Marathon Day

While I was at Pole I went skiing for the first time since I've been down here. The conditions were horrible but for some reason I got this great idea to ski the McMurdo Marathon. The plan was to train for two weeks but from a fall I took skiing at Pole my leg wasn't in condition for training. The race was on Sunday so Friday I rented some skis and waxed them. Saturday I continued to train by going to Gallagher's and drink like a fish.

With all my "training" I woke up ready for the race on Sunday. First all I needed to do was wash down a couple Excedrin with a Liter of water to get the pounding out of my head. The race went from Scott Base Transition (where you go from land to ice shelf) out to Willy Field then over to Pegasus and back for the grand total of 26.2 miles. (I stole most of these pictures off the I:Drive)

My one day of training really showed as my technique was quite poor. I did the first half of the race in 1.5 hrs and was enjoying a little AC/DC on my MP3 player on the beautiful day. However, at the halfway point my batteries died not only on my MP3 player, but also in my body. Wow, the second half of the race took it's toll on me. Right about Willy field I almost passed out from low blood sugar but was able to hold it together enough as I skied passed the ambulance. After hitting the Willy Road, the first runner passed me and gained a 200 yard lead. However, after the last aide station I pounded down a few Luna Bars and I was "back in black" (okay I was still sucking wind, but I wasn't about to pass out anymore). After the final turn, the course turned into a slightly downhill run covered in ice for a quater mile. This was perfect for skiing and I quickly overcame the lead runner and finished in 3hr and 26min. I'm a little sore today and I learned my lesson about not training and drinking too much before a race. However it was the best day to enjoy outside and how many people can say they did a Marathon in Antarctica? Also how many Marathons use a Terra Bus or Pisten Bully as an aide station?

Only three short weeks left and the sun will set on the longest day of my life. As the Grateful Dead put it, "what a long strange trip it's been."