Ultra runners tend to be outliers.
Running 100 miles (or more) at a time just isn't considered normal. Ultra running pushes the limits of pain and endurance. It's a sport with the mantra, "If the bone ain't showing, keep on going."
Then there's Michael Jimenez, an outlier among outliers.
Jimenez, 41, is a professional caddie at Pebble Beach in California and an experienced ultra marathoner. It's an unusual combination.
"Yeah, I'm the only one I know of," he says, laughing.
He's also a Grateful Dead fan who found his Christian faith while following the band around the country for two years as a young adult. The dreadlocked, bearded Jimenez and his brother, Marcos, kept on truckin' everywhere the band went.
"I met a really super cool guy out there that was down with the Bible," he says. "You know, that's where I got saved and gave my life to the Lord."
Today, Jimenez is a caddie at one of golf's cathedrals, an ultra runner, a Dead Head and a Christian. He's also a husband and father of three, including a teenage daughter who inspired him to get back into running six years ago.
Now he'd like to add one more bio entry: Badwater finisher.
On July 28, he'll start the Badwater 135 ultramarathon, crossing off the No. 1 item on his running bucket list.
Since first working as a crew member for friend and former Badwater champion Oswaldo Lopez in 2013 -- and learning up close about the demands of the 135-mile race from the low point of Death Valley at 280 feet below sea level, to Whitney Portal at 8,300 feet above, in searing summer heat -- Jimenez has felt the pull of the race.
After a year of preparation, he's as ready as he can be. He's upped his mileage and his climbs (about 400,000 feet in 2015) and incorporated heat training.
His wife, Elizabeth, says she can't ride in the car with him now that he cranks up the heat full blast. Longtime running buddy Joey Cassidy says Jimenez bundles up in extra sweatshirts while running the inland hills.
"I've never trained for Badwater and don't know anybody who has, but I mean, my God, there's no way in hell I would do that," says Cassidy. "And he seems to thrive off it."
Now Jimenez will be lining up against 96 others entered in this year's race -- as well as all the ultra stars who ran it before.
"It's not often in sports that you get to be on the same playing field as the people on the top of that sport," says Jimenez. "That's what's neat about Badwater."
On the golf course
For 13 years, Jimenez has been a professional caddie, hauling heavy bags, reading greens and helping golfers navigate the beautiful but demanding courses of the Pebble Beach Co.: Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill, The Links at Spanish Bay and Del Monte Golf Course.
Marcos, a scratch player, was a caddie first, and suggested Michael try it. He went through training and loved it. He likes that every day is different.
Jimenez, who lives north of Monterey in Marina, says he learns something every day. It's a job he enjoys for the relationships he's built -- many golfers request him over and over again -- the setting and the tests every round present.
"It's like an intellectual challenge," he says. "You're constantly figuring something out. You're trying to plot your way through a course. You can't just bulldoze a golf course. Golf courses are meant to be thought through."
One thing is certain: walking 18 holes isn't going to wear him out.
"Hey, there are some days I've shown up worn out," he says, laughing. "I've done a little overtraining before some rounds."
He's worked some of the PGA Tour events at the courses, but most of his memories on the bag come from helping everyday golfers. Their bucket-list items include Pebble Beach, Spanish Bay or Spyglass; his includes Badwater.
He works to be a calm, positive influence.
"I try to be that kind of mind force with them," he says. "That kind of centering force to bring them back into reality. 'You're not going to hit a 240-yard shot from this deep, sticky rough over this junk into that tight little spot ahead. You know what we're going to do? We're going to take our medicine. We're just going to knock it back into play. We're going to get out of trouble and then proceed.' Sometimes you have to be that guy that reins somebody in."
The caddie gig has been nice for another reason, too. The schedule is flexible. He can spend time with his kids, and he can run.
Elizabeth says running is a passion for her husband that ranks only behind his faith and family. He can carry a bag around Pebble Beach for 5-6 hours, then hit the trails.
"He can take the time to train," she says. "And we have lots of mountains to conquer."
Running then and now
Jimenez's father, who was in the military and then a correctional officer, would run to stay fit. When Michael was a boy, he'd tag along.
"I loved it right away," he recalls.
He ran a little bit in high school, too, but then stopped. Troubles at home -- and in his relationship with his father -- wreaked havoc with his personal life. He battled depression. He still ran at times ("That was probably the only thing that stabilized me in my life."), but running competitively wasn't possible.
After following the Dead, he came back home to the Monterey area, married and quickly became a parent of three with Elizabeth. In those years, Jimenez hardly ran. He ballooned to 230 pounds, about 85 pounds more than he weighed in high school and weighs again today.
In 2009, his life changed. His youngest daughter, Olivia, has his running genes. She began running and joined a youth track club.
"I would take her there and I would watch her run, and that's when it started getting back to me," he recalls. "I was like, 'Oh my goodness, that used to be so good for me.' She inspired me to get back into running."
A year later, he did the Big Sur Half Marathon. In 2011, he tore his Achilles' tendon -- he admits he was probably overzealous in his comeback -- and had to give it time to heal.
Since then he's stayed off asphalt and limited his training to 50-60 miles per week.
By 2013, he was taking on more challenging events, such as the Javelina Jundred 100-miler in Arizona. On a day when temperatures soared above 100, he finished fourth behind three elite runners.
"No one knew who I was," he says, laughing. "No one still knows who I am, which is fine."
Then last year, he won the Kodiak 100 miler, a grueling mountain route around Southern California's Big Bear Lake. His time of just over 25 hours was more than an hour ahead of the runner-up.
"That was really big for me," he says. "It's a very hard race. I had to go beyond what I thought I had to give and I ran a really strong race. That was the hardest thing I've physically put myself through."
Those two races -- plus his recent training, in which he's doing 100-mile weeks again -- give him confidence going into Badwater. His wife, too, has no doubts he'll be fine. She says he always underestimates his ability.
"He thinks he's going to do terrible and then he ends up doing really good," she says.
Patience is the plan
Jimenez talks about Badwater as a special experience, not only because of where it ranks among ultra races, but because it will be difficult to run it again without a sponsorship.
The race is costly, requiring a van, support crew, food, ice coolers and other necessities. Friends have donated to the cause, but he and Elizabeth have had to tighten up their budget to make this happen.
"It's been more than I thought," he says. "Seems to be always something else to check off."
The only reward is a belt buckle and the satisfaction that comes with it.
Says Elizabeth: "It is once-in-a-lifetime. So he wants that buckle."
If anyone can do well in his first Badwater, Cassidy believes it's Jimenez. As he's seen in many long, hot runs through hilly Toro Park near Salinas, Jimenez is built for Badwater.
"He really loves to put in the hard work," says Cassidy. "That's his strong suit in my opinion, because he's very dedicated. He just loves getting out there in Toro Park and just grinding through it, running the hills and doing the heat training.
"He's not super fast at the shorter distances, but when the going gets tough, Michael's really strong."
Plus, just as he does during a round of golf, Jimenez is constantly thinking his way through the Badwater course.
"You have to be patient and stay within yourself," says Jimenez, who crewed two years for Lopez. "I feel like you have to know your strengths. You must know where you can go hard and where you have to conserve yourself."
He plans to start easy, then make his move on the ascents.
"I feel like I'm going to be a good climber," he says.
He understands, too, that Badwater is a team effort. The energy and support a runner can get from his crew can be the overlooked element.
"It's really powerful," he says of the whole Badwater experience. "It's more than just a race. It's really a killer adventure that you share with a bunch of people that you become close with."