By Paul Long
NKyTribune Contributor
Thirty-three hours after starting under a full moon at the lowest point in Death Valley, and after watching the blistering sun twice rise in the sky as he raced 135 miles across the barren landscape, Craig Wheeler crossed the finish line Thursday at the Badwater 135 ultramarathon carrying an American flag and taking 15th place among the 97 competitors.
Wheeler, affectionately known as Wheels, more than survived what’s called “the world’s toughest foot race” — he crushed it. He shaved more than nine hours from his time last year, and jumped forward 30 spots. While he felt he overtrained last year, and ran a good part of the race nursing a sore hip, this year he trained a bit less, and said he felt strong throughout the race.
“I’m having a blast, with a top notch crew,” Wheeler, 53, of Burlington, said in a video posted on Facebook that he stopped to film about 100 miles into the race, in which he looked tanned and rested.
“It’s like a 120 (degrees) or something. I don’t know what. … Who cares? I got guys taking care of me, and it’s like a walk in the park.”
He thanked all those cheering him on back in Kentucky.
Melanie Owen of Cincinnati, who was at the race as a crew member for another runner, said she got a chance to see Wheeler in action.
He was “very impressive,” she said. I was “so happy to cheer him on during part of the race. I saw a lot of smiles. He was having fun.”
Back home, people were avidly following the race as best they could on social media — cell service is spotty in the desert, so the Badwater webcast was not working, and updates to its website were slow coming in. Still, as the final wave of runners started at 2 a.m. our time Wednesday, about five members from the local Pain By Numbers running group donned heavy clothes to emulate the hot desert conditions and ran 1.35 miles in tribute.
The first wave of runners started the race 8 p.m. Tuesday (11 p.m. our time) in the Nevada desert, and two other waves went off at 9:30 p.m., (12:30 a.m.) and 11 p.m. (2 a.m.) The race began at night because of new restrictions by the National Park Service saying that any runners in Death Valley must be at least 2,000 feet above sea level between 10 a.m. and sunset to avoid the hottest daytime temperatures, which can reach 120 or above. It also began later in July than usual, to take advantage of the full moon, which provides much needed light in the nighttime hours.
But those new restrictions played havoc with runners. For one, it meant that while they started during the relatively cool night — even though starting time temperatures this year were above 100 degrees — it also meant they would encounter the intense sun during the day on tired legs, instead of on the fresh legs they would have had during a morning start time.
The race goes from Badwater Basin — at 282 feet below sea level, the lowest point in the United States — 135 miles to the Whitney Portal at 8,300 feet above sea level, the trailhead to Mount Whitney, the nation’s highest point. Runners climb three mountain ranges for a total elevation gain of 14,600 feet.
For another local runner, the race was not as good. 2014 Badwater champion Harvey Lewis was still running late Thursday afternoon, after having to stop Wednesday to take care of a medical emergency. He ran through the first two checkpoints, a total of 41.9 miles, at a clip of a mile every 8.11 minutes. He remained in fourth place as runners checked in at Panamint Springs, at 72 miles.
But he was unable to keep up that pace.
It’s “not the race I envisioned,” he posted on Facebook. “Congrats to the winner (Pete Kostelnick of Lincoln, Neb.) and to Oswaldo (Lopez, who) finished second and is one of the most persistent people I’ve ever met with the best attitude. Perhaps (I) attacked (the race) a little hard given the temperatures at night. But you live and learn. The night time start had inherent challenges, reaching the apex of the heat before Panamint and on the way up the second mountain. My body weight went from 158 when I weighed myself before the race to 151.5. I covered about another 20 miles feeling depleted and giving it all. Weighed 149 and decided to stake out (runners can put a stake in ground in Badwater if medical condition warrants and return to location) and come back when I regain some weight.”
He did that, and stuck it out. His girlfriend, Kelly O’Dell, who was back home in Cincinnati, surprised him by flying in and meeting up with him on the course.
“I want to finish what I start,” Lewis said. “Kelly coming out was the best and biggest surprise. It helped keep me going when I was so depleted when the team told me she had flown out from Ohio and was on her way.”
Lewis was giving it his all: “Very tough to continue on 1,001 times when body says stop 1,000 times,” he said.
He wasn’t the only runner who ran into trouble. At least 16 who started did not finish, including course record holder Valmir Nunes, and Aly Venti, a world champion runner who was expected to be a top finisher.
But this story does have a happy ending. After finishing the race late Thursday afternoon, Lewis proposed to O’Dell.
She said yes.