Badass Badwater

I am trying to get more fit, but maybe I will pass on this one.

The Adventurecorps Badwater Ultramarathon is infamous in endurance sports circles. It is the running equivalent of summiting Everest, the ultimate test of mental fortitude, a hippy communion with the desert of epic highs and lows (literally -- the race starts at 280 feet below sea level, the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, covers three mountain ranges for descents and ascents totaling 9,000 feet and ends halfway up Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States).

For all the nonsweaters out there -- consider how long it takes to drive from Baltimore to New York. Now imagine running that distance...without sleep...with 10,000 blow dryers pointed at you the entire time.

Um, that starting point . . . that would be Death Valley, folks, where the daytime temperature can get past 125 F. The course is 135 miles long. Oh yeah, and it's also called "Satan's Fun Run."

Word on the street? Fr. Erik's doing it this year. In full cassock.

The oldest runner this year was 67-year-old Arthur Webb, who has finished 10 consecutive Badwaters. Race officials using walkie-talkies (there's no cell service in Death Valley) counted him out at mile 17 where he cramped and jumped in a pool to cool down.

Time, ice and a few massages later, Webb was on the course again, not stopping until he crossed the finish line more than 40 hours later.