah, look the other way.

( sighs )

( speaking Brazilian Portuguese )

David, why do you always come out when I'm walking?

I'm an athlete.

( wind gusting )

( scraping, clattering )

Doing great.

Wind keeps making my eyes water up.

They look pretty good, considered.

( muted chatter )

You know why Jesus couldn't be from Death Valley?

They couldn't find three wise men and a virgin.

Good job up the mountain.

That was some fierce heat in the first half, and wind.

Probably the hottest it's been when I've climbed it.

- ( indistinct chatter ) - Yeah.

Ray, the night before, he was complaining

that it was gonna be a cold year.

- ( woman laughs ) - ( man ) It's not cold.

Cold? It ain't cold.

It was hot at the start.

A tinge more. A little more.

All right, see you guys.

Be careful.

Back went out, my Achilles went out.

We're making it. We'll make it.

( wind continues )

( music playing )

( Chris ) When they hit about mile 100,

it's a slight downhill for about 20 miles.

And it just seems to take forever.

In fact, even though it's supposedly

the easiest part of the route,

most people describe it as the most difficult.

At least mentally defeating.

( Eric ) If you had to bet on, when you get to Darwin at mile 90,

who's gonna be a hunter,

Harvey is a hunter every single year.

And he's very competitive.

He is here to try to win the race,

and he will do whatever it takes to do that.

( music continues )

There's a duel in the sun.

Look at this! Can't beat it, man!

Three hour back and forth foot race between the two of them.

( man ) Since Darwin, we battle.

And how can you go by Darwin and not stop?

( music stops )

( music resumes )

He didn't stop here. He didn't sign the book. He didn't get M&Ms.

Good job, Harvey.

Nerf football. He didn't throw the football.

Whoo! Like a rocket ship!

( man ) They're right next to each other.

( man ) It's really crazy. It's been a blast.

He's battled, he's struggled. It's beautiful.

What a day.

( man muttering )

( man ) Warm wind, yeah.

Like a hair dryer.

They got punished out there.

Big time, yeah.

( speaking Danish )

( speaking Danish )

( indistinct chatter )

How's the wind?

- Dude, it's gnarly. Yeah. - I know.

I know, and it just dries you out so bad.

( music continues )

( no audible dialogue )

Why don't you just walk for a wee tiny bit?

- Yeah, yeah. - Let that settle.

( Marco ) Gels are making her a bit sick.

We had the same issue last night.

It was instantly making her throw up.

( woman ) Walk for a bit and let it settle.

- Okay. - ( Marco ) Okay?

( man ) That's what we just said.

( wind gusting )

( muted chatter )

( chatter continues )

- Alrighty. - ( groans )

- I don't want to get up. - ( man laughs )

Only way to get to the finish, though, right?

- Mm-hmm. - That's it.

( Brad ) I know how much it hurts at the end of a marathon.

I can't think of stringing five of them together all at once.

- Lone Pine! - ( Marco ) Lone Pine.

- See you at Lone Pine! - ( man ) Welcome to Lone Pine!

Thank you.

( man ) It's been long awaited.

( in Danish ) Oh, I'm so glad to see you.

( speaking in Danish )

- ( man ) And then up the mountain. - Yeah.

At this point, they just...

they don't want to do anything anymore.

They don't eat, they don't drink.

They just want to stop it, end it, you know?

- Get to the finish line. - ( woman ) Yeah!

( Eric ) The last climb, it's whatever you have left.

( woman ) Even the fastest runners

rarely run the Portal road

because it's so steep.

Little magnesium for you, Harv.

Awesome.

( man ) Damian is the king of uphills.

That's his place.

He already passed on the way to Mount Whitney,

like, seven runners.

If he can manage to stay with this pace,

we'll be in the top, I think, in two hours.

( Spencer ) She's running on a broken hip, bone to bone.

She runs with a limp across the most desolate and hostile

territory in the entire United States.

And she did it at age 66.

What more can you say about that?

( wind gusting )

( indistinct chatter )

It's like...

There's a car coming.

Kind of fancy taking my chances with a car rather than get up that hill.

- We're tired. We're... - Sleepy.

- Sleepy. - Exhausted.

We've been, yeah, falling asleep a lot now.

Not driving. Yet.

But we can see the finish.

- Literally. - Yeah.

( insect buzzing )

( wind gusting )

( wind intensifies )

( music playing )

- We finally made it! - ( man ) There you go!

- ( laughing ) - ( man ) Nice job.

It's the first time I have not run

across a finish line in my lifetime,

but that was happy.

( man ) All right! Harvey, welcome back.

- Thank you. - ( man ) You did it, man.

I need to sit down. I am so tired.

- Oh, yeah. Mm. - Want something to drink?

Guys, I'm probably get sick here and throw up maybe.

Get your drink down, and then...

Is there a chance that we might be able

to pull the van up closer?

- Yeah, definitely. - Yeah.

- ( grunts ) - ( muted chatter )

- We'll come and get you. - Yeah.

- Thanks, guys. - Oh, jeez. To the bed.

- To the bed! - ( chatter continues )

Hell, yeah. You've earned it.

( muted chatter )

If I get sick, I'll open the door.

All right.

- Woohoo! - Yeah!

- Yay! - ( cheers and applause )

- ( sighs ) - Great job.

- ( Stine ) Thank you. - ( man ) Congratulations!

( Stine ) Thank you very much. Thank you.

- Would you like the buckle? - Uh, yes, please.

Okay. Congratulations.

You are a Badwater 135 official finisher.

"Let it be given to those most worthy."

And you are certainly most worthy.

( Stine ) It was really funny.

- Yeah? The whole thing? - No. No, nothing.

( laughing )

But I liked it very much.

( laughter )

( man ) All right, Joshua Holmes! Yes!

( cheers and applause )

Awesome. Congratulations.

( Joshua ) The journey to get here is everything I remember.

You know, the people you make those memories with,

you know, your crew, they remember the highs and the lows.

And to me, it's just the journey.

The finish is nice, but, you know,

I remember everything out there more.

Appreciate you guys being here.

- Tired? - Nah.

- I feel relieved right now. - Really?

( muted chatter, laughter )

( Marco ) This is pretty aggressive after all.

- ( cheers and applause ) - ( woman ) Debbie!

- ( cheering continues ) - Yeah!

( laughter )

( man ) Nice. Congratulations, Debbie.

( woman ) Great job, Debbie.

( man ) Fantastic.

( Susie ) Stop your watch!

- Fantastic. - Aww, thank you so much.

Congratulations. You're the best.

- Oh! - So inspirational.

- Bring it in! - All right, congratulations.

- You're awesome! - Aww, thank you.

I mean, that was endless.

( laughter )

- I've aged somewhat. - Yeah.

Well, congratulations.

And this is the elevation profile down in there.

- See, here's Death Valley. - Yeah, that bit at the end is unnecessary.

- No, that's... that's what... - ( laughter )

- It's just rude! - That's how you crown the achievement.

- ( man ) Good job. - ( woman ) Sally!

( cheering )

( man ) All right, Sally. Congratulations.

( song playing )

( laughing )

( man ) You got this. All good.

It's all good. It's all right.

( laughs )

( song continues )

- ( cheering ) - No, no. It's DNF.

- ( woman ) What? - ( laughter )

( cheering )

Yes, bruh! We did it!

( Chris ) Damian, congratulations.

You came all the way from Poland to the world's hottest place

and the world's toughest foot race.

You are a Badwater 135 official finisher.

( song continues )

( muffled ) Congratulations.

All right, and this is the buckle.

You see, this is the race route.

( normal audio ) And this says in Latin,

"Let it be given to those most worthy."

And you are most worthy.

So, congratulations. Hold that with the shirts.

- ( cheers and applause ) - ( man ) Congratulations.

( woman ) Congratulations to all.

( Ricardo ) Yes. We did it.

( song continues )

( no audible dialogue )

( cheering )

( woman ) Congratulations.

( cheering )

( man ) She puts her mind to something

and you just wonder what it's going to be next.

- She always does it. - Sorry, it took me so long.

She's been that way since she was a kindergartner.

So we're really proud of her, yeah.

( cheering )

( Spencer ) She overcame so much.

Every doctor she goes to says she's never going to run again, never going to compete.

She ignores everybody. She comes out here and limps

to the finish line in 44 hours.

What we saw is just incredible courage.

Just unmatched courage and bravery.

She just showed how much heart she had. I'm so proud of her.

- I love you. - Love you.

- ( cheering ) - ( bell ringing )

( song continues )

Whoo!

- ( cheering ) - ( man ) Yeah!

( cheering continues )

( man ) Yeah!

( cheering )

Arigato!

( cheering )

( crowd ) Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob!

- Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob! - Yeah!

- ( cheering ) - ( chanting continues )

- ( cheering ) - ( man ) Yeah, Bob!

( cheering continues )

Congratulations, to everybody that...

( woman ) We're so happy for you.

that actually finished the race.

( woman ) You finished!

And, no, I am not going to do this again.

( laughter )

- ( woman ) Congratulations, Bob! - ( woman ) Good job, Bob!

- ( woman ) You say that now, Bob. - ( laughter )

- Good job. - ( man ) Yeah, I knew you could.

( song ends )

( music playing )

- ( song playing ) - ( thunder )

( song continues )

- Move your ass! - ( man ) Real nice.

- It'll rain a little at midday. - Okay.

( woman ) You crazy.

( indistinct chatter )

Oh, he stole the water.

Look at that thief over there.

Okay.

( song continues )

( screams )

( sighs )

( muttering )

No, no. No, no.

You want more?

( music continues )

( song continues )

( song ends )

( music fades )