We have been getting asked a lot of questions about our trip so we made a list to help answer some of them. If you have any more write them in the comments section and we will do our best to answer them!
Are you crazy?
This is often the first question and comes in many different forms: “Are you nuts?” “Are you insane?” and sometimes it is just a statement, “You ARE nuts!” You can call us what you want, but we both know one thing we are and that is excited!!
What will the weather be like?
There are two different temperatures on the marathon website. The first one says it can range between -9 to +1C. The second one says between -18 to +2C. We think that we will choose the first option if we can do that.
It also says that the wind can lower it by 12C. Yikes!
Stacey met someone that did the race last year and he said it was -12C for his race. Coming from Thunder Bay and Edmonton, we can handle that!
Will the sun ever set while you are there?
This is an interesting question. The results of a very quick search on the internet are that on race day the sun should rise around 3:30am and set around 5:00pm. This gives us about 13 hours of day light. That should be enough time for us to complete the race.
How do you get there?
This will be a whole adventure on its own! We will fly into Buenos Aires, Argentina, where we will check into the tour and meet up with all the other crazy people that are going to be running with us. From here we fly to the world’s southern most city, Ushuaia. Then we will hop on a boat and spend 2 days crossing the Drake Passage. They call this either the Drake Lake or the Drake Shake because it can be calm like a lake or it can be waves SO BIG that when you look around the boat you just see walls of water! I think we both would prefer to cross it when it is the Drake Lake but want to experience a little bit of the Drake Shake on the way home when we are almost back.
What will you wear?
This is a great question. Both of us are new to winter running (well, real winter running, Vancouver winters don’t count) so we will take any advice you can give. This is our plan from the inner layer to the outer:
- Warm smiles and good attitudes
- Sports Bra, underwear, wool socks
- Wool base layer pants and long sleeve shirt
- Thicker warmer layer of pants and shirt, a warm pair of gloves
- Wind/waterproof jacket, pants and mitts
- Some kind of face covering and touque
- Gortex trail running shoes
- Pull over cleats for traction on any ice or snow
- If we raise enough money PENGUIN ONSIES!!
What is the course like?
This is straight off the marathon website
“The course will start and finish outside the Russian base and pass near Uruguayan, Chilean and Chinese bases. The course is entirely on dirt roads which often can be muddy. The course changes each year based on base operations and road and weather conditions. All runners must be self-sufficient and cannot expect any access to indoor facilities.”
Where do you sleep?
We spend our nights on the boat while we float among the icebergs. I hear from a very reliable source that waking up to the view of icebergs is amazing!
What wild life will you see?
We will hopefully see whales, seals, birds, and PENGUINS! The exciting thing is that the penguins and whales do not have any fear of people and are actually quite curious. This means they will come SO CLOSE to us! In fact the whales like to play with the kayakers and zodiacs. We have been told we are NOT allowed to touch them though. We are just excited that we have the chance to be within arms reach of a whale!
What else will you get to do down there?
The boat has a schedule of lectures and films about the wildlife, climate, and history of Antarctica every day. We also have an opportunity to kayak (and hopefully the whales will play with us). There is an open bridge policy so we can see the navigational activity with the captian and crew. We also get to check out a vacated Argentine base on Antarctica.
Will you have internet on the boat to update the blog?
We will not have internet. But, we WILL be writing blog posts and posting them once we are back in Argentina and have access to internet.
We will also be updating the blog frequently before we go so stay tuned.
*pictures from marathon tours website
The boat has a schedule of lectures and films about the wildlife, climate, and history of Antarctica every day. We also have an opportunity to kayak (and hopefully the whales will play with us). There is an open bridge policy so we can see the navigational activity with the captian and crew. We also get to check out a vacated Argentine base on Antarctica.
Will you have internet on the boat to update the blog?
We will not have internet. But, we WILL be writing blog posts and posting them once we are back in Argentina and have access to internet.
We will also be updating the blog frequently before we go so stay tuned.
*pictures from marathon tours website