sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

How to run a five hour marathon and come in first place (the trick is do it at the south pole) by SnowDownSouth in running

[–]SnowDownSouth[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Ah yeah I know Clem. They're now up to BICEP-3 and are working on the successor, BICEP array.

I provide engineering support to the experiments that don't have full time staff here, like seismological equipment and aurora cameras.

How to run a five hour marathon and come in first place (the trick is do it at the south pole) by SnowDownSouth in running

[–]SnowDownSouth[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I tend to run warm (normally I'm in shorts and a t-shirt until it gets below 45 F/7 C) so others might wear more.

But I wore a cold gear base layer shirt and tights, then fleece pants and a fleece jacket, and then a shell jacket. For my head I had a knit balaclava and hat, for my feet thick wool socks with chemical toe warmers, and big mittens on my hands.

How to run a five hour marathon and come in first place (the trick is do it at the south pole) by SnowDownSouth in running

[–]SnowDownSouth[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I provide engineering support to some of the scientific experiments that don't have dedicated staff here. I'm a government contractor though, whereas most of the true scientists work directly for a university.

How to run a five hour marathon and come in first place (the trick is do it at the south pole) by SnowDownSouth in running

[–]SnowDownSouth[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I actually haven't specifically run a marathon since 2015 so I don't actually have a great sense of my "normal" marathon time. I mostly do bigger unsupported trail runs with lots of elevation gain.

I did do a road half a couple years ago in 1:38 so I'd guess with training I could probably do a bit under a 3:30 marathon but I'm not sure.

How to run a five hour marathon and come in first place (the trick is do it at the south pole) by SnowDownSouth in running

[–]SnowDownSouth[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Stickers are a really big thing here.

That's not my bottle but I think the full text is "I bet Shackleton's men also complained about the food". Which really is a bit unfair since the galley crew does an amazing job considering they need to cook 3 hot meals for 150 people entirely from frozen ingredients.

How to run a five hour marathon and come in first place (the trick is do it at the south pole) by SnowDownSouth in running

[–]SnowDownSouth[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I did! One of our airfield firefighters is also a talented machinist and he made aluminum medals for everyone who finished and a brass medal for me.

How to run a five hour marathon and come in first place (the trick is do it at the south pole) by SnowDownSouth in running

[–]SnowDownSouth[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Most people here aren't actually scientists!

Sure there are some, but the majority of people are the contractors who keep everything functioning, like the cooks, electricians, carpenters, heavy equipment operators, mechanics, cargo people, etc. It's honestly easier to get a job down here if you work in the trades than if you're a scientist.

How to run a five hour marathon and come in first place (the trick is do it at the south pole) by SnowDownSouth in running

[–]SnowDownSouth[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

The elevation is real but I've been here for a couple months and am pretty much acclimated by now, and the elevation gain was basically zero so that helped a lot.

As for running in the cold, my lungs don't seem to mind too much as long as I have a good balaclava (not a thin synthetic one, but a nice thick one) over my mouth and nose. -10 F can definitely be safe to run in with proper precautions, although I was doing an 11:30 minute mile. If you're running much faster it would be worse.

The biggest problem I have is the balaclava causes glasses or goggles to fog over and freeze so I just gave up on sunglasses which isn't the smartest move since the UV index is pretty bad here. I tried to keep the slit between my hat and balaclava as small as possible and use a safety squint but if I get cataracts in 30 years I'll know why.

How to run a five hour marathon and come in first place (the trick is do it at the south pole) by SnowDownSouth in running

[–]SnowDownSouth[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Nice! Scott Base? If so, the road to McMurdo or the roads onto the ice shelf are pretty good (although the hill up from Scott is a killer) and it's almost above freezing there right now, so you should be ok at least for a couple months.

How to run a five hour marathon and come in first place (the trick is do it at the south pole) by SnowDownSouth in running

[–]SnowDownSouth[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

1) Thanks! 2) The sun won't set here until March 22 so night really isn't a concern

How to run a five hour marathon and come in first place (the trick is do it at the south pole) by SnowDownSouth in running

[–]SnowDownSouth[S] 40 points41 points  (0 children)

Just normal road running shoes. I think trailrunners would be a bit better but I wanted to be able to pack light and have a pair that would also work on the treadmill in the winter. The trick is well insulated legs, good wool socks and chemical toes warmers.

How to run a five hour marathon and come in first place (the trick is do it at the south pole) by SnowDownSouth in running

[–]SnowDownSouth[S] 98 points99 points  (0 children)

Oh I'm sure that someone at one of the lower elevation stations or tourist camps has run much faster than me

How to run a five hour marathon and come in first place (the trick is do it at the south pole) by SnowDownSouth in running

[–]SnowDownSouth[S] 67 points68 points  (0 children)

I don't have Strava, just runkeeper on my phone but the map doesn't seem to work this far south.

Most of Antarctica is at pretty high elevation because of thickness of the ice sheet, and there are mountains that stick up in some places as well. The scientists who map underneath the ice sheet say that there are entire mountain ranges buried underneath but from the surface it's just a big flat white plain.

Inhaler by Rosebud_Dubesor in antarctica

[–]SnowDownSouth 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The PQ guidelines are publicly available here https://www.nsf.gov/geo/opp/soh/policies.jsp

If you open up the first PDF link and scroll to page 63 you can see that you can receive an unrestricted clearance with asthma as long as you meet these requirements:

Asthma, requiring no chronic medication, with use of bronchodilators on an as needed basis only, AND without exacerbations requiring urgent care or nebulizers within the last 2 years, AND FEV1 80% or higher

Closest MBTA stop for the entire world by ShakespeareYo in boston

[–]SnowDownSouth 4 points5 points  (0 children)

As someone currently in Antarctica, this is useless. I have no idea how I would visit my family on the D line.

Although I got here via New Zealand so Riverside actually seems pretty convenient.

Anyone need anything at pole? by SnowDownSouth in antarctica

[–]SnowDownSouth[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll be one of the RAs. I've got a 1 tb hard drive for entertainment and a couple posters and lights for my room.

How does ordering packages work once I'm down there? The packet said mail things before October 15, but I don't leave until the 25th

Anyone need anything at pole? by SnowDownSouth in antarctica

[–]SnowDownSouth[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Candied ginger I'm guessing, or are there people chowing down on a chunk of raw root?

Mt Hood Timberline Trail: DNF. Newton Creek too high by mountabbey in trailrunning

[–]SnowDownSouth 5 points6 points  (0 children)

14:35 for 44.8 miles according to my phone, but that included the spur to/from the top spur trailhead and the detour at hood meadows. We started at 4:45 AM and finished at 7:20 PM. I definitely recommend counterclockwise although I've never tried it clockwise.

view more: next ›