135 miles in 125-degree heat? Teacher getting ready for it
Published by Casey McGuire June 27th, 2007 in Trail Running News
Some people set goals to lose 10 pounds, get a promotion at work, or spend more time with family and friends.
Not Jerry Vondruska.
Instead, the 38-year-old teacher from Bloomingdale seems to have loftier - some might say crazy - ambitions.
He’s planning to run a two-day, 135-mile, nonstop foot race from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney, Calif.
The Badwater 135, as it’s called by those who’ve run it, is “the most demanding and extreme running race offered anywhere on the planet,” race director Chris Kostman said.
According to Kostman, between 70 percent and 80 percent of all runners have crossed the finish line since 1999. Despite the grueling conditions, the race never has been responsible for any deaths.
An avid runner who has completed more than 50 marathons, including the Chicago Marathon every year since 1994, Vondruska said he was inspired to up the ante after being a crew member for a Badwater 135 runner in 2005 and watching “Running on the Sun,” a 2000 documentary about the race.
“Just last summer I worked myself up to run the 100-mile race on Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail,” he said. “So I figured tack on 35 more miles and about 50 degrees, and I’m there.”
Vondruska’s friend and crew member Amanda Musacchio calls Vondruska “the toughest and most dedicated athlete” she knows.
The start line is at Badwater in Death Valley at 280 feet below sea level. The race finishes at the Mt. Whitney Portals at 8,360 feet above sea level.
The course covers three mountain ranges for a total of 13,000 feet of vertical ascent and 4,700 feet of descent. The Portals are the trailhead to the Mt. Whitney summit, the highest point in the contiguous United States.
Ultra-runner Al Arnold informally started Badwater 135 when he did a solo run from Badwater to Mt. Whitney in 1977.
A series of solo efforts and group runs followed until 1999, the year AdventureCORPS started producing the annual Badwater Ultramarathon.
“My non-running friends think I’m crazy, but they just don’t get the rush I get from combining my passions for travel and running,” Vondruska said. “Eventually, I’d like to finish at least one marathon in every state. I’m up to 31 so far.”
As a health teacher at Fenton Community High School in Bensenville, Vondruska has used his running experiences to encourage students to hit the trails. Some track his progress in bigger runs.
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Give me the heat any day. It’s the distance here I’d have trouble with. Vondruska is a hell of an inspiration. He’s the kind of man that help makes me the kind of man I am.