Sunday the 10th was the McMurdo Ice Marathon. It had been postponed from a date in January because of poor weather. We lucked out because on this day, the weather, while cold, was pretty decent. The temperature was in the low teens with windchill down to the single digits.
In standard marathons, some of the difficulties include physically and mentally preparing for this race. In Antarctica, one of the biggest difficulties is preparing what you will wear. When you stand around waiting for the race to start, you will be cold. When you run with the wind at your back, if you are wearing a lot of clothes, you are likely to be sweating, when you run straight into the wind, you are likely to get cold and have your sweat freeze. As you're cranking through the race, you're likely to get warm, but after 20 miles, your body may shut down (as it did for one girl who got hypothermic and had to be removed from the race) and you'll get cold. The race could take up to 6 hours, and in a place like Antarctica, out on the sea ice, a nasty storm or freezing wind could blow in. It was funny, bc this was one of the biggest stresses we faced. We have been working out, but not training for a marathon, so our physical preparation was sub par, but I still wanted to go for the 26.2 miles.
The race starts near the land to ice transition near the kiwi base and goes the entire length to the Pegasus airfield (roughly 13 miles) and then turns around and comes back. The race is run entirely on the Pegasus snow road which is situated on the Ross Sea Ice Shelf, which means that the Ross Sea is below and during the whole marathon, you are actually running on top of the ocean! They have 3 aid stations (at mile marker 3, mile marker 7, and mile marker 11), which you go by twice each. The best one being the one at mile marker 7 run by Cargo and home to the quarter marathon finish. At this aid station in addition to the traditinal powerbars, pb&j's, gatorade, and water, you can find brats and burritos cooked up by cargo as well as beer and shots. It was so cold that the mile marker 7 guys were putting the energy bars on grills to keep them from freezing. But the drinks placed out on the tables for us to grab were almost always frozen, so you just had to dump a cup into the cooler. Each of the aid stations had a running van you could hop into to warm up...in retrospect, I probably should have used this form of aid!
Last year I skied the full marathon, but this year I decided to run it, partly because it would be cool to say you've run a marathon in Antarctica, but also because I just thought it's a sweet place to run one.
I felt really good the first 13 miles. During these first 13 miles I averaged between 7:45 and 8:10 miles (this road is nice bc there are mile markers every mile for safety reasons when driving in case you were to hit whiteout conditions you could let rescuers know what the last mile you were at). At the halfway part you turn into a stiff and cold wind. I was able to hold 8 minute miles for the next 3 miles, but by the time I hit the cargo aid station at about mile 20, I was having trouble keeping 9 minute miles. Then after I got some food there and made a quick stop, I was really having trouble and was doing everything I coudl just to keep running. I think I was somewhere in the 10 to 11 minute mile range then, but I wasn't paying too much attention to my watch anymore. The trouble I was having was that my muscles were just completely and utterly sore. You know that sore you get the day after running a long race? The one where it's hard to walk down stairs or sometimes just walk. Well, that's the sore that I was getting DURING the race. If I stopped at an aid station for more than a few seconds, I'm not sure if I could have continued running bc my muscles would have just gotten too sore. I think the reason for this was that as I began to get a bit tired and was running into the wind, my muscles got really cold. That's usually when you get sore after a race, after you've sat down or gone to bed and your muscles have gotten cold. Well, here, even while running my legs got cold and froze up. The first 13 miles the wind was at your back, which means the windchill is much less. Also I was feeling good and working hard, so I was warm. But once my energy reserves became lower and the temps dropped and I was moving slower, my muscles just froze up. The funny thing is that I was actually feeling warm in my core, but no doubt, with just thin (non windproof) leggings and a pair of shorts on, my leg muscles were probably getting the full brunt of that 0F windchill. I ended up running the race with leggings, medium thickness socks, bball shorts, a light wicking base layer long sleeve, a synthetic pullover, a neckgaiter, a thin icebreaker hat, and windproof light gloves. I had a windbreaker tied around my waste (and wind pants and fleece stashed at the mile 11 aid station), which when we turned around, I switched so that the knot was on my back and the coat portino was over the front to protect a certain important organ from frostbite. I was actually wearing 2 pairs of underwear to protect it. Something I had learned while skiing out there all those times on the ice shelf is that when you are going into the wind and don't have on windpants, that area is quite subject to the wind chill. The problem is if you wear windpants you sweat way too much. Overall I was warm enough and even sweated a bit, but it must have just gotten to my muscles.
Anyways, I managed to push through the incredible sore pain of the last 5 or 6 miles and finish. I ended up finishing in 3rd place with a time of 4hrs, 7 minutes, and 19 seconds. I was 2nd place among Americans, and first place among civilians (a guy in the kiwi army was 2nd and the winner was some guy from the national guard) I probably could have dropped several minutes off that time at the end, but I was in a lot of muscle pain and the next contender was miles back (I couldn't see him), so I took it slow in the last 5 miles. Had I felt the need to push it, I probably could have. I actually wasn't ever out of breath nor exhausted or tired. What got me was these sore muscles caused by that bitter Antarctic cold.
It was cool because at the finish line, they put up a tape for everyone to break. I haven't broken tape since some 100m and 400m races in middle school track (there is no tape in swimming and distance running is not my strong point). Research Associate Liz (who I call my little sister..I love that girl) was the starter and timer, so she was cheering us on with her megaphone upon finishing. My good friend Kevin who is my suitemate and in charge or rec was cruising around by snowmobile to offer encouragement and make sure everyone was okay.
As soon as I finished, I could hardly move. My muscles instantly froze. Liz had to help push me up into her truck which she kept running for warmth. Then shuttle shafer came by to pick finishers up to take them to town. I rode with her to town to get my big red jacket, and she said I was walking like her after a long delta ride (she is the eldest of the shuttle drivers...a retired woman from the theatre business in Manhattan). I rode back with her to await the finish of Elisha, Abe, and Bev. The finished in about 5 and a half hours, a good hour in front of the cut off time.
They talk about a Marathon being this lonely race where you are entirely inside your mind. Well, the McMurdo marathon is the epitome of loneliness. I ran with Anthony for the first several miles, but then, you would just not see anyone. You can look out across the massive expanse of ice into ever and ever and not see a thing--no buildings, no trees, no nothing, just shimmering whiteness..just ice and stormy weather in the distance. For some reason that emptiness and loneliness just hit me, and I think I enjoyed it and fed off of it.
Afterwards we went and got our free massages and then crashed on the couches to watch movies. The next couple of days, you could tell who on base had run the marathon bc of how they were walking. I never knew how many stairs this base had until then! It was actually pretty comical to see us all hobbling around. And it was a busy week in Crary as all the scientists were going home, so we had to move around a lot. I put up a sign on Bev, Abe, and my office that said, "please have patience with us, this office ran 78.6 miles on Sunday"
I had put this on my fb post race and thought it was good to share here again...
In standard marathons, some of the difficulties include physically and mentally preparing for this race. In Antarctica, one of the biggest difficulties is preparing what you will wear. When you stand around waiting for the race to start, you will be cold. When you run with the wind at your back, if you are wearing a lot of clothes, you are likely to be sweating, when you run straight into the wind, you are likely to get cold and have your sweat freeze. As you're cranking through the race, you're likely to get warm, but after 20 miles, your body may shut down (as it did for one girl who got hypothermic and had to be removed from the race) and you'll get cold. The race could take up to 6 hours, and in a place like Antarctica, out on the sea ice, a nasty storm or freezing wind could blow in. It was funny, bc this was one of the biggest stresses we faced. We have been working out, but not training for a marathon, so our physical preparation was sub par, but I still wanted to go for the 26.2 miles.
The race starts near the land to ice transition near the kiwi base and goes the entire length to the Pegasus airfield (roughly 13 miles) and then turns around and comes back. The race is run entirely on the Pegasus snow road which is situated on the Ross Sea Ice Shelf, which means that the Ross Sea is below and during the whole marathon, you are actually running on top of the ocean! They have 3 aid stations (at mile marker 3, mile marker 7, and mile marker 11), which you go by twice each. The best one being the one at mile marker 7 run by Cargo and home to the quarter marathon finish. At this aid station in addition to the traditinal powerbars, pb&j's, gatorade, and water, you can find brats and burritos cooked up by cargo as well as beer and shots. It was so cold that the mile marker 7 guys were putting the energy bars on grills to keep them from freezing. But the drinks placed out on the tables for us to grab were almost always frozen, so you just had to dump a cup into the cooler. Each of the aid stations had a running van you could hop into to warm up...in retrospect, I probably should have used this form of aid!
Last year I skied the full marathon, but this year I decided to run it, partly because it would be cool to say you've run a marathon in Antarctica, but also because I just thought it's a sweet place to run one.
I felt really good the first 13 miles. During these first 13 miles I averaged between 7:45 and 8:10 miles (this road is nice bc there are mile markers every mile for safety reasons when driving in case you were to hit whiteout conditions you could let rescuers know what the last mile you were at). At the halfway part you turn into a stiff and cold wind. I was able to hold 8 minute miles for the next 3 miles, but by the time I hit the cargo aid station at about mile 20, I was having trouble keeping 9 minute miles. Then after I got some food there and made a quick stop, I was really having trouble and was doing everything I coudl just to keep running. I think I was somewhere in the 10 to 11 minute mile range then, but I wasn't paying too much attention to my watch anymore. The trouble I was having was that my muscles were just completely and utterly sore. You know that sore you get the day after running a long race? The one where it's hard to walk down stairs or sometimes just walk. Well, that's the sore that I was getting DURING the race. If I stopped at an aid station for more than a few seconds, I'm not sure if I could have continued running bc my muscles would have just gotten too sore. I think the reason for this was that as I began to get a bit tired and was running into the wind, my muscles got really cold. That's usually when you get sore after a race, after you've sat down or gone to bed and your muscles have gotten cold. Well, here, even while running my legs got cold and froze up. The first 13 miles the wind was at your back, which means the windchill is much less. Also I was feeling good and working hard, so I was warm. But once my energy reserves became lower and the temps dropped and I was moving slower, my muscles just froze up. The funny thing is that I was actually feeling warm in my core, but no doubt, with just thin (non windproof) leggings and a pair of shorts on, my leg muscles were probably getting the full brunt of that 0F windchill. I ended up running the race with leggings, medium thickness socks, bball shorts, a light wicking base layer long sleeve, a synthetic pullover, a neckgaiter, a thin icebreaker hat, and windproof light gloves. I had a windbreaker tied around my waste (and wind pants and fleece stashed at the mile 11 aid station), which when we turned around, I switched so that the knot was on my back and the coat portino was over the front to protect a certain important organ from frostbite. I was actually wearing 2 pairs of underwear to protect it. Something I had learned while skiing out there all those times on the ice shelf is that when you are going into the wind and don't have on windpants, that area is quite subject to the wind chill. The problem is if you wear windpants you sweat way too much. Overall I was warm enough and even sweated a bit, but it must have just gotten to my muscles.
Anyways, I managed to push through the incredible sore pain of the last 5 or 6 miles and finish. I ended up finishing in 3rd place with a time of 4hrs, 7 minutes, and 19 seconds. I was 2nd place among Americans, and first place among civilians (a guy in the kiwi army was 2nd and the winner was some guy from the national guard) I probably could have dropped several minutes off that time at the end, but I was in a lot of muscle pain and the next contender was miles back (I couldn't see him), so I took it slow in the last 5 miles. Had I felt the need to push it, I probably could have. I actually wasn't ever out of breath nor exhausted or tired. What got me was these sore muscles caused by that bitter Antarctic cold.
It was cool because at the finish line, they put up a tape for everyone to break. I haven't broken tape since some 100m and 400m races in middle school track (there is no tape in swimming and distance running is not my strong point). Research Associate Liz (who I call my little sister..I love that girl) was the starter and timer, so she was cheering us on with her megaphone upon finishing. My good friend Kevin who is my suitemate and in charge or rec was cruising around by snowmobile to offer encouragement and make sure everyone was okay.
As soon as I finished, I could hardly move. My muscles instantly froze. Liz had to help push me up into her truck which she kept running for warmth. Then shuttle shafer came by to pick finishers up to take them to town. I rode with her to town to get my big red jacket, and she said I was walking like her after a long delta ride (she is the eldest of the shuttle drivers...a retired woman from the theatre business in Manhattan). I rode back with her to await the finish of Elisha, Abe, and Bev. The finished in about 5 and a half hours, a good hour in front of the cut off time.
They talk about a Marathon being this lonely race where you are entirely inside your mind. Well, the McMurdo marathon is the epitome of loneliness. I ran with Anthony for the first several miles, but then, you would just not see anyone. You can look out across the massive expanse of ice into ever and ever and not see a thing--no buildings, no trees, no nothing, just shimmering whiteness..just ice and stormy weather in the distance. For some reason that emptiness and loneliness just hit me, and I think I enjoyed it and fed off of it.
Afterwards we went and got our free massages and then crashed on the couches to watch movies. The next couple of days, you could tell who on base had run the marathon bc of how they were walking. I never knew how many stairs this base had until then! It was actually pretty comical to see us all hobbling around. And it was a busy week in Crary as all the scientists were going home, so we had to move around a lot. I put up a sign on Bev, Abe, and my office that said, "please have patience with us, this office ran 78.6 miles on Sunday"
I had put this on my fb post race and thought it was good to share here again...
10 cool things about running the McMurdo, Antarctica Marathon:
1. One of the few places that the number of miles run for a summer marathon is more than the temperature in Fahrenheit (12F, -2 Wind-chill)
1. One of the few places that the number of miles run for a summer marathon is more than the temperature in Fahrenheit (12F, -2 Wind-chill)
2. The entire marathon is run on top of the ocean
3. Tipping a cup of gatorade towards your mouth, only to be hit in the teeth by a solid block of ice
4. Energy bars were kept on the grill at aid ...stations to keep them thawed enough to eat
5. Band aids were placed on nipples not so much to avoid chafing, but as an additional layer against frost bite
6. Aid stations were stocked with hand warmers
7. Beardcicles and Snotcicles
8. Aid vehicles were snowmobiles
9. Fresh fruits and vegetables were not available for over a month before the race, nor were they available to help cramps during or after the race
9. Fresh fruits and vegetables were not available for over a month before the race, nor were they available to help cramps during or after the race
10. The post marathon waddle could easily be mistaken for an emperor penguin
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| Marathoners departing from Ivan...the 1/2 marathoners would continue on Ivan to Pegasus |
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| Marathon start |
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| Me in first place after 25 yards..yep, i"m a sprinter |
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| Anthony and me approaching aid station 1 with castle rock in the background |
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| the rest of the crowd approaching the aid station |
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| Ben Urmston with frosty beard |
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| 2nd and 5th aid station complete with bbq and adult beverages |
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| 4 hours and 7 minutes later |
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| Bev, Abe, and Elisha finishing |
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| McMurdo Ice Marathon Map. Click on the Picture to see it bigger |
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