To the Edge: A Man, Death Valley, and the Mystery of Endurance

This book inspired me so much that I underlined passages of it and insisted that my crew members read them to me as I ran Badwater myself in 2002. Kirk Johnson's wit and honesty provided a delightfully endearing account of the highs and lows of Badwater training, suffering and finishing. Although I personally believe that words alone will never suffice in explaining why we do what we do, Johnson's attempt to unlock the mystery is as close as anyone will ever get.

It was so fabulous to read this highly enjoyable chronicle of Kirk Johnsons journey from nonrunner, basically, to ultrarunner and badwater finisher. Amazing. As an avid runner and ultrarunner, it was refreshing to see the sport from his eyes. Ihad first learned of him in the documentary on the Badwater 135,Running on the Sun. this book chronicles how he first learned about the race, his trianing and time leading up to the race, and the race itself. It was a great book. I recommend it to runners and nonrunners alike.

As a veteran of over a dozen 100 mile trail runs myself, I can say that this wonderfully written book was truly the best book on the sport of ultrarunning I have ever read. Among a lot of things, it came closest to answering the most often question that is asked about ultrarunning: "Why would one ever run one of these things?" Beyond that, it went to the core of the rewards of self-understanding that one can obtain by pushing one's self the edge of emotional, psychological, and physiological exhaustion. It's a wonderful story about the importance to look at life from a perspective of things that really matter that, as it turns out, are the simple things all around us all the time. Best book I have read in awhile that stays in your thoughts for a long time after the book is done. Trust me, read it, and then sign up for Badwater or the Hardrock 100 to find your soul and spirit too. This is a great book!

As Johnson passes a fellow Badwater runner near the end of the race, he writes: "I thanked him and wished him luck, and felt a pang of guilt for how damn good it had felt. And still the road ahead beckoned." Similarly as Johnson climbs toward the Mt Whitney Portal at the end of the race, with tears streaming down his face, he summarizes his emotional feelings about the death of his brother in the powerfully terse language of an ultramarathoner: "I'm alive. I go on."Johnson's well written book creatively uses the challenge of the Badwater race as a model for the journey we make through life. There is no sound-bite exclaimation of "I solved the mystery of endurance and it is...", or "The best way to run an ultramarathon (and your life) is ...". Instead, Johnson shows us his journey with remarkably clear, honest and insightful writing. Far from being a model athlete, Johnson is an ordinary person in the midst of extraordinary struggles who uses determination, planning and instinct to find a path, his path.I found myself laughing out loud many times and my eyes welling up with tears in other sections of the book. The moments of self-doubt when he finds himself struggling to speak to his hero were hilarious; the frogs and Bach were pure comedy genius, and the deep dive into a semi-hallucinatory second night on the road were frightening. As a runner I marveled at his determination and the magnitude of his feat. But I'm certain non-runners will respect and admire the honesty he uses to describe the sometimes conflicting emotions and experiences he and his support crew have during the race. This is not a training manual for running long distances, but rather an engaging story about one man dealing with the death of a brother and searching for ways to unite and celebrate with the most important people in his life - his family.As a writer for the Times, Johnson was instructed to do his research, then return to the office and forget everything about being polite or rude, careful or exclamatory, and to report the truth. He succeeds brilliantly at that task with this book.