HUNTSVILLE — Adventure comes in many forms.

For former Decatur resident Kathy Faulkner Youngren, 34, it involves conquering miles of terrain and temperature on foot.

Youngren participated in the 32nd anniversary Badwater Ultramarathon from July 13-15 in California. The race covered 135 miles from Badwater, in Death Valley, to Mount Whitney.

The starting point in the Southern California desert 280 feet below sea level marked the lowest elevation in North America. The finish at Mount Whitney Portal, the trailhead to the Mount Whitney summit, is 8,360 feet above sea level. Mount Whitney’s summit is the highest point in the contiguous United States.

In addition to 50 American runners, 50 more from 17 other countries were in the race. She said she is the only Alabamian ever to race in the event.

Youngren, a regular entrant into area 5- and 10-kilometer road races, said plenty of runners qualify for the event, but you have to be selected.

“I think you have to run two 100-milers to get in, but there are a lot of people who qualify,” Youngren said. “They pick you basically. If you’ve run it before, it helps your chances to get in the next year. And people seem to want to go back and back to this race, so it makes it harder for people who’ve never run it to get in.

“It’s more extreme with the heat and stuff than a lot of races. I’ve always wanted to run it. Typically, I like heat. I’m not sure about that any more but I did up to a few days ago,” she added with a laugh.

“But it’s always just intrigued me I guess, the whole distance, the heat, the terrain, all of that.”

Youngren completed the 135-mile distance in an impressive 33 hours, 49 minutes.

“I had a good race,” said Youngren, a 1992 Decatur High grad.

The race had a 60-hour cut-off time and an average finishing time of 44 to 48 hours, she said.

“I never had any big mental lapses. I never thought about quitting,” she said.

Youngren said she was notified in April that she was selected for Badwater. She said she increased her training to about 100 miles a week.

One factor that Youngren did have to overcome was the effects of the desert’s dry heat.

“The heat makes it completely different than anything I’ve ever done,” she said. “There’s nothing you can really do about it.

“My body wasn’t hot, but my stomach just wasn’t handling it all too well.”

Youngren said she prepared for the extreme temperatures with four weeks of sauna training. Youngren spent an average of 40 to 45 minutes in 170-degrees of sauna heat. She started with 30-minute sessions the first two weeks to become acclimated to the temperature, and once remained in the sauna for an hour.

“I wanted to bust out the door and get out quickly,” she said in laughter about the moment.

To address the heat issue, Youngren’s crew sprayed her with water, put ice on her neck and provided her with an ice bath.

Robert Youngren, 34, Kathy’s husband of nearly 10 years, served on her crew.

“We actually met at a 40-mile race,” Kathy said.

Other crew members included Blake Thompson of Huntsville, Joey Butler of Huntsville, Janice Anderson of Marietta, Ga., and Kim Susor of Millbury, Ohio.

“It’s not an individual race at all,” said Kathy, who stressed the importance of teamwork in the race.

In running the nonstop race, Kathy said she went 41 hours without sleep from Monday morning through midnight Tuesday. For finishing the race in fewer than 48 hours, Kathy received a commemorative Badwater belt buckle.

She received a surprise reception upon arriving back
home at the Huntsville International Airport on Thursday evening.

About 20 people welcomed Kathy and crew by ringing cowbells and carrying signs and balloons. A T-shirt also had been made with Kathy’s picture.

Youngren said her joy for running began while attending Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

“I have been running since 1995,” she said. “I did crew in college some. And then I started running for crew a little bit. They had the Marine Corps Marathon, so I decided to run.”

After graduating with an undergraduate degree in business administration from Georgetown in December 1995, Kathy moved back to Decatur.

“About 11/2 years later, I was running 100-mile races,” she added.

Since her graduation from Georgetown, Kathy earned a law degree from Cumberland School of Law and a master’s in criminal justice from UAB.

Currently, she is full-time student and will finish her master’s in education in December at Alabama A&M.

Her parents, Arthur and Mary Ann Faulkner, and grandmother, Agnes Pounds, live in the Decatur area.

Kathy and Robert Youngren have run in races throughout the country.

They have a run in Kansas planned in October and in March 2010, they said they will try one in the Antarctic.

When asked about the extreme turnaround from the dry heat of Death Valley to the cold of the Antarctic, Kathy Youngren replied, “I think that’s part of the adventure. Badwater was a good adventure, and Antarctica will be a good adventure, too.”

“We’ll try new stuff. We’re not scared to.”