Podcast: Episode 85: Marshall Ulrich - 40 years of epic endurance (Badwater 146 Unsupported!)

Category
Person-Person

Marshall has been there, and been doing that for decades. His output, especially for the hugely long routes, is prodigious (think running across the US).  

"What I was doing was kicking back and having fun.  Showing people you can do more".

"Kicking back and having fun"?  Running across Death Valley a total of 29 times doesn't strike me as that much fun.  But that's Marshall - taking humble understatement to a whole new level!  Marshall exemplifies a theory of mine: "Hardcore people never think they are. They think what they do is normal, because hardcore is all they know. People who think they are hardcore rarely are."

"My friend and I did 8 Eco-Challenges together. We thought of it as fun - we didn't think it was anything extraordinary."

Yeah, right!  Marshall also did Badwater (lowest point to highest point in the US) Unsupported Solo!  He brought all his own water for the 146 mile crossing during July.  How did he do that??  You're about to find out.

Full CV

Marshall Ulrich

  • Age: 68
  • City: Evergreen, CO
  • Work: Author, Speaker, Guide, Farmer (used cow dealer)
  • Significant FKTs or Races: (this is a massive 2-page list; highlights): Seven Summits (all on first try); 129 Ultra and Adventure Races; Grand Masters Record Trans-Am; one of three people to complete all nine Eco-Challenges.
  • Next: 30th Badwater/Death Valley crossing, 30 years after my first crossing in 1990
  • Social - 

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Comments

Just offering a thought - I don’t think Southern Traverse was the first adventure race, they’ve been running the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic since 1982! You should get Roman Dial on the show to talk about it and Alaska in general, he’d be a fantastic guest. Adventure racing is very cool and it was fun to hear the talk about it today. Very podcast as always.