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.
No comments:
Post a Comment