And the winner is....

Going to be officially announced tomorrow. I think I may have placed third in the half marathon for women, which would be quite a surprise since I did not think I was in shape enough to be competitive. The course was REALLY hard. There was no single element that made the course hard but rather the combination of elements: lots of hills (38 hills per 6.1 mile loop), extreme mud covering at least half of the course, crossing water, snow and ice, winds that increased to about 30 knots by the end of the day, along with a sleet, rain, snow mix that fell lightly all day. The temperature was in the mid 30’s but the windchill made it quite a bit cooler. It took me exactly 3 hours to complete the half marathon. That is about 30 minutes slower that I would likely run a half marathon conducted on roads. Every runner had anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours added to their normal running times due to the conditions. Because of the difficult course, several runners decided to not do the whole marathon after completing 2 loops (13.1 miles). After making that decision, they dropped out and will be given credit for completing a half marathon.


As if running the race is not hard enough, you then have to get yourself back to the boat. That was quite a challenge since there is no nice recovery area to get warm and dry. All of our bags were by the starting line and had gotten quite wet from the rain. In our bags were extra clothes, including our waterproof pants and jacket that must be worn when in the zodiaks. The ground was uneven and there was moss everywhere that can’t be stepped on. I had put peppermint tea in my thermos and that helped warm me up after the run. Also, I had a light down jacket that I put on over my shirt and under my jacket. [Let me take a moment and put a plug in for my clothing at this point--I wore an Under Armour thermal mock turtleneck as my base layer and due to the rain, did not use my running jacket and instead, wore my waterproof, windproof Marmot Genesis softshell jacket, and REI windproof cycling tights that were over a pair of Under Armour spandex shorts. The warm layer I added after the finish was by Patagonia and is called a Down sweater. My shoes were gortex trail runners by Salomen and kept my feet pretty much dry. All of my gear was terrific. Now back to the story.] I was so appreciative when one of the Quark adventure tour guides helped me put on my overpants and rubber boots. My fingers were pretty cold and not working very well at that point. After gearing up, we had to trudge a half mile down a dirt road to the beach where the zodiaks were pulled up, sit on the edge of the rubber boat and swing our legs over to get in. Again, a bit of a challenge with very tired legs. My ride back was not too choppy and within 10 minutes, I was back at the gangway of the ship and soon taking a wonderful hot shower. Those runners who finished later in the afternoon found themselves riding through rough seas with waves 5-6 feet high that were crashing over the boat and over the shivering riders. Once on the boat, we had to decontaminate our rubber boots and then we were free to shower and eat something from the wonderful buffet the cooks had laidout.

By this evening, everyone was back on the boat, safe and sound, and there was a great celebration in the lounge area of the ship. Whenever anyone walked into the lounge for the first time since the race, everyone cheered and clapped. It was lots of fun and showed just how much the group has bonded during the past week. We all passed each other on the course several times due to the out-and-back format, and everyone said hi and offered a word of encouragement. But, we all ended at different times and it was definitely too cold to stand around and wait for others to finish--hence,the cheering on the boat. There were a few injuries, but nothing too serious--a woman broke her finger when she slipped on ice, another woman hit her head and got a gash on her face when she tripped over a rock, and there were several twisted ankles. Some people were lucky enough to see a few penguins on the course but I was not one of them. I did see a few skuuas flying around but no one was directly hit by one as they dived by or near the runners.

All in all, it was a great race. A storm is expected in the area tomorrow so it was good that we had reasonably decent weather today. Now we are headed toward Half Moon Island and Deception Island where we should see lots of wildlife. Some brave souls may even do a polar plunge in the waters heated somewhat by the active volcano at Deception Island. I think the water might be 42 degrees instead of the usual 37 degrees.