April 29, 2023. Daniel's Day Badwater Salton Sea Ultramarathon with Joe Nakamura Team Run Republic
April 29, 2023. Daniel's Day Badwater Salton Sea Ultramarathon
The idea actually began in December (2022) when Joe Nakamura and his daughter Mady who is a high school cross-country runner joined me and a couple Valley Christian HS guys from Daniel’s cross-country team to do a memorial run replicating a run Daniel had planned in 2019 that we did that was a very special event. During the 2019 x-country season, Daniel had started doing a few longer runs with me, but could not do anything "really" long b/c he needed to reserve for the xc races...so he asked me to help him plan a "post-season" long run some where epic...in the 18 mile distance range, so xc guys could get pushed passed their normal distance, but not die... that turned out to be an amazing memorable event!
Picture of 2019 JT run with Daniel, VCS XC Friends, me, and Mady.
During that trip to Joshua Tree in December 2022, Joe Nakamura planted the seed that maybe we should do the Badwater Salton Sea Ultramarathon together. It is a special race because it is a team event that you have to complete with two or three-person teams. It didn’t take long to decide to go for it. The race was scheduled on April 29, the day my wife and I call "Daniel's Day" every month in honor and celebration of our son Daniel who tragically passed away on June 29, 2022.
The location of the race was going through Anza Borrego state park which was a really special place for my family because of all our camping and adventure trips there, but also special trips I took there with just Dana and Daniel individually, and one EPIC backpacking trip I did with both of them (Type 2 fun!! for another blog report someday). In addition to mountain tops, the desert can be a place where you have spiritual connections and reflections, and this race started below sea level in the desert and journeyed 81 miles to a mountain top. It would be a special way to celebrate Daniel‘s Day on April 29.
Joe Nakamura and his running store Run Republic sponsored the race, and I'm so grateful for that. Joe got us special shirts made that said "DanieI's Day" as well as "Run Republic" and a Bible verse: Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God" AND super reflective for all the wording so that they would help us be safer during the night running! Two shirts each!! One orange and one bright green, so we could switch out as needed during the race. Our crew also got the shirts, and our names on the back--this was actually cool during the race when we could look ahead and know it was our crew on the side because we could see their bright orange shirts. (and orange is a Dutch connection! 👌 bonus for Daniel's Dutch heritage :-) (The orange color that's present throughout much of Dutch culture is a nod to the royal family, which is made up of members of the House of Orange. The dynasty dates back to 1544 when William of Orange inherited the estate and title at the age of 11)
I drove south to Borrego Springs on Friday, April 28, 2023 in a carpool with Joe and his daughter Mady, Andy Choh who is a good friend of Joe’s, and Andy‘s 24-year-old son Jordan. Andy would be our crew driver and Maddie and Jordan would be with him as our crew throughout the race to provide us with our hydration, and nutrition and keep us cool with ice water and sponges and various needs. Jordan also committed to making a short film about the event. Jordan is an actor and singer-songwriter and likes to produce things. Joe Nakamura sponsored a hotel room for us right in Borrego Springs. It was the official hotel for the race and our race meeting happened there Friday afternoon. (for more info, check out the website: <https://www.badwater.com/event/badwater-salton-sea/ >
I got fish n chips for dinner--Daniel did enjoy getting fish with me, and for an evening snack I had some beets--a tradition Daniel started doing before his cross-country races. For the race itself, I planned to do the first half with no caffeine, and a liquid food product called Tailwind--a powder that I mix in my hydration pack. In the second half, I would add caffeine, cup a of noodles, potatoes, and possibly other food, depending on how I felt. After getting all our race stuff organized and alarms on, Joe and I took a short two-mile run to stretch our legs one last time before going to bed.
As was the practice for Daniel and me when we had an adventure, we liked to max out our days and chased the sunlight. … from sunrise to sunset and often beyond and before… This day was no different. The alarm went off at 4 AM and I started with a breakfast of oatmeal with extra goodies including loquats that I had foraged. Daniel and I ate many breakfasts of oatmeal and loquats together so it was great to start the day that way. We headed out to the start line leaving the hotel at 5:20 and getting to the Salton Sea at 6 AM for the pre-race meeting. I took some time to walk out to the actual edge of the Salton Sea because I’d never been there and just had a few moments by myself and started crying as I thought of Daniel; it was going to be an intense day but very special.
Badwater's Facebook page has images and videos: https://www.facebook.com/badwater135
The start line:
We felt really great for that first section but as the temperatures started warming up Joe had leg cramps hit him. The electrolyte replacement system that he planned wasn’t quite working right. So he switched plans. The other team passed us at that point and we tried to stay close to them for a while but eventually, they pulled away. Durning this next desert section leading to the town of Borrego Springs, I reflected on all the trips our family had done here. We ran by the Arroyo Salado Campground, which is a simple dirt road with open free camping where I took Dana when she was only 2 years old...Daniel was still breast feeding and flew with Shaelyn to attend the wedding of Shaelyn's sister Larissa...so Dana and I got to hang out and I decided it was time to go on an adventure! We also passed the Calcite Mine Slot Canyon where our family had hiked when Shaelyn was still in recovery from a ruptured disc, but could manage some short distances. I reflected on visiting the wind caves with the kids, imagining we were in the stars wars movies, and the time we camped in Anza Borrego with my brother-in-law Luke when he had just started dating his future wife Leanna... and the time I came with Dana alone as a homework project for school and she made a video about anza borrego state park...
On that trip (Dana was 4th grade I think?), Dana and I also did a special feature at the pictograph rocks... In September 2021, Daniel and I did an adventure to Anza Borrego and also visited the pictograph rocks, in addition to climbing the peak right near the pictographs-- Whale Peak (bush whacking!). (Pictures of that trip HERE)
On that trip, Daniel asked me about faith, and doubt, and the most real questions about what I believe and why I believe it. We viewed the pictographs and wondered what those ancient people had been thinking and what meaning of any of it might be...
Daniel was taking AP art history at that time, and studying the earliest human works of art. Daniel and I also explored some areas that showed signs of the native americans with the rocks having been carved out (morteros), and we played our 4 hole elderberry flutes (He had made matching flutes and even gotten the tuning to be matched pretty closely!) Daniel made a lot of flutes, inspired by the native american ways of doing things.
Our racing system was to have our crew give us an aid stop every 3 miles and keep it to a "one-minute" break. This included changing out our hydration packs with fresh iced drinks, getting cold ice sponge baths on our heads and necks, and arms, and an iced bandana for our necks. The plan worked well, but still, the heat built up so that by the time we got to around mile 35 at the hotel check-in point in Anza, we were really slowing down. The first-place team was now 30 to 45 minutes in front of us. We took a break in the shade at the hotel checkpoint and each had a cup of noodles soup and then carried on towards the trail section. It had been all "road running" up to this point.
At the trail section, there was a check-in where we had to verify that we had 1.5 L of water or more, a waterproof rain jacket, gloves, beanie, 1000 cal in food, a whistle, a reflective vest, a safety blanket, and blinking lights. We did our official check for that, which seemed bizarre considering it was 104° and we were going to finish the trail long before dark but such as the race rules and you have to follow them. The rules are there because many people end up doing the trail in the dark so they have to keep it consistent for everybody's safety and force everybody to be doing the same rules. Due to the 104 degrees Fahrenheit heat, we could not get ourselves to run, so we hiked as fast as we were able. The wildflowers were in a super bloom and it was the most spectacular I have ever seen in my whole life. The Ocotillo plants had red flowers in the top which I’ve never seen. Daniel loved the Ocotillo plant.
The barrel cactus had fluorescent green flowers and so many other plants we saw were in full bloom lemonade berry, mountain mint? Ocotillo, yerba Santa, prickly pear cactus, and many species I couldn’t identify.
A very special moment happened halfway up when I saw a tiny hummingbird nest with a hummingbird in it just 4 feet off the trail and the branch of a cactus. We enjoyed looking at each other for a minute. Look at the lower branch on the bottom left, in the shadow:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5wfUdjNSVoT1C1HB7
As we went through that section I especially felt Daniel's spirit with us. We saw some butterflies and a red-tailed hawk (or cooper hawk? not sure), a hummingbird, lizards, Juniper berry bushes, lemonade berry bushes, Yerba Santa, Prickly Pear cactus, grass hoppers, rat, stink bug, another kind of large flying bug (maybe a blister beetle??), and more... The incredible diversity of plants and vibrant colors absolutely blew me away. I knew Daniel would’ve absolutely loved this scene and it was really special to get to do it on Daniel’s day and think of him.
Halfway up the trail section, there was a checkpoint for the race and we should’ve had one of our crew meet us there to give us more water because of how hot it was but we didn’t plan for that. We thought we could make it the full 8 miles to the next checkpoint. However, there was another crew from a different team at the halfway checkpoint that gave us a little extra water and that helped carry us through. We still ran out of water before we got to our crew but we made it ... we just weren’t able to run much of it. We did start running a bit as the trail leveled out near the top but it was painful in terms in terms of the physical body well at the same time incredibly inspiring for the scenic beauty.
When we hit the road again we got a couple noodle soup and that really helped rejuvenate us. The next stop was the Ranchito with the big statue of the yeti. We got our mandatory picture and checkpoint there. I had another cuppa noodle. I probably shouldn’t have because my stomach felt a little weird after eating two cuppa noodles so close together. However, it was after that that I finally started feeling better like I could run again and Joe did as well, even though my stomach felt a little off from too much cup a noodles. So we started to increase the pace and make time on the team in front of us. I felt really strong from about mile 60 to 70 and led a good pace back at the eight-minute mile goal for a while.
We know we were gaining on the other team and we really hoped we could reel them in. There was a section of road that was quite dangerous because there was not much shoulder and some cars were whizzing by, but thankfully we got through that section safely and simultaneously watched the sunset. Beautiful to be able to watch the sunrise at the Salton Sea and then watch the sunset as we approached Palomar Mountain. A full day but it wasn’t over yet.
As the darkness settled in we began the final 11-mile climb to the race finish. I started eating more solid foods, but just a bit a time and switched up drinks. Including a special elderberry drink inspired by Daniel. I collected elderberries last September and stuck them in the freezer. I use those to make a special elderberry juice to drink at the race which was really cool to be able to do inspired by Daniel. I also had dates from the farmers market which Daniel had gotten me excited about eating and continuing. And I also had Kefir which Daniel had got me started on and I kept going over the last year all from his initial starter batch 2 years ago.... It was his Kefir grains and I still have them going so that makes it special. I felt decently strong on the first 3 to 4 miles of the 11-mile climb but as we got higher it got harder and harder to keep "chasing" down the first-place team. Thankfully Joe stepped up into the front in the last 5 miles and helped pull me along. This is where I thought about Daniel‘s mental toughness and his x-c racing and how committed he was. Kept thinking of him and saying 100%, give it your all. I felt Daniel cheering me on saying go all out Dad, don’t hold back this is your race!
Finish time: 16:33 (definitely the fastest 81 miles I have ever run!)
23 minutes behind 1st place.
http://dbase.adventurecorps.com/resultsSaltonSea.php?ss_eid=102&ss=Go
Joe Nakamura's Strava post (I got his Strava link for my Strava post, so our runs are identical--my watch did not last that long---but his Coros Apex watch is awesome and has a super long capacity...buy your Coros from Run Republic and support Joe's small independent running and fitness shop!) https://werunrepublic.com/
https://www.strava.com/activities/8982481404
Pictures from Trail section in google photos:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ch4gGWxyZnUTZNjv7
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