Vondruska to tackle Badwater
Posted by planetultramarathon on July 2, 2007
The road from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney, Calif., can bake to 130 degrees. So participants in the Badwater Ultramarathon know that blistering feet and possible dehydration await as they take off for the 135-mile run through the area.
Nor are they ignorant of the stomach cramping that comes from trying to eat in the nonstop foot race, lasting from July 23 through 25.
So why is Bloomingdale’s Jerry Vondruska, 38, excited to be undertaking such a task?
“Anyone who’s not a marathoner thinks I’m crazy,” he said, laughing. He loves staying fit — he even has a master’s degree in exercise physiology — but his primary goal is to raise money for his sister-in-law, Terry Vondruska, who’s battling breast cancer.
“It’s not anything that anyone else couldn’t do,” he said. “It’s going to take me 48 hours to finish, and she’s been fighting [breast cancer] for years.”
The Fenton High School health teacher plans to raise $13,500 to donate to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. He’s already up to $4,000.
He has been running up and down school bleachers once a week for an hour and 45 minutes — equivalent to running up the John Hancock Center five or six times. Since April, he has completed four 26-mile marathons, a 50-mile run, a 62-mile and a 100-mile.
“That’s the craziest I’ve ever done,” said the 5-foot-10, 172-pound man.
‘It’s an extreme sport’
Vondruska also switches up his routines, some days running and some days biking. He does yoga and sits in a 90-degree sauna to prep his body for the scorching sun.
“I think he’s crazy,” said Terry Vondruska, who has had breast cancer since 2003. “But I’m definitely proud of what he’s trying to accomplish. It’s really touching.”
Race director Chris Kostman said people have to pass a strict screening test before tackling the “toughest foot race on the planet.”
About 75 percent of the participants complete it every year. The winner usually finishes in 25 hours, while the average person finishes in 48.
Vondruska, who calls himself an “average joe” in the grueling race, gets eight hours of sleep at night to help himself recover from training. Others who are professionals train by completing 100 miles a week, he said, while his limit is 70.
“It’s an extreme sport,” he said. “This race is pretty big, but it’s not on TV. You don’t do it for the fans.”
