Re: Everest Marathon - the report (bit long)

Beelzebub wrote:
As per subject :-)

Well, that was an experience and a half!

Synopsis is that I went, trekked, completed the marathon and came
home then spent the next week at death's door.

Pictures (lots of them) can be seen at
http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/7302411

Longer version is....

Flew out with David (my ex who was marshalling) Thu 15 Nov to
Kathmandu via Doha. Kathmandu wasn't quite what I expected - was
much bigger. I had envisaged it being more like Leh in Ladakh, India
for some reason, which is a rather cosy little placed. Did a bit of
sightseeing then had a fun run on the Sunday - 12km downhill. We
were split into 3 groups, red, white and yellow (the best!) and had
to get our kitbags down to 12kg max - didn't leave much after the
sleeping bag, down jacket and thermarest were packed.
On the Monday, we flew up to Lukla - said by some to be one of the 5
scariest things one can do. Personally I found it fine - the runway
is incredibly short and on top of a mountain, so I can see why some
would get twitchy. Unfortunately, the red group leader rather
generously passed his stinking cold on to me, so I was feeling pretty
crap by this time.
We trekked up to Namche Bazaar over the next couple of days, staying
at Phakding the first night in tents. Namche was quite a nice little
place - totally tourist based as this really the start of the main
base camp trail. Our group stayed in the Khumbu Lodge, which was a
lovely place with cracking food. After a couple of days
acclimatisation, we headed off on the race route - we had to learn
the route on the way up, so spent a lot of time looking behind us.

We veered off the route in order to explore the Gokyo valley and get
a bit more altitude under our belts. Several days trekking and
acclimatising, we were camped at about 4900m and most of us made an
ascent of Gokyo Ri (~5300m). The scenery was wonderful. By now,
due to the altitude and very dusty trails, most of us had developed
the 'Khumbu cough'. Honed athletes, my arse! Most of us sounded
more like a crowd of lame ducks.
Eventually back onto the race route, we had dropped back down in
altitude only to then start climbing in earnest. Along the way,
several folk dropped out or were airlifted out due to illness and/or
altitude. The white group lost 5 of their folk at one point. Most
people suffered either the cold or D&V (the more unfortunate had
both). I was pretty lucky really - had no D&V. David had a night
and a day or so of D&V then he was fine.
During the day when the sun was out, it was generally warmish. However as
soon as the sun went, the temperature plummeted and it was
freezing. Think it got down to about -15/-20C at night. It was too
cold to wash either ourselves or our clothes - I did try once or
twice but came to my senses eventually. By the end, everyone smelled
the same anyway, so no matter.
We got to Lobuche, which was our penultimate destination and the
place from which David would be marshalling. It was a hellhole, with
really nothing going for it. We spent 2 nights there, the second of
which we awoke to find it blowing a gale with the snow swirling
around. There was some doubt as to whether we'd make it to Gorak
Shep for the start. However, whilst the medicals and kit checks were
going on, it cleared enough for us to trek up.
The night before the race, we were lucky enough to all get beds in the
lodges, so didn't have to mess around with tents. As was the norm,
the rooms were freezing, but the main eating area was toasty. None
of us slept well the night before and there were a flurry of last
minute illnesses. Highlight was one of the Sherpas singeing his
eyebrows/lashes when he threw a little too much kerosene onto the
stove - flame height was impressive.
Next morning we were up at 4am, breakfast at 5am, bags to be ready for
portering by 6am and the race started a half hour earlier than
originally specified at 6.30am instead of 7am. 6.15am saw us all
heading to the start line - I was shivering in my (well David's) down
smock, the Nepali girl in front of me was in a t-shirt!

Then we were off! Running from the start, it quickly became a
shuffle as we hit the first uphill bit. I decided to take it nice
and easy for the 3 miles to Lobuche - I'd never struggled with the
altitude as much as I had during this trip, permanently breathless
etc. Still, an hour later saw me passing through Lobuche and on
towards Dughla. David was going to catch me up when he'd finished
marshalling and accompany me the rest of the route.
I did jog when I could, but came to the conclusion I'd get on better
just keeping up a brisk walking pace - every time I tried to put some
more effort in, I felt breathless and light-headed. The aid stations
were spaced every 3 miles or so, allowing me to tick off a station an
hour. David finally caught me up around mile 11, but to be fair he'd
had breakfast before setting off. We lost a little time on the
ascent up to Tengboche, the steep descent down from there which then
went into the steep ascent up to Sarnassa. Sarnassa was at the 17
mile mark and marked the end of the worst of the ascents. From
Sarnassa, it was on to Namche. Sadly, although the race finished at
Namche, this point only marked 20 miles, so we had to go past Namche
(where we could hear finishers being cheered) and do the Thamo loop
of 3 miles out, 3 miles in. David left me at Namche, to go buy me
some clean clothing for the finish and I continued the final 6 miles
with a charming French chap from our group, called Gerrard. Gerrard
had been an absolute star the whole trip - 63 years old, he'd done
over 30 marathons and he spent the whole trip being typically Gallic,
kissing all the women :-) He was the same during the Thamo loop, as
we saw other competitors on the way in as we were going out. Not a
woman passed that he didn't embrace and kiss.
Anyway, the Thamo loop was the worst part of the whole thing - it
took an age to get to the aid station and it was uphill in both
directions!! I don't normally take over 2 hours to do a 10k. Finally we
got back to Namche, meandering our way through the
streets, which were the most lethal footing in the whole event. We
crossed the finish line together - 10h 14m after starting. It was
an incredibly long day. Just for comparison, the first Nepali runner
crossed the line in 4h 12m, the first western runner in 4h 54m and
the first lady (Angela Mudge, who some may have heard of) in 5h 2m,
breaking the woman's record by 14 mins.
Was a pleasure to get back to the Khumbu lodge, although the shine
was taken off slightly when I went for a shower, got all lathered up
and the water went off. It was sorted but not before I got into
whimper mode. I'm still convinced that David used up all the hot
water.
Next day was a rest day - following day was up early to be
helicoptered to Lukla in a dodgy Russian helicopter, then fly out to
Kathmandu. The first group's helicopter take off didn't bode well,
as it taxi-ed along the grassy runway on its front wheel! Fortunately, the
pilot had sorted out his takeoff by the time he got
to us. Spent the rest of the day relaxing in the hotel grounds,
drinking beer. The next evening was the awards ceremony. I'd managed
to pick another lurgy up and felt like crap. Following morning it
was up early again to fly back home. My mate Keith picked us up -
his first words to me were "You look like ***", which wasn't quite
the greeting I'd hoped for.
So, I was off work all week with lurgy, which was a bit of a sod -
feeling a lot better now, although I had a stinking headache every
morning for some time after. Probably should go to the doc and get
checked out, but not gotten around to it.

Upshot is that I'm very glad I did it and feel very lucky to have
completed it. I don't think I'd do it again though and I don't think
I'll be camping for quite some time. Nepal is a beautiful country
with spectacular scenery and very friendly, genuine people and is
well worth a visit. Everest is not the most impressive mountain, but
mostly due to it being surrounded by other big mountains. Very
poignant is the number of memorials to people (Sherpas and others)
who have lost their lives on Everest.
Money wise, I've yet to gather in all the sponsor forms, but it's
looking like approaching the £700 - £800 mark, so thanks to all the
folk who sponsored me. I'll post the actual amount once I add it all
up (after NY).
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Cheers,

Charlene

Nice one, you must be fit a fiddle & mad a box of frogs ;)

--


Nige, talking utter *** since 1967.

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