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[[File:2013 Badwater.jpg|right|thumb|500px|Chris Moon and me at the 2013 Badwater 135.]]
I had the opportunity to crew and pace Chris Moon at the 2013 Badwater 135 Ultramarathon. I wanted to help someone at Badwater because I was considering entering, and I wanted to learn more about the race, as well as support a fellow competitor. The Badwater 135 goes from the lowest point in the US, at Badwater in Death Valley to close to the highest point in the lower 48 states at Mount Whitney Portal, covering 135 miles and 13,000' (3962m) of cumulative ascent and 4,700' (1433m) of descent. The race is held in July, when the heat is at its most extreme, and this year the temperature was higher than usual. While Badwater is an extreme challenge for any athlete, [http://www.chrismoon.co.uk/ Chris Moon] lost his right leg and arm while clearing landmines for a charity in CambodiaMozambique, which presents an additional and significant challenge. Chris has four prior Badwater finishes, including two 'doubles', where you return to the start for a 270 mile run. This year Chris was working with [http://www.endolite.com/ Endolite] to test a prototype for a new prosthetic leg, as well as raising money for the [http://www.cambodiatrust.org.uk/ Cambodia Trust charity]. The new technology will offer some big advantages to amputee athletes, but testing out a prototype technology under race conditions adds yet another challenge. The new leg worked remarkably well, but it cost several hours of lost time in tweaking and even minor issues with the fit caused additional pain for Chris. It also slowed Chris down so that he had to work harder to stay within the race cutoff time of 48 hours.
=The Race=
I started pacing Chris on the first morning, as the heat began to rise and I stayed with him until after sunset. I covered about 26 miles, with a couple of short breaks to help with the driving while the prosthetic was modified. During the hottest part of the day I was able to spray Chris with water to keep his temperature under control, and to mule for him so he didn't have to carry things. Once the sun set on the first day the crew took shifts sleeping, so I changed from pacing to crewing just after dark, then I got my 3 hours sleep before returning to pace Chris though the final 50 miles of the race. Initially Chris was making good progress, but by mid-afternoon the combination of sleep deprivation, physical exhaustion, heat, pain from the prosthetic, and phantom pain from the lost leg all started to slow him down. I worked to keep Chris on a steady pace that would keep him ahead of the race cutoff without going too fast and burning him out. Once we hit the climb up to Whitney Portal, things improved dramatically, much to my surprise. The new prosthetic allowed Chris to climb better than he could move on the flat and he was able to dig in and pick up the pace. Chris finished the race in 45 hours, which is 3 hours slower than 2012, a remarkable result given the higher temperatures and the time lost to working on the prototype prosthetic.
