Badwater Badasses

The Badwater Ultramarathon is a terrifying race - 135 miles, on pavement, through Death Valley's 116-degree

average temperatures. The gun goes off July 16 near Badwater, Calif. (282 feet below sea level), and the race ends

48 hours later on Mount Whitney (8,360 feet above sea level), more than halfway up the highest peak in the continental U.S. Here's what this year's five military runners had to say about the long road to Death Valley:

Claire Heid

Army first lieutenant

Age: 23

Heid is the youngest starter in this year's race, and if she finishes, will be the youngest female finisher in Badwater history - not bad for someone who started distance running less than four years ago.

She's balancing 120-mile training weeks with planning for a September wedding and a December deployment to Afghanistan.

"I want to be that 23-year-old female that crosses the finish line, and people know that I'm inspired by something other than a belt buckle," the then-platoon leader wrote in her race application. "I want to run Badwater because I want to run the toughest race there is. I want to run Badwater because I carry the thought of the 43 soldiers that I lead with me, because they are the reason I started running ultramarathons."

Hannah Roberts

Navy lieutenant junior grade

Age: 25

Roberts is currently the damage control assistant on the destroyer Hopper, based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Like Heid, Roberts began distance running in college while at the Naval Academy. She ran her first 100-miler (Virginia's brutal Grindstone 100-miler with its Friday-night start: "I knew it was going to be hard, but I figured 100 miles would be hard anyway") on her 22nd birthday.

"I want to compete in the Badwater Ultramarathon because I am curious of my physical limitations, enchanted by the places of peace and perspective that distance running delivers, and I want to follow in the footsteps of some of the world's most humbly inspiring and incredible people," she wrote on her application. "I admire anyone who has shown up to the starting line and I can think of few greater honors than earning a starting position."

Mosi Smith

Marine Corps captain

Age: 30

Smith is a logistics officer and the company officer for 19th Company at the Naval Academy. He's fundraising for the Semper Fi Fund.

His running résumé boasts two sub-20-hour 100-mile races.

"I continue to push myself through ultrarunning to become a stronger, more focused individual," Smith said on his application. "I am proud to say that I have never DNF'd [did not finish]. Given the lessons learned over the years, I do not plan to DNF in the foreseeable future. The Badwater Ultra is a demanding task. I have never been more ready, willing and able to charge ahead. Each relentless footfall I take will not only represent a step toward the completion of Badwater, but the betterment of the living conditions for our wounded warriors."

Mike Morton

Army master sergeant

Age: 40

Morton, a former Navy diver, is assigned to Army Special Operations Command and stationed at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.

He's wanted to run Badwater since his win - and course record - at the 1997 Western States 100, but a hip injury and multiple deployments took that plan off the table.

Now, 15 years later, he's re-emerging on the ultra scene with a bang. This year alone, Morton has won the Long Haul, Umstead and Keys 100-mile races, all with finishing times below 14 hours.

He's fast enough to be in the elite 10 a.m. start wave, but does he think he can win Badwater?

"I'm going there like everybody else," he said. "I want to finish so I can say I finished Badwater. If I finish it in 22 hours, that's great. If I finish it in 30, that's good, too."

Tim Hardy

Retired Army major

Age: 51

Hardy is a retired Ranger-tabbed signal officer who has run every day since Dec. 13, 2007. This year, he's also already completed the brutal Arrowhead 135-mile ultramarathon.

"I think military experience lends itself more to the mental toughness component of ultrarunning," he said in an email. "It's a lot easier to look at a 24- to 36-hour event from the mental framework that it's only a day or two, as compared to being tied to a military mission that stretches for eight, 12, 15 months away from home."

Those deployments, though, have set Hardy up well for Death Valley's extreme heat. In addition to many others, he's completed two combat tours in Afghanistan "working, operating, patrolling and fighting in temperatures up to 115 degrees in Kandahar in full combat gear for 12 months," he said on his application.