After about a month and a half of training, I finally got my chance to run the 26.2 mile South Pole Marathon. Although the main group of runners ran it on new years day, and on a non-traditional course, I unfortunatly was on the kitchen work schedule that day, and so had to wait a few days to run. I ran on Sunday, January 6, 2013, and ran the traditional 5 laps on the south pole skiway. For some background, see a quick video of my training.

Overall, the run felt great. I got up at 04:00 on Sunday morning, put on my running gear, grabbed a thermos of hot apple cider from the galley, grabbed a radio from Comms, and went out to the Pax Terminal next to the skiway. Since I was running unsupported, I used the heated Pax Terminal as my warming and support hut, and left all of my food and gear in there while I ran.

Running felt great, and I completed the 26.2 miles in 05:41:50 – certainly not a PR, but a time I’m very happy with considering I was running in -15 degree F air, on snow, in the middle of the highest, windiest, coldest, and driest desert in the world.

If you’re wondering, here’s what I wore to run:

• Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra2 GTX Trail Runners
• Smartwool Expedition Weight Socks
• Icebreaker 3/4 length 200 Bodyfit long underwear bottoms
• Marmot Goretex Paclite shell pants
• Ibex 17.5 T-shirt
• Arc’Teryx Atom LT Jacket
• OR Versaliners Gloves
• Burton Full Gauntlet Goves
• Icebreaker beanie
• Peru Alpaca Had
• Smith Goggles
• Generic fleece neck gaiter

Here’s the GPS track of my run:

Thanks to Blaise for coming out to the skiway at the crack of dawn to take pics of me running!