300 Mile Run?

The ultramarathon runner Pam Reed set out last Friday to run 300 miles. In the latest news she was scheduled to finish today after starting Friday morning at 6am. The article reported that she has been fighting blisters and had replaced her shoes 3 times.

60 Mintues last night (3/27/05) had a story about the Badwater Ultra Marathon that took place last July 2004. They had indepth profiles on Reed and also on the men's favorite, Dean Karnazes.

Some interesting stats/facts about Badwater, Reed, and Karnazes:

Badwater stats:

• Badwater is a 135mi long race (over 5 marathons!)
• It begins below sealevel at -282ft and ends at an elevation of 8360ft.
• In 2004, 57 runners (7 women) officially finished out of 72 who started.
• The race is held in July and goes through Death Valley
• Runners try to run on the white line on the side of the road so their shoes don't melt from the 200F asphalt temperatures.

Pam Reed stats:

• Pam Reed won Badwater overall (for both men and women) in 2002 and 2003. In 2002 she set the course record for women with a time of 27:56:47 hr.
• She's 44 and a mother of 5 sons/stepsons
• Last year she ran 220 miles in 48 hours (over 8 marathons!)
• She has run the Boston Marathon in reverse in 3:36 before the official start. She then ran the official marathon with the time of 3:30.
• She has no official coach, trainer, or schedule. She just runs whenever she can (middle of the night, between errands, during son's soccer practice)

Dean Karnasis stats:

• Won overall in 2004 with a time of 27:22:48 hrs
• Owner of a health food company
• first to run 262 mi in 76hrs (that's 10 marathons!)
• Often orders pizza delivery with his cell during his training runs

Here are the results for the Badwater Ultramarathons. Take note of Monica Scholz of Ontario Canada. She was the female winner in 2004 and came in third overall with a time of 29:22:29. She's been steadily improving for the past 3 years. In 2003 her time was 33:41:29 and in 2002 it was 38:33:30.