Anne finds her Happy Place!

6am Dutch comes on the intercom informing us that we’re going through the beautiful LaMiere passage. I roll over and peak out the window and go back to sleep…oh my head! Thankfully I stuck to beer so it wasn’t that bad. I slept until 7:30 while dad went to the bridge.



I did go out to see a leopard seal on an iceberg, then back to sleep. 7:30 to breakfast. News traveled fast and everyone was giving us young swimmers the elbow for our little adventure. Then we find that this morning’s excursion is to Petermann Island to see a Gentoo penguin colony!


The penguins here were mostly chicks, in various stages of their molt, so they had off bunches of fuzz on their bodies. Most of the adults had already headed back to sea.


OH MY GOD What an amazing experience. The Antarctic treaty regulations state that you must stay 15 feet away from wildlife and do nothing that will influence their behavior. There were penguins EVERYWHERE and the regulations don’t say anything about the penguins approaching you.


So back up a bit. Dutch and everyone on the staff make a big deal of the fact that everything down here is weather dependant. The weather can change in a flash and you have to be prepared for that. It can go from glassy water and light snow to choppy water and wind and driving snow very quickly like yesterday afternoon, or it can go from


very foggy and windy and driving snow


to sunny and amazing like it did this morning. So we’re on the first zodiac, all bundled up. The gangway was icy and I had my ski goggles on because it was snowing and blowing. The snow put a lovely white covering on the penguin poo covered rocks making it look and smell much more pleasant. Plus, it was a light and fluffy snow which really was lovely to sit in. So by the time we reached the penguin colony, the wind had stopped. There’s already a penguin waiting to meet us on the rocks.


Quick briefing and we’re off. I walked a bit away from the zodiac landing site, carefully choosing my path, as there were penguins everywhere, and sat down in the snow. Jacques came and laid down.


The penguins almost immediately started coming over to us. It was amazing. These penguin chicks came right over to us with very little hesitation.


Others lounged nearby,


splashed around in the pool,


walked up or slid down the hill


or yelled at an invading skua.


But life went on as usual for these penguins despite the 60 or 70 people tramping around.


I hiked around a bit and found a clump of Adele penguins and sat and watched them for a bit.


They were a bit less curious but still very comfortable around us. So peaceful and then the sun came out. Shining off the water and the ice and rocks and snow and the beautiful white chests of the penguins. We were all peacefully co-habitating and it really was amazing. I found my happy place! So for 3 hours I roamed around but mostly sat and let them come to me or just lounge near me. There were a bunch of people with great cameras there taking great pictures. So by 11, most people had left to cruise or go back to the boat. I stuck around and actually ended up getting regurgitated on


by an adorable penguin who quite resembled Don King.


I think I looked hungry.

It was the most wonderful, peaceful, serene place. I ended up taking 100 pictures and 4 adorable videos of the rag tag little penguins. I never tried to touch them because they were so comfortable with us around, I didn't want to do anything that might make them uncomfortable. They don't have any predators on the land, just the leopard seals, but those are from the water, so they have no reason to be afraid of us, and I wouldn't want to do anything to change that. So at noon, as the last zodiac left, I was amazing and in love. Such an awesome experience. Apparently the cruisers had a close encounter with 3 young leopard seals, but I wouldn’t trade my 3 hours on Petermann Island for anything in the world.


I have never sat so still or been so quiet in my life, and for those of you who know me, that really is amazing! I realized that my Antarctica tattoo has just changed It’s not something to do with a penguin. It really was an absolutely amazing experience. As corny as it sounds, I was one of them. They were happy with me being there with them just sitting and enjoying the breathtaking views. Wonderful. So back on the boat for lunch and we find out that tonight we get to camp on the ice if we want. They warn that it’s going to be cold and probably long and miserable but hell, I may never get back here again, so I’m taking the afternoon off from touring. Dad went to another penguin colony but after last night’s festivities and this morning’s amazement, I just want to lay down and soak it all in. So pictures are downloaded, journal is caught up. I’m going to take a nap.

Well, we were supposed to go camping, but it was called off because of weather, so a quiet night. Went back through LaMeire passage so we were on the bow watching and doing the wave and being silly. Then I spent an hour chatting with Anthony from Atlanta on the bridge, dinner, 2 beers at the bar, then to bed by 11.

Amazing whale encounter and Awards BBQ

Catching up on the journal as I didn’t get to it last night with all the swimming, but I’ll get to that in a minute. We woke at 8 feeling good considering our exertion from the day before. At breakfast we learned that we were to have a mellow morning, cruising to and in the Graham passage. The Vavilov got to go in the zodiacs which we hadn’t done yet but our captain took our ship INTO the passage.

I spent all morning on the deck watching seals and penguins and looking for whales. It was a bit overcast but the icebergs were beautiful and we had a great time chatting. Once we got into Graham passage, they served hot chocolate on the bow while we checked out the beautiful passage.





We didn’t go all the way through the passage, but we went in to the mouth and it was quite small for our large ship. There were a few whales, and some beautiful icebergs. We also saw a few fur seals laying on different icebergs, floating around. Once little fellow happened to be right at our turning point so we got a very close look at him.



He awoke to a huge ship in his face, rolled over and went back to sleep. We also saw 2 young fur seals playing “King of the Iceberg” and seemed to be having a pretty good time. It was a bit cloudy so we couldn’t see the top, but there were towering mountains with snow and ice and they were huge and beautiful and amazing.



The icebergs were awesome too. Some huge, some small, some just ice cubes, and one bloody iceberg. We all agreed that while initially we were jealous of the other ship for getting to go in the zodiacs, once we got into the bay in the comfort of our own ship, way in with the mountains and ice all around us, we were thrilled to be on the Ioffe!

So we slowly turned around and headed out of Graham passage and out to Wilamena Bay. I enjoyed the cruise down from the deck and the bridge. Once at Wilamena Bat (also known as Whale-a-mena Bay due to the frequency of whale sightings there) they launched the zodiacs with amazing expediency because they’d sighted 2 pairs of humpbacks logging around in the Bay.



We ran and got dressed and were on the 1st zodiac out. Poor Ziggy tried to explain the man overboard procedure while we were all craning our necks to see the whales.



We finally got through it and headed over to them. We proceeded to have the most amazing whale experience. Even Ziggy, our guide was excited. The whales, 2 Humpbacks, were fascinated by our boats and they swam all around and within 5 ft of our zodiacs.





They spy hopped to look at the boats, so we saw the coloring and lumps on their heads and the pleating on their throats (for expansion when filling with h2o and food.) They showed us their dorsal fins and their wide backs,



even a few tail flukes, but the tail flukes don’t usually come out of the water unless they’re diving deep and these guys were staying up with us which was just fine with me.



They stuck around for at least a half hour and every zodiac (there were 6 in the end) got an amazing view. Finally 2 Minke whales showed up and they all 4 swam around us for a few minutes, then they headed off. We also saw a mother and calf pass by as well, but they weren’t as interested in us.

Once the 4 had gone, we cruised around the bay, saw some fur seals then headed over nearer the boat and in the lee of a small island. When we arrived in Wilamena bay, the water was literally like glass, flat and beautifully reflective with a light snowfall. By now, the wind and snow had picked up and it was getting a big chilly. We did find some amazing icebergs. The blues just glow from the ice.



We also found a leopard seal who was mildly interested in us. We snapped some pictures and headed back to the boat for the party.

The passengers from the Vavilov came over for a cookout and awards banquet. It was fun to see Carla and Ian, Muhammad and Rom again.



The food wasn’t great, so I didn’t end up eating much, but I started in on the beers. Once the awards were given, they took the Vavilov passengers home. It was snowing pretty hard and was getting dark. At this point, I was really glad that the party was on our ship and I didn’t have to pile back into a zodiac and ride home. It was the first cook out I’d ever been to in the snow. Very fun. The Marathon Tours crew had some great things to say about their Under Armour gear which was nice.

Once the Vavilov people were back in their zodiacs headed to their ship, the REAL party started and we were all in very high spirits. (oh yeah, the 2 whales from our zodiac adventure came back at the beginning of our bbq and did another show.



They actually hung around the whole time and were still there when the Vavilov people left. So we were all in the bar getting our drink on, loud and laughing and carrying on. Dutch and Mary got into a tattoo contest (Duncan was drawing them on Dutch) When Mary one-upped Dutches taped on beer tab piercings, Dutch checked out for the night. The group had thinned considerably so we joined the younger crowd who were in the lounge where they were playing a drinking game. I stepped on a basket of chips which I later ended up vacuuming up. We were all quite loaded.

At one point in the night, Duncan snuck me out on the deck to see a tiny snow petryl, a pure white bird with jet black eyes and beak. He was laying in the snow on the deck. You could barely see him. It was very beautiful and very peaceful. Then we got back to the party. We ended up going dunking in the plunge pool on the boat. The water was pumped directly in from the sea. At first we went in in shorts. Then ran back into the sauna laughing and panting. Someone then said we had to do it again for pictures. It was a really fun night.

RACE DAY!!!!

(Maxwell Bay in King Georges Island, Antarctica)

Well, the weather cooperated and we’ve achieved our main objective – to run the 2007 Antarctica Marathon! HO-LEEEE CRAP! But let me back up a little bit. 6am, on comes Dutch with his soothing wake up call. “0 degrees Celsius, 20 mph winds, the race is on folks, we’ll see you at breakfast!” I envisioned myself laying there for a few more minutes. YEAH RIGHT! This is the morning of the Antarctica marathon which I’ve been anticipating for 2 ½ years. I was up like a rocket and dressed (in jammy-ish clothes) by 6:08 and had to sit and wait patiently for the dining room to open for b-fast. 8:30 start time so I had a pretty hardy breakfast, figuring my usual bowl of cereal would probably be all digested by the time the race started. We were in the 7:30 (1st) zodiac group to go to shore. (there were 2, the other at 7:45) So we bundled up and checked our lists (80 times) and off to the mud room to put on boots and pfds and launch.



It had been snowing all night (hard at 3am when I awoke and peeked out my window.) So there was a little snow on the railing. I made a teeny snowman and lobbed a few snow balls while waiting for our first boarding of the zodiac.



12 people to a boat.



Loading went very smoothly and we had a nice calm zodiac ride to shore.

We stored our stuff under one of the Russian station buildings.


They buildings at the research stations are on stilts elevating the doors so they don’t get snowed in or out of the buildings. Anyway, prep for the race, change clothes, waffle about what was too much/too little. (I wore ColdGear leggings, and Velocity wind pants, hiking Smart Wool socks, core bra, ColdGear mock, fleece quarter zip (from the Baltimore marathon) an Antarctica marathon wind jacket, neoprene gloves, the Cold Gear hood, fleece beenie and ski goggles and I was very comfortable all day.



MVG award (most valuable gear) goes to 2 pieces of gear. First of all, to my Vasque Gore Tex trail running shoes. Despite miles and miles of mud and streams and snow, my feet were TOTALLY dry and TOTALLY warm 100% of the time. Other people in regular running shoes or non-Gore Tex trail shoes had wet cold feet within the first 100 yards of the race. I was really glad Jenny Hatfield and Bart Yasso had warned me about the mud and wet, and I’m glad I searched long and hard and paid what I did for them. I will be writing a letter to Vasque when I get home because I am SO pleased and would have been SO miserable if my feet had been wet. It snowed ALL DAY and had snowed the previous night, so my feet would have been freezing. Dad had Gore Tex XCR Merrell trail shoes and after only 13 miles, his were wet through and the 2nd half was waaaaay muddier.

The other MVG award goes to the Under Armour ColdGear hood. It kept my cheeks, ears and chin warm (and nose and mouth when needed) Next year, UA should provide 200 of these for the runners rather than (or in addition to) suiting out the race committee. Really essential to not be cold and be able to enjoy going slow, smelling the roses, cheering people on and taking plenty of pictures. So all in all, despite my pre-race waffling, I made very good choices.

Knowing that there wouldn’t be a bank of porto-potties at the start, or easy potties along the way, I only drank a small cup of OJ with breakfast so I wouldn’t’ have to "go" during the race, and as it turned out, I didn’t have to at all. Thanks goodness because there would not have been ANTYHING to hide behind and you’re not supposed to leave ANYTHING on Antarctica, so thankfully I never had to.

So 200 runners excited and dressed in everything from shorts and sweatshirts to complete moon-walking coverage.



The bugle sounded and we were off…and boy was it muddy. The 1st 1 ½ miles to the Uruguayan base was hills and mud! You can sure tell why they call it a desert. There is rock and snow and mud and that’s it!


When you get a view of the sea and cliffs, the views were breathtakingly beautiful but it was pretty desolate. Through the Uruguayan base was fun, 5 or 6 scientist were there cheering and posing for pictures with tourists…I mean runners


(Yes, I was one of those tourists!)

Then on to a mile of rock beach. Everything from oreo cookie crumb looking sand to softball sized rocks, all very loose. That was a fun mile. (4 times!) Luckily it was flat. Then THE DREADED COLLINS GLACIER.



We got a view of the ants…I mean runners marching up the glacier about half way through the rock beach and it looked long and steep and scary! ¾ of a mile up and you couldn’t see the turn around until you were 20 or so meters from it. So up and up we marched. (I didn’t see one person running up it.) to the top



pictures from the top, then the run down, which was actually very fun. It was crunchy ice, so the footing was good. Wind perhaps at 15mph, stronger than before, but not too bad. So I ran down telling everyone to hurry to the top so they could enjoy the run down. I headed back across the rock beach, and this time there were 2 chinstrap penguins there cheering me on..


How cute. Quick picture and off to the long, hilly, muddy 2 miles back to the start/finish line.

I had mentally broken then race into 4 stages, but now I changed it in 8.

1) to the top of the glacier
2) back to Bellinghausen
3) to the Chinese base
4) back to Bellinghausen
then repeat.

So I was 7 miles in, phase 1 and 2 complete. I was passing my bag under the Russian building, but I was happy with my outfit and supplies so I kept going 1 mile through the Russian and Chilean bases, and back out into the up and down desolate blah trail for 2 miles. It wasn’t as muddy, but there was still some.



I got to the Great Wall of China (the name of the Chinese base) to the turn around which was way farther than I wanted it to be, and really windy! I turn around, all the while cheering for my fellow runners. Through China, up and down and through the mud and we’re back at Bellinghausen.



I was tired but I was ready. Phase 4 done in 3 hours. 4 hours until the official course cut off. I knew I could slowly walk the rest in 4 hours. I knew what was ahead of me, so I knew it would be rough but I was feeling good and ready to go.

I refilled my Camelbak, swapped out hankies and hit the road. Now that probably 560 sets of feet had tramped on the mud, it was REALLY muddy. Not to mention that it was still snowing, so new moisture was being added all the time.



Seemed to take forever to get to Artigas (Uruguayan base) through there, wave to the Urguayan scientists, across the beach and (foreboding music here) THE GLACIER!

I was going much slower at this point, as was everyone! I ran into Anders at the base of the glacier and gave him a big hug. His hip was really bothering him and he admitted to walking both up and down the glacier this time. He also reported that it was steeper and longer this time around which I soon learned was definitely the case. So the death march began.



An adorable older British gentleman from the Vavilov was going at about the same speed as me. His strategy was 100 steps and rest, which I thought was a pretty good idea except that a) I couldn’t count that high, (concentration was poor) and b) I just didn’t want to stop. So I went backwards a few times which was a nice break on the knees, but I was afraid of running into someone or going off course, so I kept switching around. On top of that, the wind had kicked up to about 40 mph and it was VERY windy and VERY snowy and quite cold. My hands were freezing on the way down. Thankfully it was the only time that anything was uncomfortable from the cold. So I marched and marched and marched…oh, and it was super slippery this time unlike the delightful crunchy snow we’d had the first time. So that made for slow treacherous going as well. So FINALLY I reached the top, turned around and gave a triumphant “WOO HOO” with my arms in the air and began the grateful descent which also took a while as it was slippery and any fast hard landing killed my knees! Every step I though “OH BOY, I’m in trouble!”

Once I finally got to the bottom onto the flatter softer sand and shifting rocks, I was able to run more comfortably. Plus I saw an adorable Gentoo penguin pecking at one of our little bright florescent course marking flags. I also saw the 2 chinstrap penguins that I saw on the way to the glacier the 1st time. Few more pictures and on through Artigas. (Apparently one of the guys needed to use their bathrooms to which they reluctantly agreed, then asked him to tell the ladies that they were very clean and lovely! I guess they don't see women very often.)

Out of Artigas and on to the slog to Bellinghausen which took FOREVER. I’d forgotten how long it was and by now, the streams were wider and the mud was deeper and stickier because almost everyone had been through there 4 times.



Plus there were very few runners on that stretch because we were all spread out. So me and the nice British dude chatted a bit here and there, and caught up to each other and got ahead of each other a few times. Then FINALLY, Bellinghausen and mile 19. YAY!!!

My shoes were heavy with mud and moisture on the outside, but my feet were dry and very happy! There really was a TON of water and mud out there, but I had less than 7 miles to do so I cruised through, saw dad, quick hug, saw Carla and Ian cheering on a corner. (Carla got 2nd overall and 1st woman in the half marathon!) I hugged them and headed out. My knees hurt a lot on the down hills so I was walking the up hills (which I had pretty much already been doing) and the steep down hills but I tried to run as much as I could on the mild downhill and flat parts. So I slogged through the long and desolate cold. (The wind had picked up again…in fact, they were concerned that they might have to close the course due to impending bad weather I found out after the race.) Still, with my little English guy, I finally reached China



and finally reached the last turn around at mile 23.



Now I just go home. No more phases, no more turn arounds, just straight home. We’d seen a fur seal on phase 7 near the beach and he’d actually kind of half heartedly charged another runner. I saw a few chinstrap penguins hopping from rock to rock. (So cute) and 2 fur seals, one on the beach, and one up, probably 6 meters off the trail. He was hilarious. He would run a little and dive in the snow, sliding and rolling and flapping his flippers. He looked like he was having grand old time. So funny. So that gave me something to smile and laugh about but the last 3 miles still seemed like an eternity. Finally I hit mile 25. I tried to run in the rest of the way because it was pretty much down hill or flat going into the research bases, but I ended up taking a few walk breaks as my knees were quite tired and pretty painful. Dad met me at 25 ½ to run me in. Hug from Carla and Ian who stuck around to cheer and on to the finish. I joked with the staff “one more lap, right?” Ha ha. Across with a leprechaun leap



and I was done…and cold! Time to go in, have some food, change and go back to the ship.

We went inside the building we were previously under where it was warm, there was food and space to change. The staff was moving people along. Apparently the concern from earlier was that 50 mph winds were predicted and the zodiac rides were getting wet and choppy



so I moved it right along, water, change, snack and then reorganized my bag, bundle up and wait for the next ride to the Ioffe. After a very rough and splashy ride back to Ioffe, we were home. I scrubbed my boots, dropped my pfd off in the mud room and off to change. They extended lunch so I grabbed 2 beers and had some lunch. Everyone was all abuzz about the race details. Seems the Ioffe swept the championship! 1, 2, & 3 in the women’s and 2, 3, & 4 (at least) in the men’s! Everyone was excited and full of energy. After lunch we came back. I showered and caught up with the journal. (with a little Biofreeze on my knees) At 6:30 we decided that happy hour was a good idea, so off we went. Waichi, who hadn't run before and had done the half today, was buying all the drinks because everyone had been so supportive resulting in a great experience. Cool! The bar was full and very loud. We had fun talking until dinner, had dinner and headed to bed. What a great day.