Vavilovians

The good ship Vavilov was our home away from home for the duration of the Antarctic adventure. These are some of the faces I got to see every day.

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"All ice is nice!" Harry, the resident glaciologist.

Our most excellent kayak guide, Ms. Sophie of New Zealand.

Sophie took me kayaking, and was my personal post-race handler. Three cheers for Sophie!

Andrew and Scott in Ushuaia, always prepared.

And there was much singing. Erin, Abra and Andrew.

And there was much dancing in confined spaces.

The worst weather day of the trip, but this crew grins and bears it. (Neko Harbor.)

It only took two days of requests for Cody to invent a drink in honor of "Vermount."

The affable Bill Nelson of Marathon Tours, swapping stories with Alex.

Andy, Lisa and me waiting to go kayaking. Lisa has the hardened expression of a paddler who's seen the wrong side of the kayak.

The shirt says 'Steelers' but the attitude is all California.

So many hours passed in the lounge with these guys.

This pretty much doesn't need a caption.

"I just turned around on the barstool like this... and it fell off."

Scott and Andrew have friends in low places.

This is one photo of me and Caitlin before she took my phone and photographed the Night of a Thousand Selfies (see examples below).

"The Lurker," with Lisa, Scott and Caitlin.

Caitlyn, Abra, me and Grace, final night on the boat.

Officer Mikhail, selfie in scary lighting. He charted our entire trip on a map for me, excellent souvenir. Spasibo!

From Uruguay to Ushuaia to Antarctica - so happy to know Mike!

Alex, me, Lisa.

These guys.

These girls.

This is the time I agreed to take up winter swimming with Jaimie.

Things are happening here. I'm not sure what.

And then there was more dancing.

And still more "dancing."

Andy, Lisa, me.

Andy, Caitlin at the table of trouble.

Last in and last out at meal time, Alex, me, Abra and Andy.

Me and Mr. Alexander Tucker.

Best Zodiak ride: we almost lost Alex and Mike overboard, but we returned with them and with ice.

Finishers!

Wind. A lot of wind.

Quite awhile back when I signed up for the Antarctica marathon (yes! Antarctica!) I said my training plan was to go out and run any time it's really cold or really windy. I'm a few weeks into the training cycle and I amped up the rigor of today's 8-miler by heading out on the Colchester Causeway in high winds.

Weather underground says it was 43 degrees (which felt pretty warm) and 17.3 mile-per-hour winds from the south. If you are unfamiliar with wind speed (as I am) I will translate: this is a lot of wind.

Starting at Airport Park, the first 2 miles are under trees, and then the bike path is exposed with open water on both sides for two more miles. Going out, the wind was at my back and helping me run fast. But at the cut in the causeway, I turned around and now was running directly into the wind. I had images of roadrunner cartoons in my head, where legs are arms and churning as fast as they can but you're basically standing still. I was able to get used to the headwind afte the first mile, but man! did that wind sap a huge amount of leg strength.

When I reach the shore, and the shelter of trees, I stopped to stretch and shake off the wind. And lucky I did! Three birders were standing around a scope and invited me to take a look at a snowy owl, sitting pretty in the reeds several hundred feet away. So pretty!

I finished the the stretch under trees back to Airport Park with an easy, slow jog. The snow we'd received earlier in the week was melting, leaving a fat muddy puddles on the trail and big swaths of green grass at the park. A weird mix that seems forgivable in November but will be offcially unacceptable tomorrow, the first day of December.

Mile 1: 10:33
Mile 2:  9:45
Mile 3: 10:26
Mile 4: 10:03
Mile 5: 13:15 !!
Mile 6: 12:36
Mile 7: 11:43
Mile 8: 11:42

Good morning, Winooski!

Accuweather said it was 9 degrees when I got up this morning (“Real Feel: 2 degrees”) but the sun was coming up and from my window I could see steam pouring off the Winooski River. Gorgeous! I headed out for a 4-mile loop around town, sucking in cold air, trying to stay on the sunny side of each street and picking over uneven, snowy sidewalks. My earbuds were piping Morning Edition into my fleece hat when I heard Mitch Wertlieb describe the cold (not helpful) and then deliver this hopeful line: “Tomorrow will be significantly warmer – highs in the 20s.” Sweeeet!