Those of you who know me know that the idea of running Badwater has been taking up more and more of my thoughts these days. It’s gone from a vague wish to a specific goal — finishing my first one by 2014 — and has started to weigh pretty heavily on all my running decisions. I’m starting to go out of my way to find races with nasty hills, races with heat, races with distance. 2010 will bring my first 50 miler along with a whole flurry of marathons. 2011 could conceivably be the year for my first 100. It seems strange sometimes to have a five year plan for this when I don’t even have one for my non-running life, but then when I think about the magnitude of this task, it makes sense.
To run Badwater, I’m going to have to give everything I have and still it might be beyond my grasp. In a way, I think that’s what draws me to it — the uncertainty. I knew I could run a marathon. I know I can run a 50, or even 100. But 135 miles in 125 degree heat with 8500 feet of net elevation gain? It’s going to push me to the absolute limits of what I’m capable of; it might even break me.
As running has become more important in my life over the past couple years, more and more of my writing has become about running. At a point, I realized that my blog, The Adventures of Cowboy Hazel, had become a running blog, but without a running title. It was then that I began the quest for a new name. I chose To Badwater to serve as a constant reminder of the task ahead of me. And also because I hope that it will one day be a beautiful toast that I can give, sitting on the side of Mount Whitney.