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Greensboro's Charlie Engle overcame stomach issues and severe blisters on the balls of his feet to knock nearly two hours off his previous best time in finishing fourth today at the Badwater Ultramarathon foot race in California.

Engle, 46, completed the grueling 135-mile race in 25 hours, 45 minutes and 11 seconds. The five-time Badwater finisher's fastest previous time was 27:42:32 in 2007.

The Badwater began Monday, 282 feet below sea level at Death Valley in California with surface temperatures of 200 degrees. Runners crossed the finish line today at 8,360 feet on Mount Whitney.

Engle credited his six-person crew, which included Chris Justice and Bobby Christiansen of Greensboro, with helping him overcome problems Monday.

"I’m feeling pretty rough this moment," Engle said by telephone from California shortly after he finished. "My feet are true disasters with some pretty nasty blisters. I went a very long time without being able to eat any solid foods. Chris did an amazing job of forcing me to drink my calories, which was just terrible. But it worked out, and I was able to keep enough calories in me to keep moving.

"I will say right this moment I'm as drained as I’ve ever been in my life."

Engle impressed his crew. Justice, 38, has completed 15 marathons, and he has run longer distances with Engle and with Christiansen, who recently completed the Western States 100. But Justice hadn't seen an effort like Engle's.

"Absolutely unbelievable," Justice said.

Particularly given the physical challenges Engle faced over the race's first 75 miles.

"He had a hard time yesterday," Justice said, the crew's "nutrition guy." "He threw up several times. One of the issues you run into out there is the body tends to shut down processing fluids, and that's for a number of reasons. It's primarily an electrolyte issue. What ends up happening is anything taken in just pools up in the stomach and doesn’t get processed. That can exacerbate the dehydration issue. You're dying of thirst, drinking and drinking, and not getting the benefit. Fortunately we rebounded nicely in the night, and he was flying."

Flying indeed. Justice posted on his Facebook page during the race: “I wish you guys could see this running display. He is clocking 8-9 minute miles. At mile 115."

Engle said his training went well, although North Carolina summer heat doesn't stand up to what Badwater runners face.

"Sometimes I'll throw on a couple of sweatshirts and go out at 1 o’clock in the afternoon in June," Engle said, "but one thing you can’t simulate is the heat coming off the pavement in Death Valley. It’s over 200 degrees for the surface temperature, so short of running in place on my stove, there’s really just no way to do that."

And with Engle, it's never over and it's on to the next challenge. He'll return to California in early October and will hop on his bicycle to compete in a companion event to Badwater, the Furnace Creek 508. He'll be trying to become the athlete with the best combined time and win the Death Valley Cup.

"In endurance sports, it's a big deal," he said.

And of course, that's not all, either. In late October, he'll run in Morganton's Ridge to Bridge Marathon on a Saturday morning, jump in the car and drive to Washington for the next day's Marine Corps Marathon.

Engle has finished third at Badwater twice, in 2005 and 2006, and he was eighth in 2003. Engle entered but did not complete the race last year.

Marcos Farinazzo, 40, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, won the race in 23 hours, 39 minutes and 18 seconds. Oswaldo Lopez, 37, of Madera, Calif., was second in 24:36:07. Zach Gingerich, 29, of Aurora, Ill., finished third in 25:06:12.

Eddie Wooten can be reached at 373-7093 or eddie.wooten@news-record.com