DESERT DOMAIN
Ultramarathon through desert a high for runner
Frank McKinney doesn’t believe in setting limits — he believes in testing them.
As a builder of oceanfront mansions.
As a five-time best-selling author (with a sixth book being released today).
And as a seven-time finisher of the world’s most challenging ultramarathon: the Badwater 135 in Death Valley, California.
“I’m always searching for what I call the ‘three I’s’ — insurmountable, incomprehensible and impossible,” said McKinney of his perpetual need for challenges.
In 2004, while on vacation in the Mojave Desert with his family, he discovered the existence of Badwater — an annual 135-mile trek through mountainous terrain held in July when temperatures routinely exceed 130 degrees Fahrenheit — and immediately knew he wanted in.
“I was intoxicated by the heat,” he recalled.
Family of athletes
The 6-foot-1-inch, 185-pound Indiana native comes from an athletically accomplished family.
His grandfather was an NFL player with the Chicago Cardinals and his father was a gold-,
“I was intoxicated by the heat.”
silver- and bronze-medalwinning swimmer for the U.S. in two Olympic Games (1956 and 1960).
Before beginning his South Florida real estate career some three decades ago, McKinney, 55, was a teaching tennis pro. He also competed in adult tournaments, ranking No. 9 in the state of Florida in the open adult division.
However, between the combination of injuries, real estate projects and family responsibilities — he and wife Nilsa have been married 28 years and have a 20-year-old daughter, Laura — led McKinney to transition into distance running to stay fit.
“I was a 40-minute/10K level runner — definitely not elite,” he said. “And I never ran more than 6 miles at a time.”
During that July 2004 vacation, he left one morning for his standard 6-mile run — and made it barely halfway before “I had to start walking or I would have passed out.”
Eventually, he staggered into a nearby convenience store to buy Gatorade.
The proprietor rang up the purchase — and chastised McKinney.
“He told me that I was ‘going to fall behind and not make the cutoff.’ I had no idea what he was talking about.”
The proprietor had mistaken McKinney for a Badwater 135 participant — which coincidentally was being staged that day — instead of just a tourist out for a run.
“We got to talking and he explained the event to me. I was hooked! Before we even returned home a few days later, I was planning to enter the 2005 Badwater 135.”
Ultramarathon training
McKinney found out that only 100 participants — out of thousands of applicants — are “invited” to each year’s Badwater. What’s more, in order to even have one’s application considered, one must have completed a 100mile race in the previous 12-month period.
He had three months to prepare for the qualifying race. So he hired an experienced ultramarathoner to coach him.
To acclimate his body and brain, McKinney embarked on weekly “shock runs” — 30-, 40and 50-mile sojourns that he did “to shock the mind into believing I could do this. Failure in this race is usually mental — not physical.”
Because the race has a 48-hour time limit (it was 60 hours back in 2005), McKinney also had to practice eating, drinking and even urinating while on the move.
“My mindset is to maintain relentless forward motion.”
As tough as it gets
Badwater bills itself as “the world’s toughest foot race” — and for good reason: Participants traverse 135 miles from Death Valley to Mount Whitney, California. It starts at the Badwater Basin — which, at 280 feet below sea level, is North America’s lowest elevation. The course covers three mountain ranges, which forces competitors to ascend a cumulative 14,600 feet and descend a cumulative 6,100 feet.
Oh, and there are no aid
stations — only M.A.S.H.style medical tents for those who drop out and need immediate attention.
Racers have a “crew” of up to four people (McKinney’s always includes his wife and daughter) who travel the course via automobile and provide food, liquids, ice, changes of clothes/equipment, etc. — and, most importantly, emotional support.
“It really is a team effort,” said McKinney, who also credited the local support of his primary sponsor, Fleet Feet Delray Beach.
What McKinney really appreciates about Badwater is the sense of community among participants and crews.
“We’re all a little bit crazy — in a good way — to be out there, and we all lean on each other,” he explained.
The unforgiving terrain forces participants to be adept at running, walking, hiking, climbing — whatever it takes to get to the finish line.
The crew’s job is to keep track of his fluid and caloric intake, monitor his vital signs and be on the lookout for any real physical peril.
In his 11 Badwater races, McKinney has endured bee stings, lost toenails, heatstroke, fainting spells, a bloodied face and bloodied limbs, blood blisters, ligament, tendon and muscle injuries, violent intestinal distress, emotional breakdowns, hallucinations.
“I’ve had some of the best — and worst — moments of my life at Badwater,” he said.
During the portions of the race when the course winds through highway roads, McKinney calls the paint on the street “the white line from hell to heaven.”
The first six times McKinney entered Badwater (2005-07, 2009-11), he finished; the next three times (2012-13, 2015) he was forced to drop out.
Completing the race in 2016 at age 53 — when he was among the oldest entrants — is among his crowning athletic achievements. At this year’s Badwater, a record 70 of the 100 entrants were forced to drop out; McKinney made it to mile 91 in 31 1/2 hours before becoming the last non-finisher to pull out.
“It was disappointing — but I wasn’t going to make the 48-hour cutoff, so it was the right decision.”
Will McKinney attempt Badwater again?
He’s non-committal (“Never say never!”).
But whether he heads back to Death Valley or not, you can bet McKinney will find a new way to test his limits.
“I’m attracted to extremes — because you’re most alive when you experience an extreme for the first time.”