The past few months have been a blur of excitement as we prepare to head to California this week to begin acclimatising to the summer heat ahead of Glenn Sutton's Badwater 135 race through Death Valley. He's already there soaking in some summer air. Together with his support crew I head across this week, which ends months of training (heatbox running, fitness and even hot yoga).
This event is all about how well the runner and the support crew handle the heat. We're anticipating temperatures to climb to around 45-50°C during the hottest part of the race around Panamint Springs. That will be about 17 hours in and just before the second gruelling climb, this time up Father Crowley – a 3400-foot (1036m) vertical ascent that demoralises even the toughest competitors.
The desert here has a dry heat that evaporates sweat so efficiently that dehydration sneaks up on you like a tax bill. Urine flows like marmite and delusional behaviour soon follows. We'll be doing our best to avoid that.
You can't fight the heat. You have to accept it, rely on your training and hit your fluid targets each and every hour for up to the 48 hours the race may last. The support team will be leapfrogging Glenn in a van, but even feeding and keeping him happy willl be a full-time job for the four support crew. My job is just to document the whole thing and share his journey with everyone afterward through a documentary. That might be the best way to get close to this race without having to endure the hardships that it entails. I know I'll be dreaming of cold water lineups like these ones in this edition of Box of Light when the heat takes hold.
Here's a link to a short film we made about Glenn during a recent training run to Middlemarch where Richard Emerson cracked the keg of the brew he created to celebrate Glenn's inspirational ambition. Yes, if you can find some, Into The Valley is a pretty special drop. Next stop: Death Valley.
See you in the valley ... Derek
PS Our mate, singer songwriter Joe Wilson, has just released this cool new film that gives a little insight into the man behind the music. We have heard he has a new album looming – to be first in line make sure you're following Joe Wilson on Facebook, Joe Wilson on YouTube and Joe Wilson on Instagram.
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