Antarctica – How the adventure started

So, how did I end up here on the way to Antarctica? I think it is pretty straightforward. In spring 2002, while still living in Stockholm, I decided I really needed to lose some weight and I needed to get serious about eating and exercise. At around that time I saw an advertisement for the Stockholm Marathon in June 2002 and thought this would be a great motivator to get me going. And it was, sort of. I did train for several months, though not nearly enough. The race however was a fantastic experience. I still get goose bumps when I think about the massive crowds in the streets of that sunny Stockholm day yelling “spranga” (run), while they drank their wine and beer in 30c hot weather. When I finished that day it was the proudest personal achievement of my life to that point, overshadowing any career or other sporting bests. Of course, afterwards I did not run again for almost 9 months as we ended up moving to Kuala Lumpur in October 2002.

Later in spring 2003, I decided again to try to lose some weight and run in the Stockholm Marathon again, especially as it was the 25^th anniversary of the race and knew there would be some reason to be in Stockholm again during June 2003. When I finished that race, again it was a great experience. We stayed at the Hilton Slussen hotel overlooking the Stadshuset (City Hall) and water and part of the race along Sodra Malastrand. When I finished this second one, it was a totally different experience. I had proved to myself that I could do it again, that the first one was not a fluke and really craved the cheering, urging crowds and the satisfying (though painful) feeling afterwards when those pains in your legs are a badge of courage and you can congratulate yourself that you finished and did not give up along the way.

I remember the day not more than two weeks later when it happened … I was in Mumbai (Bombay) supporting a project there and had some time to surf the web while waiting for our all-night yelling client Reliance to start to get going so that we could start our meeting around 11:00 p.m. and end maybe at 2:00 a.m. I started searching for “marathons” and if I should try to do another and where? Somewhere that day in India, I found the website for Marathon Tours and this Antarctic Marathon that I had first seen in Runners World and must have registered somewhere along the way. That day in mid-June 2003, I decided that I was going to run marathons on all seven continents and would sign up for the Antarctica one as soon as possible.

I then started charting plans on how and where I was going to do the next six continents. I knew that Antarctica was in February 2005 so I could knock off a few of them along the way, though most marathon runners, even those most experienced do not run more than one a year or two at the most. I found my next challenge in Sydney Australia in September 2003 (only three months away, then was targeting Mumbai in January, and found the perfect North American Marathon: LA Marathon on my birthday (March 7^th, 2004) in my hometown.

The first person I thought about to accompany me was my friend Mike Ripp. Him and I have known each other since 1996 when we were working on the famous “Flying J” wireless project with MCI. He was (is) based in Raleigh and comes originally from outside London and had just arrived in the US just before we met. Mike and I hit it off right away, though he is tall with a shaved head and typically dry English humor. Mike and I had gone skiing once in Utah while working on the project together. He is athletic and coordinated, whereas I have difficulty with technically challenging athletics as he would soon find out. On that day in perfect snow and a perfect sunny day, he could see and witness my persistent clumsiness while I tried to master the art of skiing and staying vertical the same time.

As years went on we went on a couple of great “guy” trips together. One time we went to the Bahamas to snorkel, golf, and scuba. Again, he is a coordinated, experienced scuba diver; I had never done it before. But I will try anything once for a good adventure. I did the PADI training course and we went on my first diving coast outside of Nassau where we were sailing. Though I did my best, I did not properly decompress (or compress, I am not sure!), and ended up with stuffed up ears for months afterwards, but we had a good time, and I kicked his ass at golf.

Another time, we went to Dominican Republic, where one day on a rainy/sunny afternoon at the tough ocean course Casa de Campo “Teeth of the Dog”, we both had career days: me with a 38-38=76 and him with an 82.

He also can be completely annoying. Every so often we would talk on the phone and ask how he was doing. For awhile, every time we talked he would tell me about the latest eagle he got on the golf course (he has four to date off of a 24 handicap!), while I play much more frequently and carrying a 12 handicap or so, are still looking for my first one! Worse, after I called him in summer 2002 to tell about my first marathon, he proceeded to tell me about his first triathlon! Always one-upping me … (but maybe I try to do the same he reminds me since I have called him on more than one occasion so that he could hear U2 playing in the background at Globen in Stockholm or after the 100 meter races in the Athens Olympics).

I sent Mike an email on June 12^th 2003 asking him if he was interested in the Antarctica Marathon in 2005. I still have the original email he sent back with the words, “count me in”, and sent back within 48 hours. He arrived Sunday morning and this will only be his second marathon, but since he has done a number of triathlons (but with shorter running portions), he should do just fine.

Mike and I are good roommates and are able to talk about serious or non-serious things (as guys do) with the same level of intelligence and humor. We can also joke about strange smells in the room (“nightly emissions”) and other manhood areas.