Marathon Across The Drake Passage

I’ve been in Antarctica for a few days, so I thought it would be cool to do some sort of unusual run.

By way of background, the passage between Ushuaia (Tierra de Fuego, Argentina) and Antarctica is known as the Drake Passage and forms part of the Southern Ocean, where the Pacific meets the Atlantic. It is home to the roughest seas in the world, and it takes a couple of days to cross by boat.

Fortunately, our vessel had a treadmill. So, on the way back from Antarctica to Ushuaia, I decided to run a marathon on the treadmill while the ship was crossing The Drake. It was actually a very good workout, as the heavy rolling and rocking made it challenging to run. At times, it felt like I was floating (no gravity) but then immediately the boat would spring back and I felt twice as heavy. At the same time, there was rolling side to side, so I had to balance myself (of course, without holding on to the handlebars as that would be too sissy). All in all, a fun and challenging sub-4 hour marathon.

Who knows, maybe it’s the first marathon ran across The Drake!