Everest Marathon -- the Gory Details

May 29

Here’s a bit more detail on the marathon a couple of days ago. We’ve been coming out of the mountains and are now back in Kathmandu. I’ll try to catch up on the postings and upload some more pictures in the next couple of days.

Marathon Day

Last night was cold but not as cold as the previous night. Got up a couple of times for nature’s call (tough in this environment), and it was very clear. The moon lit up all of the surrounding peaks. Wow.

There were two avalanches last night on opposite slopes from Base Camp. You hear this rumbling and it gets louder and louder. You hope that it will stop before it gets too loud. Of course, EBC is situated to avoid the impact of avalanches (you assume). One of the sherpas said that there was a huge avalanche a couple of weeks ago and the airborne snow settled over Base Camp. A little too close for comfort, though.

We got up at 4:45 am to begin race prep. That’s difficult to do in a tent and at 15 degrees. Had a little breakfast of porridge and coffee and tried to stay warm but not overdress for the start. Fortunately, the race officials agreed to pick up everyone’s down jacket and transport them to Namche Bazaar the next day, so we wouldn't have to freeze for too long.

The starting line was about 400 meters further up the icefall from the “mock start” yesterday near camp. I was a tough scramble through the glacier to get there. The race officials started calling people to the line about 6:30. Runners started materializing from everywhere. We had our group of about 25 runners and there were a handful of other Westerns who began showing up yesterday. Several of them have been in the mountains several weeks now getting acclimated and training. Must be nice.

The Nepalis were appearing from everywhere, as well. As opposed to the Westerners who were huddled together trying to stay warm and not get too winded at the high altitudes, they were scrambling up and down the glacier and rock piles like it was nothing. We know who’s going to be taking the top spots in this race.

Most of the Westerners were carrying a small bag of garbage down the mountain during the race as part of a publicity effort of the Extreme Everest Expedition 2010, an organization that is trying to clean up the trash that has been accumulating on the mountain for the last 60 years from the mountaineering expeditions and increasing number of trekkers. It was a small token that we could do. It was easy to tuck the baggie inside our hydration packs and belts.

As the start approached, the Nepali runners began to stretch out along the rocky ridges ready to dash for the few “trails” that led off the glacier and moraine. I was just trying to stay upright and uninjured until we got to relatively stable ground.



At 7:00 am sharp, the whistle went off and there was a mad dash for the narrow paths. With the ice and the rocks, it was like trying to run on thousands of slippery softballs and bowling balls. “Run” was relative term, as well. With the altitude and the treacherous terrain, I was just shuffling along.

For the first 5K to Gorek Shep, we were on the Khumbu Glacier and moraine. The group split up pretty quickly and Gerry and I were on our own. Some times the route was tough to follow and we had to stop to check where to go. All we had to do was look for the yak dung.

We reached the 5K point in just under an hour, almost three times longer than a normal road marathon. But we knew that it would be a long day.

The second 5K from Gorek Shep to Lobuche began with two, long cruel uphills. We also got behind some yak trains which slowed us down a bit but provided much needed rest. In this section of the course, we could finally get in some decent running but had to be careful of the footing. At least we were off of the glacier. We reached Lobuche, the 10K mark in about 2 hours. At this pace, we were looking at an 8+ hour marathon, in the range that we were expecting. We passed a couple of the competitors in this stretch, the ones who went out with a little too much enthusiasm.

Finally, after Lobuche, we got into the nicest section of the course. We got into a steady pace of running on the flats and downhills and going up the hills as fast as we could but usually not running. The steep downhill into Thukla was tough, especially finding the right line because there were so many paths. It was like skiing through a mogul field.

We ran over the rickety bridge and got onto my favorite section of the course the 5K or so to Dingboche. The trail was relatively smooth, it was gradually downhill and the air was getting thicker making it easier to breath. We caught up with David the Brit and passed him, another overenthusiastic starter.

The views in this section were stunning. The trail was about halfway up a high ridge, with expansive views of the valley floor and glacial river a thousand feet below and snow capped peaks above. Magnificent.

We also began seeing a lot of trekkers and locals at this point and they all shouted encouragement as we passed. For some reason, the Americans were particularly vocal.

Reaching Dingboche, we were at 14,464 ft, a little over 3,000 ft below the start. This is at the height of the highest peaks in the continental U.S., but boy did it feel good with the thick air. We began thinking that we could finish in a pretty respectable time, maybe under 7 hours.

Wrong. By 25K, the fun was over. We had dropped down to Deboche at 12,329 ft and crossed the river. Then we began a short, but steep climb to the Tengboche Monastery, at 12,664 ft. Only 335 ft, but it seemed like forever. Gerry was struggling to pass the lead yak on a yak train and I was pulling up the rear trying to stay out of the fresh dung. It seemed hopeless.

Topping out at the Tengboche Monestary, we immediately began the long, long and steep, steep downhill to the Imja Khosi (river). It was a 2,000 ft. drop over about 4K. I think that it was tougher than the uphills. And dangerous, too. Some of the steep sections were essentially jumping down from rock to rock and hoping not to go over the edge. We were down in the wooded terrain by now though, so any fall would be eventually stopped by trees.

We reached the bottom and crossed the swinging suspension bridge. We knew the next section of the course would be tough, but we were in the home stretch now. How wrong we were.

We reached a medical check point at the start of the long climb to the Khunde Hospital above Namche Bazaar, the finishing point. We worker said that we had about 6K to go. It was about 1:05 pm, a little over six hours into the race. Hmmmm. . . maybe we had a shot to get under 7 hours.

Wrong again. Right after the medical station, we began another uphill section that went on and on and on. The only relief was the occasional switchback where the trail leveled out a bit. We just kept going up and up. I was looking at my watch and seeing the minutes slip away. So much for sub 7:00. Maybe sub 8:00. Gerry was always up in front of me and I got tired of looking at his skinny Irish backside.



We finally reached the upper valley and the villages of Khumjung and Khunde on the far side where the hospital was located. The route was a confusing maze of rock wall lined paths between fields and houses. The race organizers had marked the route with flags from Coca Cola, the race sponsor, but the local kids had snapped them up as souvenirs. We had to stop at each fork in the path and ask directions, but the locals always knew the right way. “Marathon?” They’d point us in the right direction. It was always the uphill path, unfortunately.

We reached the hospital and began the long gradual decent back to Khumjung and to our final two obstacles. We ran past a couple of rather large stupas and long mani wall. There were lot of locals in this area shouting encouragement. At least I think they were. At one point, a young boy with what looked like his mother and grandmother were coming toward us. As I ran past, the boy jumped up and rubbed my chin. I have no idea why. Maybe it was because I had been shaving and didn’t have the typical two-week old beard that most the of the trekkers had. In any event, it was pretty weird.

At the end of the mani wall, we started up the climb to airstrip at Sangboche. I had walked this section earlier 12 days ago so I knew what we were in for -- 315 rock steps. We did no running here. Just walked up step after step to the top.

Ahh. We finally reached the last step, went around the stupa at the top clockwise (didn’t want to tempt fate), and began a slow run across the airstrip to the edge of the ridge above town. Two workers at the last aid station ran with us for a couple of hundred meters to show us the right path.

We had reached 40K and now faced our final obstacle: a 1,400 ft. drop back into Namche Bazaar and the finish line. This section was a steep maze of winding and intersecting paths and could be difficult to get off target and end up at the other end of town. Fortunately, they marked this section with white chalk or flour (no flags!), so it was easy to follow. No guessing. Down, down down to finally pop out on a wide flat path that circled the upper part of Namche.

No more uphills or downhills. We had 400 meters to the finish line. We slowly made our way around the upper part of the village, around a stupa, between two houses and into a small field which was the finishing area.

Finally, we were there. Done. Seven hours and 47 minutes. We had completed the Everest Marathon, the highest marathon in the world.

Post Marathon

It was good to be finished with the race. I’ve always thought that the best part of a marathon is when you are done. Some people like the experience. I guess that I prefer the end result -- accomplishment.

There were a few people in the finish area -- a couple of participants who finished just before us, a few non-competitors who were on the trip, race officials, some spectators, Extreme Everest officials, etc.

We were immediately taken to the medical tent where a doctor checked us out and gave us a massage -- a nice touch. He gave us some awful replacement fluid. One sip and I asked for a Coke. Hey, they’re one of the sponsors.

We received the usual race swag, Nepali style: a ceremonial white scarf, a burlap knapsack from the Exteme Everest group, a finishing certificate, a certificate for carrying a half kilo of garbage out of Base Camp, and a warmup suit. The warmups were nice because fog was coming in and it was getting chilly. Most of our cloths were only about half way down from the start at EBC.

There was a little Nepali boy, maybe three or four, at the finish line who was hamming it up with everyone. He was really full of himself. He wanted to know my name, my age, if I had any children his age, whether I had a dog, etc. At one point, he came into the medical tent and began to give a massage, just like he was a doctor. I think that he must have been the son of one of the medical personnel His English skills were excellent.

The guest government official was also at the finish line greeting everyone -- the French ambassador to Nepal. Don’t ask me why he was all the way there from Kathmandu. We couldn’t figure out the connection.

We were starting to get cold, so they got us organized and one of the sherpas escorted us to the Namche Hotel where we would be staying. My first bed in 14 days. Ahhh.

The problem was getting there. The race finished in the upper part of town and the hotel was in the lower part of town. So it was down hundreds of more steep steps. The sherpa was kind and went slowly with us.

The Namche Hotel was quite nice. It was en suite (no outside toilets or showers tonight), and Western style (no more squat, pit toilet tents). Yipee. I took my first hot shower in 10 days. It was wonderful.

Once we got cleaned up and into some warm clothes, Gerry being Gerry wanted some craic. So we decide to go to the regional entertainment event of the season, Musical Everest 2010. Unfortunately, the concert was at the Himalayan School near the finish line. So we had to drag ourselves back up all of those stone stairs to the top of the village.

The concert cost 400 rupees (about $6) to get into, a huge sum for locals, but they were coming in droves. Gerry, Tony the Kiwi and I were the only Westerners there at first. Nepalis of all ages were attending -- from grandmothers to teenagers. They had a DJ going, but no live bands. They did have a pretty elaborate sound system and speakers (which had to be carried in by porters from Lukla 8 miles away).

They were selling beer, but we were the only ones buying. The school choir sang a couple of songs which was quite cute. They were in their British school uniforms.

We wanted to hear some bands play, but they keep making announcements and giving awards so we left. It was difficult to leave, however, because of the throngs of people coming in. The security was pretty intense and they didn’t let us out for a while. So we put Tony at the front and he got us through.

As it turned out, we were way too early. The concert went n until 5:00 am. We were way too early.

We walked back down the hill to the hotel (ouch, ouch, ouch all of the way down) in the dark which was quite an accomplishment. The race group had just finished dinner so we ordered dinner from the kitchen. I had a yak pepper steak. Not too bad. It was my first meat since I arrived in Nepal. A good change from rice, lentils, bread and beans.

I talked to a Nepali Olympian at dinner who ran the marathon in the 1976 and 1980 Olympics against Alberto Salazar. He was quite interesting to talk to and very personable. At 58, he was my age, but no longer running.

I finally got to get bed (in a real bed) about 10:00. It was quite a day.

P.S.: Unfortunately, I have only these two still photos from the actual race. I was otherwise engaged. I do have some low-res video, but most of that is from about 4 feet in front of me as I was looking down mot of the time trying not to stumble. I'll post some video when I get back in the U.S. and have a chance to edit something viewable.

The local media coverage was quite good. All of the major Nepali new organizations had reporters on site. They were quite amusing. Apparently, there was some video on race day of Tony the Kiwi taken from a helicopter coming down the Namche hill near the finish several minutes before us. We're trying to find it.