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Photo courtesy of Cary Morgan
Micah Morgan, 41, of Vestavia Hills, finishes the Badwater 135, a non-stop 135-mile ultramarathon in California on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, with supporters cheering for her.
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Photo courtesy of Cary Morgan
Micah Morgan, 41, of Vestavia Hills, Alabama, runs in the Badwater 135, a non-stop 135-mile ultramarathon in California on Tuesday, July 24, 2024. This stretch was in Panamint Springs, about 70 miles into the race. Behind her is a member of her support crew, Carrie Wallace of Hoover, Alabama.
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Photo courtesy of Cary Morgan
Micah Morgan of Vestavia Hills, Alabama (center), ran the 2024 Badwater 135, a 135-mile ultramarathon in California, in scorching heat. Here, she is surrounded by her support crew. Her crew, from left, included Dr. Pam Smith, Dr. Marianthe Grammas, husband Cary Morgan and Carrie Wallace.
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Photo courtesy of Cary Morgan
Micah Morgan, 41, of Vestavia Hills, Alabama, runs in the Badwater 135, a non-stop 135-mile ultramarathon in California on Tuesday, July 24, 2024. This stretch was in Stovepipe Wells, about 40 miles into the race. Behind her is a member of her support crew, Carrie Wallace of Hoover, Alabama.
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Photo courtesy of Cary Morgan
Micah Morgan of Vestavia Hills, Alabama (center), holds her bib for the Badwater 135, a 135-mile ultramarathon in California, surrounded by her support crew. Her crew, from left, included Carrie Wallace of Hoover, Alabama, her husband Cary Morgan, Dr. Marianthe Grammas of Vestavia Hills and Dr. Pam Smith, another ultramarathoner from Salem, Oregon.
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Photo courtesy of Cary Morgan
Micah Morgan of Vestavia Hills, Alabama (center), holds her finisher shirt for the Badwater 135, a 135-mile ultramarathon in California, surrounded by her support crew. Her crew, from left, included Dr. Pam Smith of Salem, Oregon, her husband Cary Morgan, Carrie Wallace of Hoover, Alabama, and Dr. Marianthe Grammas of Vestavia Hills.
A Vestavia Hills woman on Wednesday finished fifth (and second among women) in the Badwater 135, a 135-mile ultramarathon labeled by National Geographic as the 'world's toughest foot race.'
Micah Morgan, a 41-year-old nurse practitioner with Southlake Orthopaedics, completed the non-stop race in California in 29 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds, which is almost an hour faster than the first time she ran the race in 2018.
That time, she placed third among female competitors and ninth overall. The race is limited to 100 ultramarathoners who must apply to get a chance to run in it.
The Badwater 135 starts in the Badwater Basin of Death Valley, which marks the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below sea level. The race ends at Mount Whitney at 8,360 feet above sea level at the trailhead to the mountain’s summit, the highest point in the contiguous United States.
The course covers three mountain ranges, forcing runners to go up a cumulative 14,600 feet and down a cumulative 6,100 feet — in scorching temperatures. The last 13 miles is up Mount Whitney, which is “like putting a treadmill on an 11% grade,” Morgan said. “That’s 13 miles straight up.”
Elevation chart from Badwater 135 website
This shows the elevation changes in the Badwater 135, a 135-mile, non-stop ultramarathon run through scorching heat in Death Valley, California.
The race must be completed within 48 hours to count as finishing.
Morgan said breaking the 30-hour mark is sort of the “holy grail.” In 2018, she missed that by about 10 minutes.
“This year, I worked my tail off to get it down sub-30,” she said. “I’m proud of myself after this one. I worked really hard for it.”
The top overall finisher was Shaun Burke, 37, of Durango, Colorado, who completed the race in 23 hours and 29 minutes. The top female finisher was Line Caliskaner, 52, of Norenskog, Norway, who finished in 27 hours, 36 minutes, 27 seconds.
To qualify for the Badwater 135, runners must have run at least four races of 100 miles or more, and one of those races must have been within the past year, Morgan said. She has been training specifically for this race since around March, she said.
The toughest part of the race for her was a 31-mile stretch coming out of Death Valley National Park between Darwin and Lone Pine, she said. It’s a relatively flat stretch with rolling hills, but it starts at mile 90 after your legs are destroyed from running up two big inclines and “you’re just wrecked,” Morgan said.
That was her lowest moment in the race, but she just had to dig deep and figure out how to keep going, she said.
This time, instead of worrying about future parts of the race as she was running, she tried to mentally focus on one section of the race at a time, scoring little victories and moving on to the next challenge, she said. “I really felt like that was helpful.”
A big piece of the puzzle is having a team of people that support you, Morgan said. Each runner is allowed to have up to four people assist them, driving the route and providing food and water, telling her stories to make her laugh and just supporting her mentally, spiritually and physically, she said.
Her crew included her husband (Cary Morgan), Dr. Marianthe Grammas of Vestavia Hills, Carrie Wallace of Hoover and Dr. Pam Smith, another ultramarathoner from Salem, Oregon, whom she competed against in 2018 and who has become a mentor and friend.
“I can’t say enough about the crew I had that went with me,” Morgan said. “I would never have made it had it not been for them.”
The race started about 10 p.m. Monday night Pacific time, and Morgan finished around 3 a.m. Wednesday. That meant two nights without any sleep. She was able to get 3½ to 4 hours of sleep after the race, but sleep didn’t come easy, she said.
“It just hits so hard. The second you stop and you lay down, I can’t describe the feeling. You would think that’s like respite and this is great, but it’s the worst,” she said. “Everything is pressing against the mattress. No matter where you turn, it just hurts.”
After getting a little sleep, Morgan got up and ate a late breakfast Wednesday afternoon and then went to the finish area to watch other runners complete the race in a spirit of camaraderie.
Of the 97 runners who started the race, only 74 completed it, according to the race website. Morgan was one of only two runners from Alabama. The other was Jessica Jones, 46, of Dauphin Island, who did not finish.
Morgan, after completing the Badwater 135 twice with strong times, was asked if she plans to run it again.
“Maybe,” she said. “There’s something about the desert that’s very grounding for me. I love this place. I could definitely see myself doing it again, but right now, I’m not sure. Not next year though.”
Find out more about the Badwater 135 here. To see complete race results from this year, go here.
