Who on earth would CHOOSE to run 217km through the desert in the middle of summer in temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius in under 48 hours? In 1987 someone did just that and now it’s become one of the most popular and exclusive ultramarathons in the world.

The first person to put themselves through this ordeal BY CHOICE was Al Arnold. He was almost 50 years old when he set himself the seemingly impossible challenge of running from the lowest point in North America at Badwater Basin, to the highest point in the contiguous United States, at Mount Whitney, by himself, in the middle of summer. He barely survived. And yet, since then, thousands of people have lined up to do the exact same thing.

Our beloved producer/running enthusiast Lindsey Green serves us the story of the Badwater 135: the toughest foot race on earth and the people who line up to race it.

Skip straight to the story: approx 5:55

We turned the tables this week and Producer Lindsey shared the story with Jacob

We give you just the gist but if you want more, there's this:

These articles tell the story of Al's runs and what happened after

https://www.badwater.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2002wallack.pdf

https://www.badwater.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/2018JulyBadwater.pdf

The 2022 results http://dbase.adventurecorps.com/results.php?bw_eid=96&bwr=Go

Al's blog offering advice for prospective runners https://www.badwater.com/blog/category/al-arnolds-insights/

This episode shares what it's like to crew someone in Badwater https://www.richroll.com/podcast/rrp-40-josh-spector-badwater-135-worlds-toughest-foot-race/

Running On The Sun documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl3laLhbCsw&t=4725s

Running For Freedom documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhIdO3U3wsg

Follow us on Insta: @justthegistpodcast

Send us your suGISTions for stories and guests: justthegistpodcast@gmail.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.