Ever Wonder Who's Standing Next to You in the Corral at the Starting Line?

We've been to dozens of Expo clinic presentations and there's a common theme about marathoning being a "great equalizer". When the gun goes off, it really doesn't matter if you're a college student, a movie star, a CEO, an elite athlete, or a first-timer. Everyone follows the same course, regardless of speed, age, or technique. 

How people get there is a different story - it's usually pretty amazing.

I guess I should have considered that when we went on our trip with Marathon Adventures. Traveling to the bottom of the world to do a race takes a special kind of crazy. Doing it expecting to finish two marathons, potentially on consecutive days, takes things to a whole new level. It's people like us who can weather anything, including having to watch the Super Bowl in Spanish.

The room was so loud, no one could hear the commentators anyway. The only bummer was that the commercials were local ads only.

It's only after the races that we started to get a feel for this amazing group of individuals. I'm going to think about this the next time I line up in my corral at the start and look around.

Is there a world record holder here? Brett Weigner extended his record by completing the Seven Continent circuit for the ninth time. He's also the only person ever to complete an Ultramarathon at the North and South poles. Since we left Punta Arenas, he's finished (and placed in) races in Africa and the US National Snowshoe championships. One more Antarctica race will give him his 10th complete circuit.

Brent at the White Continent Marathon 2014. Photo Credit Imran Ahmed

Maybe I'll see a world record being set. Kristen DeSousa completed her Seven Continent circuit in just 89 days. At 15, she now holds an entry in the Alternate Book of Records for being the youngest person to complete the circuit in the shortest time as well as the youngest Canadian to complete the circuit. The Guinness Book of World Records does not acknowledge anyone under 16. Kristen is also doing this to raise money to build schools for underprivileged children in Nepal through the Children of the Mountain charity. Her mother Sharon ran with Kristen every step of the way.

Kristin with her medals from seven continents after finishing the Ultra at Punta Arenas

Maybe someone will start a run for a world record. Maria Conciecao started a quest to complete Ultra marathons on all seven continents over a span of just 42 days. She's doing this to raise funds for children in the slums of Bangladesh with the Maria Cristina Foundation. With Maria on her journey is Ziyad Rahim. He set the world record for the Marathon Grand Slam, finishing marathons on 7 continents in under 42 days. He is raising funds for CARE "Million Child Mission" that aims to educate one million children in Pakistan marginalized and NORMA, a degenerative disease that affects marginalized children in Africa. Maria and Ziyad finished that quest on March 9th at the Louis Massyn Ultra Marathon in South Africa.

Maria at the Punta Arenas Ultra Marathon. Photo Credit Imran Ahmed

Ziya at the White Continent Ultra Marathon. Photo Credit Imran Ahmed

Maybe there's a future star. Ten year old Nikolas Toocheck has finished four of the seven continents. He was recently awarded the Prudential Volunteer Service Award for raising money for Operation Warm. The "Running the World for Children" campaign has raised more than $28,000 to provide coats for impoverished children. Nik holds two single-age world records for the 10 Mile distance. This weekend, he claimed gold medals in the USATF Indoor National Championships for high jump and the 1500 meter racewalk. His father Daniel runs every step of the way with Nik, at least when Dan can keep up.

Nik and his father Daniel finishing at Punta Arenas. Photo Credit Imran Ahmed.

Maybe it's a country's ground breaker. Within a month of the White Continent / Punta Arenas event, Tee Morgan became the sixth black runner, the fourth black woman and, with Abi Adekanmbi, the first Nigerians to run seven marathons on seven continents. 

Tee and Abi at the Maritsburg Marathon, February 23, 2014

Sixty-eight people came from all over the world to run these races. Every one of us had a story to tell, but when we lined up - record holder, future record holder, future star, champion, or ground breaker - all we knew was that it was us against the course. 

During one of our last nights in Punta Arenas, we sat around a table at Okusa, having a few drinks and some chocolate mousse. We went around the table and talked about our next big adventures. Ambrose is going to race Kilimanjaro this spring. Soren is getting ready for Ironman Copenhagen. We found out later that Rob was competing in New Zealand Coast to Coast World Championship. He and his teammate won the 151 mile triathlon. John has finished 6 continents and will be speaking about his experiences at the Bixby Memorial Library in Vergennes, Vermont on March 21st. Esmail was targeting his 100th marathon in Napa in which he finished on March 3rd. We'll be getting the Bay Area gang together for a celebration this week. It's only been a month and a half, but I know a lot has happened since then.

I thought about how it felt when we were just starting out marathoning and how I loved to hear the stories and accomplishments of people who had been racing for years; I aspired to some day have something like that to talk about. It's good to know that we still find people who have done even more than we have and we know there's a lot more out there we can do. People have told us that we inspire them. I'm thrilled to hear people tell us that they've started racing, got back to racing or started on the path to a healthy life because of the stories we post. It's a great feeling to take control of your life. We love being someone in the corral next to you with a story to tell. 

The 2014 White Continent / Punta Arenas Tour Group.

If you happen to be in the corrals at Rock 'n' Roll Dallas in a few weeks, look around and you may find Susan and Ron (link to our blogger profile on Competitor.com). Hope to see you there! 

Choose the Path that Excites Your Soul - Punta Arenas Marathon and 50K 2014

I gave a speech at our company Toastmasters Club contest recapping the White Continent Marathon on Antarctica. The theme for the speech was about how life is full of choices and I challenged people to "make the choice that excites your soul." 

Once again, the elevator signs tell the story

That was the mindset for the Punta Arenas Marathon and 50K set up by Marathon Adventures. We stood in the hotel lobby at 4:50 AM and ready to walk across the street to the starting line. This would be our second full marathon on three days rest, easily the shortest rest we've ever done between full marathons. The course was a paved concrete sidewalk along the Straits of Magellan toward Tres Puentes pier. Temperatures were in the mid 40's F with a 25 mph wind and a forecast for rain. 

Pat Borque's start line video was just a tad over the Blogspot size limit. This link should be active for a few more weeks. Punta Arenas Start. I'll see if I can edit it down a little, but it's pretty complete as is.

The 5AM start for the Punta Arenas Marathon, Half Marathon and 50K. Our hotel (Diego del Almagro) in the background. Photo Credit Imran Ahmen (@photoimran)

It was perfect PR weather. That was the plan going in. We haven't tried to push ourselves in a full marathon for nearly two years and with our half marathon times down by ~15 minutes in the last two years, another PR didn't seem like a stretch. Knowing that anything could happen on race day, we had back up plans. If we didn't PR on the full marathon split, switch to the 50K. It would be our first and a default PR. Great logic, right?

The course was flat (less than 120 feet of total elevation gain) and other than the usual beautiful sunrise over the water there were very few distractions. A few people saw dolphins playing in the waves. There were a couple of early morning joggers and a handful of the neighborhood dogs playing chicken with passing traffic. Other than that, we had the course to ourselves. The commute started a few hours into the race and the cars were honking, cheering us on. 

There was a large population of stray dogs in Punta Arenas. This one was coming really close to grabbing the back bumper of passing cars. Photo Credit Imran Ahmen (@photoimran)

It was great to have spent a nearly a week with the group before this race. I recognized just about everyone on the out and back course. High fives flew left and right. After the Antarctica race was done, this felt like a long victory lap. No time limit. Lots of moral support.

I hit the end of the second lap at 2:37 for the half marathon split, about 3 minutes better than my target to beat a 5:19:20 walking marathon. Honestly, I was feeling a little drained from the last race and a 17 hour tour to Torres del Paine two days ago. Susan was right on my heels and well on her way to crushing her 5:43 run/walk marathon time from Rock n Roll San Diego back in 2007. The rain started in the middle of the third lap and though the forecast was a 50% chance of rain for the hours during the race, we had maybe 10 minutes total. It made for some spectacular rainbows over the inland mountains.

Photo credit: Trin Peng. Trin won the Female division in the first half marathon she competed (Antarctica) in and placed second in the next one (Antarctica). Either her career is looking bright, or she should retire on top.

Pam and Kurt did a great job managing the turn. Rachel was a fantastic cheerleader at the 50K mini-loop turn. About the only thing that I didn't enjoy about the race was that it was almost over. 

This is probably the only minute Rachel sat still. She probably did 50K worth of distance just dancing. 

I had a goal to stay under 40 minutes per leg for the second half to get me in under 5:18. I was on track until the last two miles. I ran out of the usual race food and went to a peanut butter squeeze pack. So much for preparation. I was feeling good, but I couldn't hold pace much longer. Thanks to Fiona and Soren for being my butt magnets. 

Fiona demonstrates the pose that we tell first time marathoners NOT to do. Soren went back to get Fiona so they could finish together. He then went out to pace me and Susan to the end of the marathon. Photo Credit Pat Borque Photography

I finished my marathon with a 5:19:02, a PR by less than 20 seconds. I knew Susan wasn't far behind me. She finished her fourth lap with a time just over 5:23, a PR by over 20 minutes. This is a moment that I'll remember for the rest of my life. Susan took the turn and went out for the last lap to do her first Ultra. It even caught the race organizers by surprise.

This is a woman who, 10 years ago, laughed when I said I wanted to finish a marathon. I was overflowing equally with pride and hunger.  Fortunately, the hotel breakfast buffet was open for another 30 minutes. I had enough time to run in, grab a sandwich and some coffee cake, fill an insulated bottle with hot tea for my awesome wife and run up and get her camera with enough time to go out and pace her in for the last half mile.

Yeah. I couldn't keep up with her. Photo Credit Phil Cha

Unlike me, she had been mentally prepping herself for the last lap all race. While she slowed down for the last 8K, she still finished in a total time of 6:29:18, about as fast as a lot of her early marathons. We now have an Ultramarathoner in the family, but I get to give her more grief now that I am TWO marathons ahead of her. 

Some of the best moments of the race as a TNT coach are late in the race. Going out to meet the last few marathoners and following them across the finish line is one of the most rewarding feelings you can get. It's great when you've spent 5 months training with them. It was just as moving for us to cheer on people we've only known for a week.  

Shauna was a bright spot for all of us on both races. I don't know that I've ever seen someone smile this much during a race. Just about everybody waited for her to finish.

A week. What a week it was.

It takes a whole new level of crazy to do what we did on this trip. This isn't something most people would even dream of doing. People on this trip were prepared for anything - harsh race conditions, possible early course closure, a second race on short rest. As far as I heard, everyone finished both races.

Everyone.

I heard about quite a few personal best times set during the week. Some ran their first marathons or half marathons. Some are closing in on 50 or 100. Seven people finished their Seven Continents on this trip and some will finish their seventh this year.  In this picture are several current and future world record holders. I bet that every person here can legitimately claim that they're the only one in the world to have accomplished some combination of races. The best part about the picture is that I think we've made some life long friends.

 

Race Director Steve Hibbs left a message in our Facebook group after the trip. 

"I have been fortunate to run on all 7 continents, in all 50 states and to visit over 40 countries. Much of that started back in the mid 1990's. Just about six years ago I decided to marry my passion for travel and running and create this company called Marathon Adventures. Since that time, I have met some of the greatest, friendliest, most inspiring people on earth! People who climbed the highest peaks. People who swam extraordinary distances. Pioneers in running. World record holders. Extraordinary moms and dads. Trend-setting kids. Rarely are any of our customers "normal." Each customer has a unique and fascinating story, which makes every Adventure amazing! And to top it all off, I have been able to include my best friends in these Adventures and create new friendships and partnerships I never imagined possible. It is truly a blessing to know each of you and I want you to know that I will NEVER take you for granted. I know sometimes I help to make your dreams a reality, but I want to thank you for making my dreams a reality, too! You all are the best!"

Punta Arenas was almost 9 years to the day since we had our first marathon training session. Every year has been better than the last. I like to think we got here because of the choices we've made. I'm glad we're following the right ones. 

The ones that excite our souls.

I took first place in the Toastmasters club contest, probably because people still can't believe that trip really happened. Honestly, I'm just now starting to believe it myself.

~//~

This was the second year for the Punta Arenas Marathon, Half Marathon and 50K, hosted by Marathon Adventures. In 2013, the race was held in late February. After waiting for four days for the skies to clear for the White Continent race, they made the call to hold Punta Arenas.  They found out later that they would leave for Antarctica THAT NIGHT. We once again count our blessings and hope we can somehow sell our 'weather luck' to the highest bidder.

Again, we can't say enough about Marathon Adventures. This was truly a trip of a lifetime.

The Punta Arenas Marathon is a simple course, basically an out and back along the water. For you data hounds, the Garmin Connect data from my Fenix are here. This is the third marathon in the Southern Hemisphere, our fifth continent, and both personal bests at the marathon distance and of course Susan's PR at the 50K. Complete race results are posted on Marathon Adventures site here.

We hope to coordinate schedules with Barb, Anne, Fiona, Soren, Donna, and Todd to get to Victoria Falls to cross off Africa. The Asia race is still to be determined, but we know it's just a matter of time. Follow our continuing journey at Marathoning For Life on Facebook.