It is a 135-mile course starting at 282 feet below sea level in the Badwater Basin, in California's Death Valley, and ending at an elevation of 8360 feet at Whitney Portal, the trailhead to Mount Whitney.
That’s pretty intimidating, but it didn’t stop Dean Karnazes from placing in the top 10 six times, one of which he won. The race he won was in 2004 and saw temperatures over 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
One of Karnazes’ biggest achievements is running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. He couldn’t run all official marathons for the courses he chose, as they usually only run on weekends, but he did run the routes of 50.
He ended with the New York City Marathon on the actual date, and decided he would also run home to San Francisco. He only made it to Missouri, however, because he wanted to spend more time with his family.
