My First Marathon (Antarctica)
I’ve always kept a lifelist. It’s not written down any place, and really it’s more like an informal tally of ambitions and pipe dreams than a list: skydive, play the ukelele, own a sailboat, live someplace where they don’t speak English.
Like any good top ten list, mine is prone to whimsical deletions (’climb to the highest point in all 50 states’ died when I visited Nebraska and Kansas), and it tends to be appended under the influence of a few beers (why else would anyone ski off the roof of the Polar Star hut?). Some of the things on the list have due dates, usually big round numbers: Visit all seven continents in a year. Write a novel before I turn 30. Err, well maybe 40.
This weekend I crossed a big one off the lifelist. I ran a marathon.
The McMurdo Marathon is the same length as any other marathon, 26.2 miles. Only it takes place in Antarctica. (From New Zealand Scott Base, follow the bamboo flag poles six miles to Williams Field, hang a right and go seven miles to Pegasus Ice Runway, then turn around and come back.)
Look, no matter where you run it, a marathon is fa (um, in the words of Julie Andrews, that’s a long, long way to run). But besides being the southernmost organized marathon in the world, the McMurdo Marathon is the only one whose course is entirely on an ice shelf, 80 meters of glacier floating on the sea (imagine a surface that varies in texture from snow so dry it feels like sand to blue ice suitable for the Stanley Cup, sometimes within a few steps). In fact, entrants in the McMurdo Marathon have a choice of running or skiing.
And then there’s the weather. Even the finest day at 77 South is a reminder that the Boston summer is a long way away.
How did I manage to run a marathon, this marathon? Joolee Aurand lives in Bethel, Alaska, where she runs outdoors most of the year. She inspired me to move my McMurdo workouts from the comfort of the treadmills in the squalid little quonset hut we call the gerbil gym. Even when the temperatures hovered around zero and I frequently resorted to covering my socks with plastic bags to keep from getting frostbite, the two of us, often with a selection of our best running pals (Cece, Traci, Paul and Bija, Michiel), racked up some pretty good mileage on the trails around the Hut Point Penninsula this season.
So yesterday’s conditions, 34 F with 20-24 knot winds weren’t the worst we’ve run in. (Hell, it was above freezing for most of the day.) But at East South East, the wind was straight into our faces from mile 13 to mile 20 (the turnaround at the halfway point at Pegasus Ice Runway to the left turn at Williams Field). The 24 skiers and runners who finished the full marathon were unanimous: that part sucked. Bad.
There were a couple of miles in that stretch were I not only thought that I would never finish, but I was certain I would die–the notion of curling up around a bamboo flag and becoming one with the ice shelf sounded pretty pleasant. Thankfully, Joolee just laughed at my moaning about imminent demise, and finally with a crosswind, we plodded the last five miles back to the finish near Scott Base.
So there it is. Marathon? Check. And with three years to spare before I’m forty. I’ve done it. In Antarctica. And I’ve got the t-shirt to prove it.
As of today I don’t really care to do it ever again. Unfortunately, I know myself well enough. Give me a few months and the misery will become a distant memory. Throw a couple of beers into decision making process and maybe I’ll cook up a plan to run a marathon on every continent. Before I turn forty.
…or maybe I’ll buy a ukelele and get cracking on that novel instead.
January 28th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Well, the novel is a novel idea, and I look forward to it. Keep posting. Your words, the non-novel words, are most welcome to all. Your commentary is fantastic.
January 31st, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Congratulations on completing a lifelist goal that was “very unique” , an iceshelf marathon, and doing it with someone I know personally-Joolee!
January 31st, 2007 at 8:14 pm
The trouble with life lists is that they keep growing. It isn’t like a grocery list, where after you cross them all off, you can check out (he,he)… As one learns and sees more, one realizes that there is much more to see and learn. Deletions come harder, because at some age they are forced, and even after being removed from the “official” list, they linger in memory. So savor the check-offs, and may your lists keep growing.
February 5th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Creativity: It’s never too late to bloom so don’t worry about writing that novel by 40. A few examples: Clint Eastwood at 76 has just made the best film of his career, Frank Lloyd Wright completed Fallingwater at 72 and worked on the Guggenheim Museum until his death at 91, Mark Twain wrote “Tom Sawyer” at 41 and “Huckleberry Finn” at 50, Paul Cezanne created a masterpiece in his 60’s, Robert Frost published his most famous poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” at 49. So your most creative years are most likely still to come.
February 7th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Yo, Bill.
Don’t listen to them. It’s too late. You should hang up the typewriter, burn the quill and drink the ink. The best years of your life are behind you. Look at Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Chris Farley, and Alfalfa from “The Little Rascals.”
(Note to self: Cross “Shatter Bills Dreams” off Life List.)
February 16th, 2007 at 1:37 am
Funny… Marathon is on my pre-40 list too. That does it. After reading this, I’m going to run the CIM in Sacramento later this year. Well done, Bill. p.s. Hope you still have that alarm clock….
March 7th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Hey Bill,
Found your blog on the web. Hope things have gone well for you on the ice. If you make it back to Boulder, be sure to stop by and say hello. Oh yeah, I heard mention that there was a Shulbok (see www.shulbok.com) table down at McMurdo. Is it true? If not, we’ll have to see about getting one sent down there.
Cheers
Pete
July 20th, 2007 at 6:17 am
I’m curious if you needed any special equipment for when you did the marathon. Did you run in Yak tracks? Just use standard long underwear and gloves?
-Brody
brotman AT alumni.pitt.edu
September 12th, 2007 at 1:26 am
Bill,
Glad to see that you are creative as ever, and living your life to the fullest. From time to time I check out your site, and a part of me is living vicariously through you. If you ever get a chance drop me an email kforrest@amgen.com.
Best of luck on your life adventures.
The Omniscient Toad
(the name you gave me during a Rum induced belly flop into the lake near Mallard Circle)
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:36 am
Bilby,
There’s good crazy and there’s bad crazy. Since we have had no reports of you hurting small animals we can only assume you are good crazy. Hanging out with our Julz makes it unanimous. Keep up that list-some parts of it should harmonically converge with mine. Licky
December 14th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Bill,
Last post was in Colorado, so maybe you’re still here. If so stop by your old business — we’re still in Denver West but Building 7 now (or 6 I can’t remember) — name’s on the board. I was talking with a friend of mine who was talking of his friend who was in Antarctica taking penguin pictures (it wasn’t you) but what’s the chance — his name is John Weller and he’s got some fantastic photos (lastocean.org).
Sounds like you’re doing well. I’m envious after seeing the pictures.
My understanding is Diana (ex-linguistic cohort of yours and mine) has her own business making homes look beautiful — no doubt she would be fantasic at it. We all miss your ‘Anti-virus’ update narratives (you need to write your novel — I’ll buy one, no doubt Diana will buy one — tell your publisher you already have a guaranteed buying audience of four (I’m also including your mom and dad)).
Say hello to the penguins for me and take some more pictures.
Glenn