Why January 8 is the best day of the season for Michiel! (Marathon!!!)

I have completed my first marathon ever!

For a very long time, I have had a latent desire to run (at least once in my life) a marathon. Knowing that there was a marathon in Antarctica facilitated both my decision to come and to run a marathon. Training in Alaska was an adventure because of possible wildlife encounters but training in Antarctica was an adventure because of the weather. Dressed with long underwear, gloves, hat, sunglasses and vaseline on my face I would set out on my daily run to Scott base, a 4 mile round trip with some little hills and one steep hill. Once or twice a week I would go for a long 14 mile run towards the airfield out on the sea ice. Sometimes I would run in the middle of the night because we are on nightshift and have constant sunlight anyway.

The race was organized by the Recreational Department and was open to skiers or runners. Along the course were several (unmanned) aid stations with water and some food. Seeing as this is Antarctica the racers were advised to also bring their own water as the water from the aid stations could freeze. In view of these changeable weather conditions there were also a couple of support vehicles which stored our extra clothing and several people from the Rec department who cheered us on. To our great fortune it couldn't have been a better day; not much wind and temperatures around freezing. Fortunately these last few days have been cold and that stopped the sun from making the snow all mushy.

I ran with 2 women who went for the same slow starting pace as I did and who also opted for the Jeff Galloway Walk Break method; 10 minutes of running interspersed with 30 seconds walking breaks. We had lots of fun, felt great and reached the finish in a leisurly time of 5:21 with a big smile on our faces and no pain in our legs. Even now, one day after the race, I still have no pain whatsoever in my legs and feel great (and still can't believe that I actually ran a marathon).

A big "thank you" goes out to Sheri who has been very supportive and who even came out to run with us for the last 10 miles of the world's most southern marathon and to Pam for telling me I could do it.