Antarctica Ice Marathon and Ultra: Back-to-Back

Howard C

My original goal (way back when) was running just one marathon and crossing "marathon" off the bucket list.  Then moving onto other things.  Instead, I became hooked.  Somewhere along the way, goals formed of running marathons/ultras in each of the 50 states and each of the seven continents.  After finishing a few marathons/ultras in the US, I decided that it was time to start running some races outside of North America, too.  I figured that I'd start off with a bang and do Antarctica.  Before I could change my mind, I sent off a deposit to secure a spot in the Antarctic Ice Marathon that was slated for November 20, 2012.  Looking back, I'm very glad that I did.

The Ice Marathon offers both a marathon distance and a 100 k ultra.  They are scheduled on different days, in case you want to do both.  I figured that there wasn't going to be much else to do down there, so I'd try running both races.  The marathon was scheduled first, so at the very least I could just finish that and play it by ear afterwards.  There was a scheduled day of rest between the two races.  This would help recovery.  In addition, I figured I'd try to get a picture of myself sunbathing in just shorts and sunglasses in Antarctica -- at midnight (with there being 24 hours of sunlight and all).  Sounded like a plan.

As instructed, I landed in Punta Arenas, Chile and went to the designated hotel to meet up with the race director, staff and the other participants.  Punta Arenas, it turns out, is quite a busy little city with lots of international visitors, as it serves as a gateway city for hikers, climbers and other visitors/tourists to Patagonia and Antarctica.

Punta Arenas, Chile

From the outset, there were two clear themes.  One, logistics were no joke, but extremely well-organized.  Our clothing and gear were checked over at the hotel by the logistics staff.  Anything missing or insufficient for polar conditions had be procured prior to boarding the plane for Antarctica.  Fortunately, Punta Arenas has lots of shops that accommodate this purpose.

The other theme was that we were totally at the mercy of the weather.  We had been instructed not to schedule anything important for at least a week after our scheduled return, as there could be significant delays.  While waiting for the weather to clear, some of us went running (of course!).  Just outside the hotel was a long strip along the Straits of Magellan, which provided an awesome backdrop for some great running.  A very windy run, but very invigorating.  After a couple of false starts, we finally were given clearance to take off.

For the trip over to Antarctica, we took a plane called an "Ilyushin IL-76," which is a Russian plane originally designed for use in Siberia.  After a noisy, cold, and somewhat nerve-racking trip, we landed on a frozen blue ice runway in the middle of Antarctica.  When the plane finally came to a stop, a great cheer erupted.

Camp was located on Union Glacier, a junction between various glaciers flowing down the surrounding mountains.  We were south of the Antarctic Circle, about 600 miles from the South Pole.  The Union Glacier camp is a semi-permanent camp that is in operation for several months each Antarctic summer.  It accommodates various visitors, including climbers heading to Mt. Vinson (one of the Seven Summits), photographers visiting Emperor penguin colonies, and hikers/skiers headed to the South Pole.  Camp accommodations were about as close to first class as you could expect for literally the middle of nowhere.

Things were definitely different than your usual camp though, besides the fact that it was just really, really cold (it got down to 14 degrees F inside my tent at night!).  First, there was a very strict "leave no trace" policy in effect.  For example, if someone spilled some coffee on the snow, someone would come dig out the spill and surrounding snow, then put it in a container for transport back to Punta Arenas.  Chile apparently has a small but very busy industry accepting and processing all the waste that is regularly flown in from Antarctica.

Bodily hygiene was a bit of a challenge.  Using baby wipes and hand sanitizer in frigid conditions is not much fun, especially in those, ahem, sensitive areas.

We were also sternly warned not to go outside of marked boundaries surrounding the camp, as those areas had not been scanned for crevasses.  The glacial ice underneath is constantly moving at a slow pace due to gravity, but it is pushed and pulled at varying rates, causing rifts and cracks.  Special sonographic equipment has be used regularly to make sure there are no crevasses underneath.  Camp and the race trails were safe.  As for the other areas, they were strict no go zones.

The marathon itself was delayed for a day due to windy weather conditions out on the back side of the course.  While frustrating, this gave us time to test out clothing and gear.  Out on a test run, it struck me how cold the wind could get when it picked up even a little, despite my "windproof" shell.  In addition, I realized how cold my feet could get when I wasn't actively running.  While we wore heavily insulated polar boots around camp, running was done in regular trail sneakers.  Even with two layers of socks (including thick winter hiking socks), my feet went numb in the sneakers while standing around.  On the other hand, the footing was surprisingly non-slippery.  The consistency is hard to describe, but was like a slightly crunchy, soft gravel.  Overall, it was clear that this was going to be a much different run than I was used to.

Finally, the weather cleared up enough to run.  Everyone was just so excited to run after so much preparation, travel and waiting.  Running conditions turned out to be perfect.  The trail was well-groomed from the night before.  The air was cold, but clean and refreshing.  There were mild winds that occasionally picked up a little, but nothing that couldn't be handled.  Most of all, the scenery was unimaginably spectacular.  Many of us just ran in constant awe of our surroundings.

One of the most striking things about Antarctica, actually, is just how much more pristine the air is down there compared to the rest of the world.  There is absolutely no haze in the air.  You can see everything in perfect focus all the way to the horizon.  This does, however, completely skew your sense of distance.  In the rest of the world, we are used to a certain amount of haze that makes things that are far away appear fuzzy.  With no haze, things that are far away in Antarctica, seem so much closer than they actually are.  The staff pointed to various mountains that one might guess could be about an hour's hike away, when in actuality they were more than 10 miles away and a full day's hike.  It was startling.

The course was two half-marathon loops.  There were a few aid stations along the way that served all sorts of snacks and hot water.  I never would have thought that I'd want to drink plain hot water during the middle of a marathon, even in polar conditions, but contrary to expectations, it really hit the spot and was really energizing.

The coldest that it got during the marathon was 14 degrees F, but that did not account for wind chill.  When I took my gloves off for a few minutes at an aid station once, I really paid for it.  It took several minutes of running afterwards to get the circulation restored in my fingers and for the pain in the fingers (quite severe actually) to go away.  Thoughts of my fingers falling off due to frostbite crossed my mind....

I took a nice easy pace, finishing in a comfortable 5:53+ (13:29 pace), trying to save something for the upcoming ultra.  In all, there were 48 Antarctic Ice Marathon finishers, with no DNFs.  The range was from 3:41+ to 7:55+, with the majority running between 5 to 6 hours.  Everyone was all smiles for hours afterwards.

November 22nd -- the day after the marathon -- was the 100 k.  Originally, there was supposed to be a day off in between, but it was lost when the marathon got delayed.  There were nine entrants for the 100 k, with four of us having run the marathon the day before.  It was 10 laps of a 10 k loop.  Unlike the marathon, this was a much less supported run.  It was mandatory to carry emergency supplies like a bivy and whistle.  Given that it took so long to finish the marathon, and with the in-between rest day gone, I decided to run just 60k out of the 100k race.  This would be a total of a little over 100 k over two days, which was more than enough for me.

Conditions during the 100 k were a little cloudier and colder.  I measured a low of 9 degrees F while I was out there.  I took my time, taking in the scenery and taking long breaks at aid stations to sit down, chat and eat lots of food.  I must have been burning a lot of energy because I practically took in a normal meal's worth of calories with each 10 k loop.  At the end of my 60k, I was still running pretty strongly, but I was glad to stop.  I knew that if I went another 10 or 20 k, it would become too tempting to just go ahead and try to finish the whole 100 k.  I did not want to risk injury or tempt fate.  Including all the breaks, I ran my 60 k in 10:41+, a 17:14 pace.

In all, there were seven finishers of the 100 k and two DNFs.  The winner came in at 12:06+ (11:43 pace, very impressive for the conditions out there).  The last finisher, a wounded military veteran from the UK, came in at 18:57+ (18:21 pace).  A few of the marathoners were still up reveling at the time (~3 AM) and walked the final 10k lap with him.

Overall, it was a great trip even if I didn't achieve two out of my three original goals.  DNF'ing the 100k was no big deal.  I was probably more upset about not getting a picture of myself in shorts, sunbathing under Antarctica's midnight sun, which would have been quite a unique little picture.  I did drink a little more beer and wine while in Antarctica than I ever would have guessed, but apparently it was not quite enough to get me out there in my skivvies.

Best of all, there was an incredible sense of camaraderie among the participants.  I made many new like-minded friends.  I also found out about some crazy other races out there to add to the so-called bucket list.  Like a crazy 250k multistage ultra through the Amazon jungle, a race through the jungles of Vietnam, and a marathon at the North Pole.... hmmmm.....

Happy running out there!

-Howard C