Antarctica - Day #9

Early pack of runners led by Greg

Kurt, Kyle, and Greg at finish

A fast Irishman

A nervous start

Kurt & I early in the race

Monday, February 28th

It's 11pm here aboard the Sea Spirit. I just stepped out of the bar to post a brief update before calling it a night. Success. All 4 of us finished the marathon today well under the cut-off time. We're healthy and in good spirits. We took home 7th, 25th, 30th, and 42nd place out of 76 marathon finishers. We'll take that. My buddy Liam came in strong once again. The rest of us finished in the middle of the pack.

Anxiety is gone, exhaustion has set in. More to follow - but just wanted to let you know it's "all good" in the South Seas. Thanks for the encouragement and good wishes. We needed every bit of it today -- it was a brutal course. (descriptions to come)

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It's Wednesday, March 2nd at 6pm here in Port Lockroy Antarctica. Sorry on the delay the past 2 days. We headed south after the marathon to the Antarctic Peninsula. Internet connectivity has been extremely sketchy. Everytime I'd go to post something, the file would crash. I have a little window here to hopefully give a brief race-day overview.

MARATHON DAY
The day started with a 6:30am wake-up call over the ship's audio system. "Ladies and gentlemen, let's get ready to rumble" Pretty great. The head of the dining area has a voice that sounds like the famous boxing announcer. Each day we've received a smilar start.

We ate a quick breakfast and prepared for our 8:15am departure to St. George Island by zodiac. This will likely be the one and only marathon I'll ever run where you must be transferred to the start line by a boat. I was extremely nervous leading up to the start. Luckily, the distance to the shore was very short or I might have gotten sick pre-race. We were slightly delayed getting all of the zodiacs (100 people) to land, so the race began at 9:20am, rather than the originally scheduled 9am start.

The most difficult part of the early morning preparation was deciding how many layers to wear. The weather (no wind) was just around the freezing mark, but the winds were steady at 15-20 knots. We also had to prepare for anything - as we've been told that conditions can change almost instantaneously. I opted for a dry-wick long-sleeve shirt under a wind resistant running jacket on my upper body. I had on running tights under a wind-resistant outer layer on my lower body. I wore 2 pairs of socks, a neck gaitor, a dry-wick sock-cap and a light-weight, wind resistant pair of gloves. I brought along a pack with a back up pair of running shoes as well.

The beauty of the course we would be running was that it was 5 separate loops. We would be coming past the start-finish line after 5+ miles. Therefore, I had my pack filled with heavy duty clothing if necessary. When we arrived on shore, there wasn't much time. I had to quickly change out of my rubber boots into my trail shoes. I put on my running belt and checked my food. I'd be carrying 2 squeeze bottles of power gel. We were not allowed to bring any wrappers whatsoever on land. I had 3 - 16-oz bottles of water for the entire race. I placed these at the start line so I wouldn't be carrying any liquid. During my training during the past 2 months, I've used very limited water and food on my long runs in preparation for the lack of support in this race. The training would prove valuable. At 9:20am on Monday, February 28th, 98 runners began the 12th annual Antarctic Marathon.

Miles #1-5 (out and back to the Chinese Research Base - #1)
I'm not sure if it was due to the quick start, the location, or just my nerves -- but I began the race nearly hyperventilating. I couldn't catch my breath. Kurt and I were going to stay together for a little while - but he powered ahead of me the first 2-3 miles while I lagged behind trying to get it together. Right away, we discovered that a combination of the wind, the mud, and the hills would make this one of the most diffficult marathons I would ever run. The overall female winner (who we have made good friends with), would later say this was the toughest marathon she ever ran --- and this is her 54th marathon. By the end of the first loop, I was coming around. I had caught Kurt and we were getting into a rhythm as we passed the start/finish line.

Miles #6-10 (out and back to the Uruguayan Research Base - #1)
This section of the course was the most difficult. This was due largely to the massive mud pits we encountered. There were times we had to broad jump over puddles and streams along the route. I thought I'd lose my shoe from sticking in the wet mud a couple times. The wind was steady with high gusts. I felt good physically however. I finished the second loop just under 2 hours.

Miles #11-15 (out and back to the Chinese Research base - #2)
The greatest part of the race was how we continued to pass the other runners along the way. By this time of our trip, we know most everyone. We would give each other high 5's and words of encouragement along the way. This really helped keep the spirits high in tough times. Other than the staff positioned around the course and an occasional research person coming out of a building, we were largely on our own. These 5 miles went well. I was falling into a comfort zone. Even though I would stop and walk on some of the very steep hills - I kept moving forward.

Miles #16-20 (out and back to the Uruguayan Researh Base - #2)
This was the toughest loop. I couldn't quite smell the finish and I had to deal with the mud and steep hills once again. Even though it was hurting, I actually had a chance to look around a little. The lakes, the mountains -- what an unbelievable place. Just keep it going - you can do it.

Miles #21-26.2 (out and back to the Chinese Research Base - #3)
1 loop for my 5th marathoned continent. I was doing OK. No stomach pain, just the typical hurt that one would expect at this time of the race. I kept running and was able to make up some ground on a few of the runners. I ended up finishing at 5:09 - #25 out of 76 total marathon finishers. I was very happy with the result. Traditionally, they say to add 30 minutes to an hour to your standard marathon time for this race. The overall winner came in at 3:24. He is a 2:41 marathoner. Only 4 people finished under 4 hours.

Greg, Kurt, and I all finished very close to one another. We took several pictures at the finish line. As we were standing there at the finish, a lone penguin waddled in front of the finish line. A coule runners were coming in. The staff was yelling: "Stop - let the penguin have the right away". Wow - what a way to finish the Antarctic Marathon - time delayed by a minute for a penguin crossing ---- it doesn't get much better than that.

The rest of the day was fantastic. We even got to see a pod of orca whales (killer whales) from the ship before dinner. The drinks were flowing and the celebration was well underway. A great, great feeling to have the race behind us. We all commented how difficult the past couple of days have been when we had so much time to think about the race.

It's now time to have a little fun. Here's to a rewarding, challenging, and ever-memorable day in the Antarctic.

Antarctica - Day #8

Our group on an icefield

Sitting in the dock of the bay

Amazing icebergs

The 4 fellas with the mountains in the background

Icebergs everywhere

We woke up to this scenery the day after the marathon

Taken off the deck of the ship

Sunday, February 27th

Happy Birthday to my sister-n-law Linda today! Hope you're having a great one.

It's 10:20pm right now on Sunday, February 27th. I'm currently sitting in the Oceanus Lounge on the 3rd level of the Sea Spirit. We're docked in the bay just off shore from King George Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. I have a ton of nervous energy going. I thought I'd write a bit before going to bed.

Today was largely a rest day. We were set to disembark at 10:30am to tour Robert Point (Robert Island), but the wind was blowing at 30 knots, with speeds gusting to 40knots. The conditions were deemed to be too dangerous to reach land on the zodiacs. We ended up pulling anchor and making our way to our marathon destination point - King George Island.

They did have a couple afternoon seminars today. The first seminar - "Antartica and Climate Change" was really interesting. You hear about global warming all the time. Today made things a little more clear to me, as we were lectured by a researcher from New Zealand, who specializes on this topic. In the middle of the seminar, an announcement came overhead: "There is a humpback whale on the starboard side of the ship." Everyone jumped up and looked at each other: "Which way is starboard?" Finally the presenter pointed us in the correct direction. Someone gave me a hint to distinguish starboard (right) from port (left). 'Left' has 4 letters and so does 'port' -- that's how you can remember. We did get a few glances of the whale. Cool - my very first visual of a whale at sea.

More resting, than dinner, and then a final marathon briefing. The course will basically involve 5 loops of 5+ miles each loop. We start at the Russian/Chilean research bases and then do loops to the Chinese and Uruguayan research bases. We're told conditions are fairly favorable. Winds at 10-20 knots, with outside temperatures around freezing without the wind. We've also been cautioned that things can change quickly - so be prepared.

I have so much anxiety - I just want to get this thing going. Although I'm trying to maintain positivity and confidence on the exterior, there's certainly rumblings on my insides.

Here's to a good day tomorrow! "Running Against the Wind" - Bob Segar ----- this might be an appropriate song to have in my mind.

We'll be back after 26.2 --- Keep the Faith!

Antarctica - Day #7

A gentoo penguin and the Sea Spirit

Greg and Kyle - Continent #7

Zodiac unloading

mother gentoo feeding her chick

Aitcho Island - South Shetland Islands -- our first zodiac stop

'molting' gentoo

Starting to see some ice on the shores

Saturday, February 26th

Today we did it - we stepped foot on Aitcho Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Awesome!!!! My buddy Greg and I completed the 7 continents today, a couple years shy of age 40. My very first international trip was in Year 2000 when my buddies and I went to Australia. I remember talking to a couple people in an airport bar at some point during that trip. They had recently completed all 7 continents. I remember thinking that their achievements were not obtainable - impossible for the 'common folk'. I guess all you need is an idea and a will -- anything can happen.

Things started getting serious today. During the morning, we had 2 separate briefings and seminars. The first briefing was done by the Quark Expeditions crew. This crew is made up of 9 people who are in charge of our adventure while on the boat. We discussed the pristine nature of Antarctica. There are numerous precautions that must be taken to eliminate the possibility of leaving any trace of us on land. This means no food wrappers, no cans, no eggs or nut products. We can't touch any animals, or step on any vegetation. We can't go inside any building. No bathrooms except on raceday where they'll have 4 porta-potties placed on land.

The second seminar of the morning was given by the Marathon Tours Group - the travel group responsible for our complete journey. They gave a brief history of the marathon. This was truly amazing to hear. So many different challenges. One year the conditons were so bad, they had to run the race on the ship. They ran 422 laps around the ship to complete the race. Really - 422 laps. Wow!! Another year, they had the 50+ foot waves on their return to Ushauia. They said that the worst conditions for sailing were at Level #12. During that trip, they reached Level #11 -- even the crew were getting sick.

After lunch, it was time for disembarkment. We first had to bring all our gear that we would be wearing as potential outer layers to the main deck to get vaccuumed and checked. We had to take our shoes to a location on the deck of the boat to be scrubbed with special chemicals. The general idea is that we absolutely cannot introduce a foreign species to the pristine environment in Antarctica.

Finally, we signed up into 4 groups and were given times of disembarkment. Our group (Chicago), was set to release in the first wave. We put on rubber boots and our gortex outer layers in preparation for a wet landing. The ship can only get so close to shore. Therefore, we had to take these zodiac boats (large rubber boats that can hold 11 people) to land. We jumped out into ankle deep water and walked ashore.

When we reached the Aitcho Islands - the site was incredible. Penguins - everywhere. We saw large colonies of the Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins. They have no fear of humans - why would they. It was amazing as they just walked around - often times coming up to you and pecking on your boots. We were allowed on land for 90 minutes before returning to the ship. We saw a seal just before boarding the zodiac for our return.

In addition to the animals, the glaciers, the mountains, the water ---- the sites were unbelievable. The crew mentioned during their lectures to make sure you stop for a few minutes and just take in the sites. Just look around. There's truly a feeling of peace and calmness that one may never get to experience again.

After dinner, we had a race protocol meeting on Level #3. We watched a movie in our room before calling it a night. I think I mentioned incorrectly before that the marathon will be on February 27th. It's actually set for Monday, February 28th. Tomorrow we'll have another disembarkment on a different island and do final preparations for race-day on Monday.

The churning in my stomach tells me that that the real stuff will be going down in just over 24 hours.

Antarctica - Day #6

First night sunset over the Beagle Channel

The "Bridge" - where the captain runs the controls

5th level outside deck

The bar/lounge area

Outside track around Level #4

Friday, February 25th

We made it through the night without getting sick. Bonus!! The ship is currently rocking pretty aggressively from side to side. It's extremely difficult to even walk doen the hall (as your body bangs off the walls).

Kurt and I headed to breakfast around 8:30am. They had waste bags placed all along the railing leading up and down the stairs. (Seasickness is high on the communication topics). The breakfast was a buffet. I filled my plate and went to sit down. The dining hall is on the 2nd level - basically right at sea level. I looked up through the port holes. You could see the sky, then there were huge waves, and finally just water. After about 3 bites, I decided that breakfast wasn't in the cards for me today. I headed back to the room to lay down.

Today's itinerary involved several seminars spaced a couple hours apart. These were not mandatory - just informational if you were interested in attending. After a few minutes recovery in the room, I went to the talk concerning albatross and petrel birds. I started feeling better and remained stable the rest of the day.

I went to 3 other seminars total on Friday: seals, history of Antarctica, and current-day Antarctica. These talks were interesting and enabled us to pick-up a few ideas before reaching land.

Today was all about getting your sea legs, resting, and keeping hydrated between meals. A few people had a glass of wine or a beer, but the atmosphere is overwhelmingly focused, mixed in with some anxiety of the unknown. Midday, I took a walk around the outside track on Level #4 to get some fresh air. This was a little scary as you were walking next to the bannister. I had my hands on the inside wall the entire time. Kurt and I even went up to this small workout room and biked/ran for about 30 minutes to keep the legs going.

The night ended in the bar/lounge with a game of Yahtzee. Tomorrow we're set to hit land by early afternoon. It's about to get interesting.

Antarctica - Day #5

Our room on the Sea Spirit

Our room for 10 nights

First night on the water - looking into Ushuaia

Liam, Greg, Kyle, Kurt -- in front of the famous sign in Ushuaia

The mountains surrounding Ushuaia

Our ship - the Sea Spirit

Thursday, February 24th

Coming to you live from the 3rd floor lounge aboard the Sea Spirit in the middle of the Drake Passage, 1-day from reaching the most isolated continent in the world. "Hold on baby it's a bumpy ride"

Yesterday was a long, crazy day. We left the hotel at 5:40am for the airport. On arrival, we found ourselves in a jam-packed line. Since our group made up over half the 7:40am flight, they actually held the plane for us. Only problem in this situation, if you barely make the plane, more oftern than not, your checked bags will not make the plane.

So, after our 3.5 hour flight, we arrived into Ushuaia, AND --- are bags did not show. Not so good. We got transferred to the port area and were given 3 hours of downtime before needing to report to the ship at 3:20pm.

We grabbed some lunch, walked the town, and made it to the ship on time. The ship is awesome. The rooms are significantly better than I had expected. There's 6 levels. Not a ton of space, but nice for the 150 people or so on board. There's 1 bar, 1 dining room, and 1 conference room - we'll definitely get to know each other better over the next 10 days.

We ended up waiting for a couple more flights to come into Ushuaia before setting sail. Our bags finally arrived by 7:30pm. Great feeling to have our gear back. We did our safety checks and then went to dinner. The dinner was nice - elaborate 5-course setup. We met up with a cool couple from Atlanta (already had completed the 50-states marathons and 5/7 continents).

Around 9:30pm, we completed dinner, just as the ship left port. We walked around the deck for a little while before calling it a night. The first several hours, the ride was smooth as we travelled through the Beagle Channel. We hit the Drake Passage in the middle of the night. I know this, only because I almost rolled out of bed a few times.

All I can say at this point of the game, the patch behind my ear is the most important thing in my life right now. I'mhaving trouble downloading pictures, hope to figure it out soon.

Antarctica - Day #4

Buenos Aires skyline

Lounging on this plush leather couch in Uruguay

Bucket List - antiquing in Uruguay -- check.

Golf carting around Catalonia, Uruguay

Old Bull Ring

Tree-lined streets

Nice ride

A group of us overlooking the ocean in Uruguay

Wednesday, February 23rd

Early wake-up call today at 6:30am. Felt alot better. Illness is behind me. We all met down for breakfast at 7am. We then walked over to our ferry boat connection for an 8:45am departure to Uruguay.

Many people on our tour group joined along. The water shuttle took us to the city of Catalonia, Uruguay. It was a 1 hour boat ride. The time is 1 hour ahead, so we arrived around 10:45am. Our return trip to Buenos Aires was 7:00pm - so we had the day to check out the city.

Since we're only a few days out from the marathon, none of us wanted to walk too much and be on our feet for hours. We decided to rent a couple golf carts and tour the sites. It was really a fun day. It was overcast and rainy much of the time, but we had a good time nonetheless.

We drove down along the beaches and through the main city center. The streets were lined with trees and had a pretty good feel. We ate lunch at this pizza place in town. Then we drove down and saw the historic Plaza de Toro (the old bull ring from many years past).

We next decided to drive further along the beach and worked our way over to the Sheraton Hotel - probably the fanciest place in the city (outside pool, beach, golf course -- very nice). We proceeded to take a couple hour relaxation period and grabbed some hot tea while lounging on this plush leather couch (see pic).

We did some souvenoir shopping in town and headed back to the boat. We left Catalonia at 7pm and arrived in Buenos Aires at 7pm - very nice. We then walked along the waterfront to one of the most famous steakhouses in the world -- La Cabana. Most of us had these lomo medallions, which may have been the best steak I've ever eaten in my life. Argentina is huge on beef. That, along with the tango, are it's claim to fame.

I'm now just getting back to the hotel room at 11:30pm. We have a 7:40am flight tomorrow morning from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia. We have to leave the hotel at 5:40am. Wake-up call is set for 4:45am and we're meeting folks at 5am for breakfast. Needless to say, I don't have a ton of time to be very elaborate today. I did want to check in because I'm not certain if I will be able to blog again until March 6th. Tomorrow we board the ship to Antarctica. We will set sail tomorrow afternoon at 4pm. Everyone is doing fine and we're positioning ourselves to make miracles happen.

I hope to be coming to you live crossing the Drake Passage on the southern tip of the world tomorrow night. If I can't, no worries -- we'll be strong. I just watched the movie "Secretariat" on the plane ride to BA the other day. It's about the greatest racehorse that ever lived. Want to know why he was the best - he had a bigger heart than anybody else. I'll be thinking about his Belmont run in 1973 while on the backstretch of the marathon in a few days ------- the heart of a champion is not something that is easily broken.

Antarctica - Day #3

Banner over doorway into the reception hall

The fellas at lunch - Kilkenny Pub

Busy lunch area - 2pm on a Tuesday

Great park across the street from hotel

Evening sky of Buenos Aires

Tuesday, February 22nd

I just got back to the hotel room after a really great opening dinner celebration with the entire marathon group. 115 people total -- 98 runners (83 marathoners and 15 half marathoners), 5 staff members, and 12 family members. Today I continued to feel pretty bad - but, after just meeting a ton of unique, inspirational people --- I know that I can do this. I talked with one of the girls I had met from Machu Picchu. She is a oral surgeon and a good motivator. Just like she says: "If you just stay positive and continue to look ahead, you can make yourself feel better. The mind can be a powerful tool."

Today the group met at 9am for a 3 hour tour of Buenos Aires. I didn't go. I got the highlights via camera shots and communication with the fellas. A couple things of interest: (1) Buenos Aires got its freedom from Spain in 1816 (2) BA is a very diverse city, with Spanish, Italian, and French ties. (3) BA had a big economic downturn about 10 years ago and has been steadily picking up the pace in recent years. (4) The group saw an interesting cemetary with some elaborate tombs holding 10+ people each.

After returning from the tour, Greg, Liam, and Kurt came to my room and dragged me out for some food. A tip of my cap to the fellas -- I needed that. We had a great lunch at this Irish Pub on the main drag. Argentina follows the Spanish way of life when it comes to eating. Lunch is mid afternoon and dinners start around 8pm. Then, people stay up until all hours of the night. It was great people watching. "Out last night" - Kenny Chesney --- the girls from Argentina are back.

After lunch we walked over to a tourist agency and purchased some ferry tickets to Uruguay. We have a free day tomorrow before heading further south to Ushuaia, so a number of folks are taking a ferry boat over to the country of Uruguay. I purchased the ticket but will play it by ear to see how I feel in the morning.

There was another training run at 4pm, but none of the 4 of us went today. I rested the afternoon while the other guys did some souvenoir shopping. We had cocktail hour at 6pm and then dinner starting at 7:30pm tonight. It really, really sucks right now that I cannot talk much at all. These people are very interesting and I relish the opportunity to get to know them better. That's OK for now - my time will come.

I took a few pictures of the city as promised. There's a really cool park next to our hotel. I'm impressed with Buenos Aires so far. I'm sure it has some poor areas like Rio - but I felt good vibes today.

Our tour guide told us tonight that we need to watch out for huge birds that will dive-bomb at our heads during the marathon and try to pick at us. Very nice. A guy raises his hand and asked: "How do we protect ourselves?" The guide says: "Don't wear headphones. You can hear them hovering above you. Just hold your hand above your head and that will deflect the blow when they make their move." Excellent!!!!!! Oh - he also mentioned that they have had waves of 50+ ft are more on the voyage over the Drake Passage. We were in this large auditorium. He pointed to the ceiling and stated: "The waves were way higher than this ceiling"

Antarctica - Day #2

Monday, February 21st

It's 9pm here in Buenos Aires. Kurt, Greg, Liam and myself arrived safely into Argentina this morning. My flight was 10 hours, 28 minutes from D.C. - landing around 10am local time. We are currently 3 hours ahead of US central standard time. (6pm on Monday, Feb. 21st in St. Louis right now). Temperatures are around 80 degrees, as this is the end of the summer here in the southern hemisphere.

Embarrassing as it is to say, I'm currently sitting in my hotel room at the Marriott Hotel - by myself. I feel like garbage (well, actually - I'm getting better). What's my problem? Who knows - major sore throat, cough, general weakness. I'm taking antibiotics and getting some rest. All will be better tomorrow. Kurt, Greg, and Liam are out to dinner with the group. I had room service.

We got to the hotel about 1pm today after meeting up with our Marathon Tours group. There's about 100 total people on the tour. This was a strict number, as you can only have 100 people on land in Antarctica at the same time. This has recently changed. They used to take 2 cruise ships with 100+ people per ship. The new regulations cut the trip size in half.

There's a ton of great people on the tour, 3 who we had met on our trip to Machu Picchu. The majority of folks are from the US - all different ages from all different areas.

After checking into our rooms, some of the group met up for a 4pm training run. Kurt, Greg, and Liam participated - I didn't. The group then met up for dinner, departing at 7pm.

This is painful for me to write, as I do not like being weak. just keeping it real. Tomorrow is a new day. Pictures to come - I promise. Good night from BA.

Antarctica - Day #1

Sunday, February 20th

Coming to you live from Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. It's 5:10pm EST. The Daytona 500 is nearing a conclusion on the overhead screen, the airport traffic in Concourse C is slowly subsiding, and I'm settling in after eating a turkey sandwich and orange juice from Starbucks. Before I can cap the year, I have 1 final thing to do. Today I set off for a 16-day journey to my very final continent --- Antarctica.

Well, since my return from Europe, I've been in a transitional period. I had a great Christmas season with family and friends. Busy - alot of different things on the agenda: training runs, genealogy trips, doctor's office visits, card playing, snow shoveling, house organizing, eagle watching. It's amazing how active one can be even without a full time job. This has been a special time for me and I recognize the significance.

So - what am I going to be when I grow-up? Man, I can say this, the people who can definitely answer this question without hesitation are superheroes in my book. I truly envy those who have it all figured out. I've been drawing inspiration from everywhere. I guess the beauty of my situation --- it can always be changed. With all that being said, I've determined that I would like to move to Denver, Colorado upon my return. The job -- to be determined. But, a place is a start. I'm just about through with feeling like a big slacker. It's amazing to see the faces of people when you tell them you do not have a job. It doesn't draw much respect - that's for sure. I'm ready to change that.

Alright, I thought I needed to at least summarize things for the past 2 months. Now - on to more interesting things. Antarctica. Roughly 3 years ago, my buddies and I dreamed up the idea of doing a marathon on the continent of Antarctica. We sent in our initial deposit and largely put it on the backburner. After spending the past couple years on the waiting list - we finally made the cut for the 2011 trip. Antarctica -- we're REALLY going to Antarctica. That's crazy stuff.

It's such an unknown. How many people do you know that have been to Antarctica? That number has to be small. I've been asked so many questions the past 2 months. I know so little myself. It's funny. I could have a whole conversation with someone and after shaking hands to leave, they may say: "Good luck in Alaska!" I've been offered a Triple AAA booklet so I could find hotels and rental cars when I get there. People tell me to watch out for polar bears. (Polar bears are only in the northern hemisphere - Arctic). This is all good stuff. I know only the very basics - and that's because I've read a little on the subject. Why is Antarctica a continent and the Arctic is not? I just found that out last night. Antarctica is a large land mass sitting on a tectonic plate; whereas, the Arctic is only an icecap floating on the Arctic Ocean, with no land mass under it. Is it north or south of the US? South. I can't wait to get there and figure it out. I look forward to providing further information.


After spending nearly all my time in Missouri since Christmas, I drove out to Raleigh, NC last week to my buddy Greg's house. Greg, Liam, and my brother Kurt will be joining me on the trip. We did some last minute preparation and packing. At 11:30am today, Greg dropped me off at RDU airport for the first part of my journey. I flew from Raleigh to Washington D.C. - arriving at 4:30pm. I'll be departing for Buenos Aires, Argentina this evening at 10:10pm. Greg and Liam will fly together later tonight. They connect through Miami on the way to Buenos Aires. Kurt is flying from St. Louis, connecting through Atlanta, before arriving in Buenos Aires. If all goes well, tomorrow morning around 11am, we'll all meet up at the EZE airport in the capital city of Argentina.

I'm going to keep daily accounts of the journey. I'm just not sure if I will be able to post them right away. We will be spending 3 days in Buenos Aires before taking a plane to the southermost city in South America - Ushuaia. From there, we take a ship for 2-1/2 days across the Drake Passage to the continent of Antarctica. The marathon is scheduled for February 27th. We do some touring after completing the race for a few days and return to Buenos Aires on March 6th and then transfer back to the US.

What am I feeling right now. A little sick - I'm currently hoarse with a sore throat. Nervous - The Drake Passage is recognized as the most aggressive water route in the world and I've heard the words: "The Perfect Storm" to describe crossing it on a boat. Prepared - I've trained more stringently for this race than any other I've participated in since 2006.

I hope that "Preparation" wins out. Sometimes, all you can do is put yourself in the best position (taking medication for my throat and bringing patches for seasickness) and hope for the best. I look forward to writing from the 80 degree temps of Argentina tomorrow. Until then - keep the faith!