badwater Archives - Fixing Your Feet

Jul 17, 2016 · by John · In: blister care, Foot Care, Footcare, Footwear, Health, Sports Tagged: badwater, blisters, death volley, Foot Blister, heel blisters

Over the next few days, over 90 ultra runners will test themselves at the Badwater Ultramarathon in California's Death Vally. 135 miles. Extreme heat, scorching roads, sand, wind, hot winds, and then at the finish line - much colder temperatures. I'll be there to help with runner's foot care issues, working with Denise Jones. I decided to rerun this blog post from 2010. It describes an issue that can harm a runner, and can happen when time is not taken to repair small blisters before they …

Aug 10, 2014 · by John · In: blister care, Foot Care, Footcare, Health, Sports Tagged: badwater, maceration, Skin Folds, skin tears, water on feet, wet feet

Maceration in a Dry Race Two weeks ago I worked medical at Badwater. This year’s course had some serious uphills and downhills – but the course was dry. Unless one has feet that sweat heavily, there typically would not be any issues with wet feet. Yes, this post is going to talk more about maceration. I’ve done a number of posts this year on maceration, but the problem won’t go away, so there must be more to learn. So here’s how maceration happened in a dry year at Badwater and what you need …

Jun 16, 2014 · by John · In: blister care, Foot Care, Footcare, Health, Sports Tagged: alene nitzky, badwater, Foot Care, runner's feet, ultra runners, ultra runners foot care

I've been on vacation much of the past two weeks and given my time away, have turned to a good friend, Alene Nitzky, an experienced and well qualified ultra runner who wrote an article published at the Coloradoan website. You have heard me go on and on about the importance of god foot care. Here's another slant, from an ultra runner who has run Badwater and many other ultras. Runners spend all kinds of money on entry fees, clothing, travel to races, nutritional supplements and race foods. …

Aug 1, 2013 · by John · In: blister care, Foot Care, Foot Care Products, Footcare Tagged: badwater, badwater blister queen, Bogies, Curves, death valley, Denise Jones, Dumitrescu, Extremes, feet, High Quality, Hurry, hypafix tape, Jobs, kinesio tape, leukotape, Mt. Whitney, Photo, Pretty Toes, Quality Tape, Right Foot, Tape Job, taping feet, Trail Hike, Wet Conditions

Over my years of taping feet, I have seen techniques improve to where pre-taping is more helpful then ever before. Often times, in the middle of a race, one cannot take the time necessary to do a high-quality tape job. Things may be rushed. The runner may be in a huge hurry to make a cut-off. The feet and skin may be wet. Conditions may be less than ideal - lightening, set-up, workable access/angle to the feet, supplies, etc. However, before a race, a hike, or run, there is more time to do a …

Oct 6, 2012 · by John · In: blister care, Foot Care, Health Tagged: Asia, Athens, badwater, Battle Of Marathon, Big Toe, blister, Blood Blister, death valley, Email, feet, Few Days, Foot Guy, Footsteps, Furnace Creek, Greece, Persians, Photo, running, shoes, Sparta, Spartathlon, toe blister

Several years ago I met Gregg at Badwater in Death Valley. We were in line to check in at Furnace Creek and I heard the last name. It was the same as an aunt of mine. Turns out we are related. At Badwater he ran well and finished near the top. Later that year, he and his wife moved to Asia and I had not heard from him – until the other day. He sent an email about running the Spartathlon in Greece. It’s a 246-kilometer (153 mile) race between Athens and Sparta. The Spartathlon aims to trace the …

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Jul 12, 2012 · by John · In: Sports, Travel Tagged: 35th Anniversary, Adventure Racers, Adventurecorps, badwater, badwater ultramarathon, chris kostman, Cornfield, death valley, Denise Jones, Extreme Sports Events, Foot Race, Furnace Creek, Keeler, Legendary Event, Lone Pine, Mt. Whitney, Mushroom Rock, patching feet, Rock Furnace, Salt Creek, True Challenge, Vertical Ascent, Whitney Ca, Whitney Portal

Next week is Badwater. I'll be there along with Denise Jones, patching feet. I've captured the press released from Chris because if utilizes the best of social media and the web to keep followers in touch with the race. After the race, I'll post pictures. Promise. Here's the story and links. AdventureCORPS, Inc., an event production firm specializing in ultra-endurance and extreme sports events, will host the 35th Anniversary Badwater Ultramarathon on July 16-18, 2012. Recognized …

Dec 23, 2011 · by John · In: Books Tagged: Adventure Racers, Atacama, Avon Walk, badwater, Bc Canada, blister, blisters, Breast Cancer, Breast Cancer Walk, Colorado California, death valley, Feet Story, Foot care advice, Front Runners, Hikers, Merry Christmas, North Extreme, primal quest, Time With Family, TransRockies

Feet are a big part of my life. For the past 15 years, Fixing Your Feet has introduced me to great people. I have enjoyed helping runners at events like Western States; Badwater in Death Valley; Primal Quest in Colorado, California and Washington; Raid the North Extreme in BC Canada; the TransRockies in Colorado; Racing the Planet Atacama in Chile; the Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica; the Avon Walk; the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk; and others. In all these events, I have worked on …

Jul 31, 2011 · by John · In: blister care, Foot Care, Health Tagged: alene nitzky, badwater, blister care, Foot Care, foot care at badwater, heat, hydration

This guest post comes courtesy of Alene Nitzky, Ph.D., RN I ran Badwater as a rookie in 2008 with two years of crewing and pacing experience and several training runs across the valley. I'd never had foot or stomach problems before, but in the race, I suffered from an array of the usual problems runners have there: blisters, swollen ankles, not peeing enough, vomiting, nothing tasting good, and not getting enough calories. While working on the medical team at Badwater in 2009 and 2010 and …

Jul 24, 2011 · by John · In: blister care, Foot Care Tagged: alene nitzky, badwater, blister care, Foot Care, foot care at badwater

Alene Nitzky is a veteran ultrarunner from Colorado who two weeks ago completed Badwater, and then turned around and made it a "Badwater Double" - going back on the course to the start. She had successfully run Badwater before and spent several years working on the medical team. Her Double this year was a success in many ways. Her stomach held up well and her feet cooperated. Here is a report from Alene's blog about what worked for her feet. You have to remember that whatever is going on in …

Jul 8, 2011 · by John · In: blister care, Foot Care, Health Tagged: badwater, death valley, Denise Jones, macerated feet, maceration, wet feet

One of the runners doing next week's Badwater 135 Mile Ultramarathon recently emailed Denise Jones with questions about managing his feet at this grueling race. Denise cc'd me with her response. I liked what she wrote and decided to use part of it here because it is important information. [Denise talking about feet getting wet]. How you avoid getting your feet wet is that you avoid getting water sprayed on your legs. It's your core that needs the cooling anyway. If you are sprayed on the legs, …

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