135 Miles in 120-Degree Heat: One Runner’s Story
Except for the whole 135-miles-in-brutal-heat thing, Meredith Murphy is pretty normal.
When she’s not busy taking two year-old daughter to the zoo, the park, or even yoga class, Meredith runs her own acupuncture practice (the Healing Point in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania). She’s a vegetarian too, and she loves cooking and baking. Kinda sounds like someone you’d hang out with, right?
But Meredith does at least one thing that’s not so normal. Earlier this summer, Meredith did what so many runners secretly dream of, and that only about 90 each year get the chance to do. If you follow ultrarunning at all, then of course you know what I’m talking about.
Badwater. 135 miles through Death Valley, right in the middle of the summer, when temperatures often get so hot that runners need to stay on the white painted line to avoid melting their shoes.
I was thrilled when Meredith got in touch with me after she saw a No Meat Athlete shirt photo on our Facebook page, and asked if I’d like to contribute a few shirts for her crew and magnets for their van, and to pitch in to help offset the cost of their epic stock-up at Whole Foods in Las Vegas before the race.
Of course I accepted, and a few weeks later, I was glued to the computer screen, eagerly refreshing Badwater’s live webcast to follow Meredith’s race and eventual finish of this monster of an ultramarathon in 46 hours, 22 minutes, and 38 seconds — nearly two entire days of running.
Meredith tells me she is “not a very exciting person.” Riiight. I caught up with her to talk about how she got in, her training, the race itself, and of course, what she ate out there as a vegetarian during the “World’s Toughest Footrace.” (more…)
