14th November 2024 Wolfs Fang Antarctica

 Antarctica 11^th 03:56:40

I hardly slept a wink as I went over and over the kit list and what lay ahead. Most of the marathons were either warm, hot or hotter but we were expecting -10oC to -20oC depending on the wind chill. I had bought a special set of kit out for this one, based largely on experience of running in sub-zero temperatures on ice and snow in Tignes. At 04:30 we were on the bus to the airport, just with hand luggage and largely dressed ready to run. There was a lot of nervous chatter as we contemplated the day ahead and the most exciting of all the locations for our marathons. We boarded the plane and took off south heading for the ice cap and marathon 1, day 1, continent 1, 5.5 hours flying time. The plan was to land on the ice runway and within 15 minutes to be lined up ready to start. We had 8 hours on the ice and then needed to be in the air and heading back to Cape Town.

There was a full race briefing before we landed, 4 laps of 10.5km with aid stations every 5km. The organisers said that running in normal trainers would be fine but to be sure we had plenty of layers to fight off the cold temperatures. I wasn’t 100% sure about regular trainers but I opted to start with them and keep my trail shoes in reserve, but I certainly would not be needing the spikes I had brought. 

We were picked up from the plane on skidoos and taken to a cabin to drop our bags and do any last might adjustments to our clothing. We then walked around to the starting line.

The company running the camp and event was called White Desert and for good reason, the air was incredibly dry, and we needed to wear factor 50 due to sun glare off the ice.

Showtime! We are off and immediately the ground turns to soft snow and the shoes are slippery under foot. After a few hundred metres we make a turn to run up the left-hand side of the runway, its uphill and into a slight wind and you can tell we are at over 1000m above sea level. It’s a tough opening 3km and doesn’t bode well for my target time. Whilst I was keen not to set time goals, in my head I wanted to complete all 7 marathons in under 4 hours, if possible: just felt like a neat round number and would be running rather than jogging. Anyway, back to the ice and snow and we are going downhill now, and the ground is firmer under foot. I opted not to listen to any music but to allow myself to take in the environment and not miss a thing for the short time we were there. 

 

By the 5km mark I was starting to overheat so I took off my wind breaker as the winds were light and planned to drop it at the hut at the completion of the first lap. Lap 1 ticked off and I headed into the hut, dropped my wind breaker, swapped my gloves for a thinner pair and changed into my trail shoes. As I headed out, I instantly felt more comfortable and settled into a nice rhythm. I had run lap 1 continuously to get up to temperature but now I switched to run 2km walk / 1 minute or at least that was the broad template. When the going was slow, I used the walk break but when it was downhill for example, I kept the momentum and didn’t walk. I also tried to time the walk break to coincide with the aid stations so I could walk and 100% take what I wanted before jogging on. At the end of lap 2 I had built a little time buffer for the sub 4 hours which meant my pace required was no longer 5:43 min/km but over 6 min/km. 

I started out on lap 3, up the hill into the wind again but on the way back down I looked up and around to take in the rocky out crops, sheets of glistening ice heading off into the distance and the landscape speckled with runners making their way around the tundra. I had a bit of a scare when I tried to ask for energy drink and couldn’t get the words out – either the brain was struggling or my face was frozen, luckily after some practise it was the latter.

The rest of the run went without incident, just stick to the plan and knock it out but look up and take it all in. By the last lap I was dehydrated and felt pretty exhausted, starting to zone out a little.

I approached the finish line and was taken by surprise as emotions surged up inside me. I took a moment to think of all that had supported me in my recovery. This was actually the finish line for the last 6 months, coming from being completely disabled, not able to walk across the room and now running a marathon in the harshest of conditions. It was real evidence that I could get at least some way back to my old self, although maybe not 100%. Taking on 777 was my way of testing what could be possible if I worked hard and now, I could see it was realistic to start planning and dreaming of more adventures. I had turned the corner; the next 6 marathons were for fun!