Race Report: 2026 Victoria Falls Marathon

On July 5, I ran the Victoria Falls Marathon in Zimbabwe.  This race has been on my bucket list for years.

I do a lot of solo travel, but sometimes I prefer to be with a group.  For this trip I was traveling with Coddiwomple Travel.  Besides the marathon, their itinerary included visits to two national parks and a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River.  I also booked a guided tour of the falls from both sides of the river.

Tuesday, June 30

Malaria is endemic in Zimbabwe, so I needed to start taking anti-malaria medication two days before I arrived.  That happened to be the same day I left home.  Malaria risk at this time of year is relatively low, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

I left Tuesday afternoon for Johannesburg, South Africa, with a layover in Atlanta.  I’ve been on the Atlanta to Johannesburg flight before.  It’s a 15-hour flight.

Wednesday, July 1

With the time change, it was already 7 PM when I arrived in Johannesburg.  I had a 15-hour layover before my flight to Victoria Falls, so I checked into an airport hotel for the night.

I didn’t get any sleep on my flight, so I was pretty tired.  I went to bed within an hour of getting to the hotel, but it took me several hours to get to sleep.  I only slept for an hour or two before I needed to get up again.

Thursday, July 2

After breakfast, I had to hurry back to the airport for my flight to Victoria Falls.  Because I left the terminal, I had to allow time for going through security again.

I arrived in Victoria Falls around noon.  On arrival, I had to pay for a visa for entry into Zimbabwe.  My itinerary included day trips into Zambia and Botswana, so I had to get a KAZA visa.  This type of visa allows multiple border crossings between Zimbabwe and Zambia.  It also allows for day trips into Botswana.

Coddiwomple Travel provided transportation to our hotel.  I was surprised how far away the airport was.  It took about 30 minutes to get into town.  For the next five nights, I stayed at Ilala Lodge Hotel in Victoria Falls.

When I got to the hotel, I was met by the tour guide from Coddiwomple.  I was the first person in our group to arrive.  The others came in on a later flight.

I had a surprisingly filling sandwich on my flight, so I wasn’t hungry for lunch.  I did a workout at the hotel, explored some local shops, and then I had an early dinner.

I have a knack for finding good pizza in any city.  I found a place a few blocks from the hotel called The Three Monkeys.  They had a variety of different brick oven pizzas.  Most of them were fairly traditional, but they had one with bacon and bananas.  I’ve never had banana slices on a pizza before, so I had to try it.  I wasn’t disappointed.

Ilala Lodge was right next to Victoria Falls National Park, and animals from the park would sometimes wander onto the property.  In the afternoon, I saw two warthogs from my balcony.  At dusk, I saw two elephants from a walkway behind the pool area.

Later, I met the other members of my tour group at a reception by the hotel pool.  We were a small group, but there were enough appetizers to feed a much larger group.  The appetizers ended being our dinner.

I had an easy time getting to sleep that night, but I still wasn’t able to sleep through the night.  Adjusting to this time zone was taking longer than usual.

Friday, July 3

Friday was a free day to explore Victoria Falls on our own.  I booked a guided tour of falls.  This tour took me through two national parks, one in Zimbabwe and one in Zambia.

First, I saw the falls from the Zimbabwe side of the river.  Here’s a sampling of the photos I took.

To get to the other side, I had to go through border crossing stations on both sides of the bridge.  Each side had long lines.

Once across, I was able to view the falls from the Zambia side of the river.  This side had different views.

Near the falls, there’s a lot of spray, and in a few places, it felt like it was raining.  I was wearing a rain poncho, but my pants got wet below the knees, and my sleeves got wet below the elbows.

When I got back to the hotel, my race packet had been delivered to my room.  Besides my race bib and T-shirt, there was a visor, a pair socks, a fanny pack, a towel, and a buff.

I had lunch at a smokehouse/brewery near the hotel.  Then I walked to where the race starts and finishes. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the hotel.  I met a runner from South Africa who runs the Comrades Marathon every year.  While we were talking, a large group of elephants came onto the property.  They were behind the trees, so I couldn’t get an exact count, but I saw at least five adults and about as many baby elephants.  Later, I saw more elephants, and I finally got a clear picture.

For dinner, I went back to The Three Monkeys, so I could try one of their other pizzas.

Saturday, July 4

On Saturday, we had a game drive in Zambezi National Park.  We had to leave early, so the hotel gave us grab-and-go breakfasts.  When we got to the park, we had to drive a long way before we saw any animals.  The first giraffes we saw were too far away to get a good photo.

As we continued through the park, we started to see more animals, and we got closer to them.  We saw zebras, giraffes, warthogs, cape buffalo, and greater kudu.  We also saw a variety of birds, including pelicans.

When we got back to the hotel, I did a workout.  Then I relaxed until our next outing.

In the afternoon, we went into Zambia to have high tea at the Royal Livingstone Victoria Falls Hotel.  This is the nicest hotel on the Zambia side of the river.  It’s right on the river, and there are zebras, giraffes, and other wildlife right on the property.

While we were there, we discovered that there’s a marathon next weekend in Livingstone, Zambia called the Zambezi Waterfront Marathon.  Had I known that before, I would’ve planned a longer trip, so I could run marathons in both Zimbabwe and Zambia.  At this point, it was too late to change my plans.

After we got back from Zambia, we had a pre-race pasta dinner at the hotel, even though we were all still full from all the food we ate at high tea.  The food was served family-style.  It was more food than we could eat, so we all got to-go boxes.  The others took the leftover pasta and meat.  I took the leftover desserts, which gave me food for my pre-race breakfast and a post-race snack.

Sunday, July 5

Sunday was race day.  Our tour package included bus transportation to the start, which was at Baobab Primary School.  The race started at 6:15 AM, but I had to catch the bus at 5:20.  I considered just walking, since the start was only about a kilometer away.  I took the bus on the recommendation of the hotel staff.  It’s still dark at that hour, and we were right next to a national park with various wild animals.

I was the only one running the marathon who was picked up at this hotel.  They had a later pickup time for people running the half marathon.  After I was picked up, the bus stopped at one other hotel before driving to the school.  We got dropped off about 30 minutes before the marathon started.

The temperature in the morning was in the 40s.  I knew it would get much warmer later, but I tend to dress for the temperature at the start.  I wore tights and a T-shirt, but I also wore a Tyvek jacket while I was waiting for the race to start.

They didn’t have portable toilets in the start area, but we could use the bathrooms in the school buildings.  In the boys’ bathroom, none of the stalls had toilet paper.  There wasn’t even a place for toilet paper.  Fortunately, I only needed to pee.

I knew we would be running near the falls in the early miles.  I didn’t know if I would get wet from the spray coming from the falls, so I kept my jacket on as I started running.  I unzipped it in front, so my race bib would be visible.

When we started, it was still dark.  The only light was from street lamps.  As we left the school grounds, we were initially running on grass and dirt, so I started hesitantly and watched my footing carefully.  Once we turned onto city streets, I was more confident in my footing.

After about one kilometer, I could see the glow of the sunrise.  I could also see the mist rising from the falls.

The aid stations had water in cylindrical plastic bags.  To drink, you needed to tear a hole in the bag with your teeth and then squeeze the water out.  I’ve seen the same thing at races in central America and the Caribbean.  Tap water in Zimbabwe isn’t generally safe to drink.  Seeing that it was in sealed bags gave me confidence that it was similar in quality to bottled water.

We ran past the immigration station on the Zimbabwe side of the river, and then we started running toward the bridge.  Before I reached the bridge, I noticed the road was wet.  As I got onto the bridge, I could feel a little bit of spray from the falls.  It felt like light drizzle.  That’s why I kept my jacket on.

There are immigration offices on each side of the river, but they’re both a distance away from the river, because they need to be located where there’s enough room for cars to park.  The actual border is the Zambezi River, so as soon as we crossed the bridge, we were in Zambia.

Most of the course was relatively flat, but there were some uphill and downhill sections.  One of the uphill sections was right after crossing the bridge.  I had to slow down a little, but I didn’t have to walk.  That was encouraging.  In my last several races, I had to walk almost every hill.

We ran almost to the gate by the Zambia immigration station.  Then we turned around and crossed the bridge again.

When we crossed the bridge on Saturday, you could see the falls.  Sunday morning, there was too much mist.

After crossing the bridge for a second time, we didn’t take the same road back into town.  Instead, we turned onto a road that took us closer to the river.

Now that I was no longer near the falls, I took off my jacket and tied it around my waist.  I had already taken off my gloves.

About four miles into the race, I started to notice some discomfort from a tight Achilles tendon.  It was encouraging that I didn’t notice it before.  Usually, I feel it from the first mile.  I probably helped that I had a few days off from running before the race.

The aid stations were closer together than I expected.  After drinking water at the first two, I decided to skip every other aid station, so I wouldn’t overhydrate.

The first few aid stations only had water, but I eventually reached aid stations that also had Coke.  The first time I saw Coke, it was at an aid station that I was planning to skip.  Whenever I saw it at an aid station where I was drinking, I opted for Coke instead of water.

Just past the 9K sign, I saw a 26K sign.  At that point, I knew we would be running along this road again later in the race.  It eventually became clear that the marathon was two loops, but I suspected there would be differences between the two loops.

At 12K, I saw baboons running across the road.  I had already seen baboons in two of the national parks, but apparently, they’re all over the place.

Some aid stations also had fruit.  I ate a banana at one, but I mostly just drank water and Coke.

At 14K, I was one third done, so I checked my time.  I was almost on pace to finish in 4:30.  I expected to slow down as it got hotter, but I was pretty confident that I would break five hours.  That was my only goal, other than finishing.

At 15K, I reached a hill that was steep enough that some of the runners ahead of me were walking it.  That seemed prudent, so I also walked most of this hill.  I had been running well, but I didn’t want to wear myself out by working too hard on a hill.

At the top of that hill, I turned onto a road that was paved with bricks.  The footing was really uneven here.  It felt like cobblestones.  I found running this section to be tiring, in addition to being uncomfortable.

I eventually realized, that this section was still slightly uphill, which is one reason it was tiring.  The uneven footing also made it tiring.

After that section, there was another hill where I needed to take a walking break.  After that, it got easier.

Up until now, I had been averaging about 10:30 per mile.  The mile with the hills and the next mile were both slower than 11 minutes.

There was a half marathon that started later than the marathon.  I had seen some half marathon runners go by, but only the fastest ones.  Shortly past 17K, I reached a junction where the two courses diverged.  Runners doing the half marathon turned left.  Those of us doing the marathon kept going straight to do an extra out-and-back section.  As a result, our first lap was longer.

After two slower miles, I was able to bring my pace back down to where it was before.  Then I reached the halfway point.  I was no longer on pace for 4:30, but I was easily on pace to break five hours by a wide margin.  The question was whether I would come apart in the second half.  It was warming up quickly, and the sun was getting higher in the sky.

Now that it was warming up, I started drinking at every aid station.  I drank Coke when I saw it.  Otherwise, I drank water.

I finished the out-and-back section and came back to the junction where the half marathon turned.  Now, we were on the same route again.  I had somewhere between 3K and 4K to go to finish the first lap.

At 24K, I saw some portable toilets, so I stopped.  I knew I would need to pee at some point, and I was also feeling some pressure building in my colon.  I was dismayed to see that the portable toilets also didn’t have toilet paper.  Apparently local runners know to bring their own.  I didn’t have the foresight to do that, so I resigned myself to holding it in until after the race.  That made the rest of the race somewhat uncomfortable.

The first lap was roughly 25K.  Then the half marathon runners turned to head back to the school, while those of us doing the marathon continued straight to begin our second lap.

I knew at this point that the second lap would only be 17K.  The difference is that we took a shorter route through town, and we didn’t run out to the bridge again.

Traffic on the bridge had been closed for the race.  That meant closing the only nearby border crossing.  I’m sure they wanted to re-open the border as soon as possible, which is why we didn’t run across the bridge again.

After running through town for another kilometer, I turned back onto a road that I had run before.  I once again saw the 9K sign, followed by the 26K sign.  From here on, I was running on roads that I had run before.  I knew what to expect now.  There was one tough section with steeper hills and bricks that felt like cobblestones.  Other than that, nothing would be too tough,

I wanted to do another time check at 28K.  I never noticed the 28K sign, but all my recent mile splits were under 11 minutes.  That made me pretty confident that I was staying on pace for a time under five hours.

At about 29K, I caught up to the back of pack of the half marathon.  Everyone at the back was walking.  The half marathon walkers greater outnumbered the marathon runners.  I had to scan the road ahead to spot the marathon runners, so I could try to keep up with the runners ahead of me.

At 32K, I reached the first of the two hills where I had taken walking breaks before.  I knew that was followed by the brick/cobblestone section.  Running on that surface was uncomfortable, so I wanted to walk it this time.  I contemplated running the hill.

When I saw other runners ahead of me starting to walk up the hill, I had second thoughts.  Then I noticed for the first time how hot and sweaty I was getting.  The sun was intense now.  That persuaded me to walk the hill again.

Because I walked up the hill, I forced myself to run on the uncomfortable brick section.  This time, I was much more conscious that it was slightly uphill.

When I finished that section, I reached the second hill that I had previously walked.  It wasn’t actually any steeper than the brick section.  I needed to walk most of it, because I was already tired from the previous section.

I knew that mile would be my slowest of the race.  The first time, my pace slowed to almost 12 minutes.  I expected to be slower than 12 minutes this time, but I was a bit dismayed to be slower than 13 minutes.  The good news is that I knew it would be easier the rest of the way.

I once again reached the junction where the half marathon turned left and the marathon went straight.  We had about 8K to go.  They had slightly more than 3K to go.  I was jealous.

I was determined to bring my pace back down, but I had to focus on one section of the course at a time.  First, I needed to reach the turnaround of this out-and-back section.  That was a little over two kilometers.

When I reached the turn, I focused on keeping up my pace until I got back to the same junction.  That was also just over two kilometers.

I got back to that junction, turned right, drank Coke at an aid station, and then forced myself to run up a short hill.  A short time later, my watch gave me a split for 24 miles.  I knew I had more than 2.2 miles to go.  The 39K mark would be two miles to go, and that was nowhere in sight.  I had to ignore my watch and just look for the kilometer markers.

When I reached the 39K mark, I should have done a time check, but I didn’t think of it.  I pressed on.

I eventually reached the 40K sign, followed by the 19K sign for the half marathon.  I had 2100 meters to go.  If I could run it in 11 minutes, I could break 4:40.  It was mostly downhill, but the remaining distance was too far to have any realistic chance of running it in 11 minutes.  I was going to finish with a time in the low 4:40s.

I enjoyed the nice long downhill section.  I never saw the 41K sign, but I knew I was getting close when I could see tents that were set up in the finish area.  As the crow flies it was close, but we had to take a circuitous route.

We turned left and follow the road alongside the school until we reached the entrance to the school grounds.  After running up a small hill, I turned onto the dirt and grass section.  I had to make a big curve that was sort of like running halfway around a track.  Then the finish line came into sight.

I ran under the same arch that had been the starting line.  I thought that was the finish line, but I hesitated for a few seconds before stopping my watch.  Then I walked the rest of the way through the finisher chute.

By my watch, I finished in 4:42:06, but I wanted to see what my official time was.  I continued through the chute and got my finisher medal.  Another volunteer handed me a bottle of water.  I was hot and thirsty, but I didn’t want to drink any more water until I got back to the hotel and made a bathroom stop.  I gave the water bottle back.

After finishing, I saw a large display screen that showed the times of recent finishers.  It showed my time as 4:42:29.  I didn’t know if that was gun time or net time, but that’s the same time I saw later when I looked up my result online.  Either way, I was pretty happy with that time.  It was my fastest time in two months.

I could have taken a shuttle back to the hotel, but they only ran once per hour.  It was faster to walk.

I was wearing a T-shirt from the Comrades Marathon, and throughout the race, I often got shoutouts from other runners who noticed it.  We were close to South Africa, so there were a lot of other runners who have either run Comrades or are familiar with the race.  While I was walking back to the hotel, I also heard someone in town say, “Comrades Marathon.  Much respect.”

When I got to the hotel, I didn’t wait until I got back to my room.  I stopped at the closest bathroom, which was inside the lobby.

After taking a shower and sitting for a while, my Achilles tendon got much tighter.  For the rest of the day, walking was difficult.

Later in the day, we had a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River.  While we were waiting for the sun to set, we occasionally saw hippos popping out of the water.  We also saw crocodiles on a nearby island.

We stayed until the sun set.  Then we went back and had a nice dinner.  We were sitting at the same table as some runners from South Africa, and we got along well.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was late, so I went to bed as quickly as I could.

Monday, July 6

On Sunday, we visited another national park.  This time, it was Chobe National Park in Botswana.  We left right after breakfast.  First, we had to drive to Botswana.  We got through passport control on the Zimbabwe side fairly quickly, but it took more than two hours to get through the line on the Botswana side.  We heard later that they had a power outage that morning.  I assume a long line built up while they were unable to process anyone.

When we arrived at the national park, we began our safari.  The first part was a boat ride on the Chobe River.  I was surprised how much wildlife we could see from the water.  We saw impalas, cape buffalo, hippos, giraffes, and elephants.

After a lunch break, we continued our safari on land.  There, we saw kudu, impalas, giraffes, cape buffalo, hippos, elephants, and a lion.

On the way back, border control went quicker.  We got back to our hotel around 7 PM.  We hadn’t had dinner yet, so it turned into a late night.

Tuesday, July 7

Tuesday was the only day that I didn’t need to get up early, but I woke up at 4:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep.  On the bright side, it gave me plenty of time to do a workout and pack for the journey home.

Coddiwomple arranged transport to the airport for my afternoon flight to Johannesburg.  My first flight was about 30 minutes late, but that wasn’t a big deal.  I had a 6-hour layover in Johannesburg before the long flight back to Atlanta.

I had some drama when I got off the plane in Johannesburg.  I was almost to passport control when I realized I had forgotten to take my carry-on bag out of the overhead bin.  I turned around and ran back down the long hallway as fast as I could.

Along the way, I passed a South African Airlink employee who was pushing a wheelchair.  I told him I forgot my bag, but he already knew.  He told me the flight crew had it and they were bringing it off the plane for me.  When I got back to the jet bridge, they were waiting for me.

On my way back, another Airlink employee offered to give me a lounge pass.  I thanked him, but I already had access to the lounge.

After passport control, I stopped to open the Delta app to see where the lounge was located.  The app gave me confusing directions.  I saw two more Airlink employees and asked them how to get to the lounge.  They said they would take me there, and one of them carried my bag.  I still had to go through security, but they escorted me to the head of the line.  Then they brought me to the lounge.  I can’t express enough how impressed I am with this airline’s customer service.

I still have two more flights.  Hopefully, I won’t have any more drama..

Race statistics:

Distance:  42.2 kilometers

Time:  4:42:29

Average Pace:  6:42 per kilometer (10:46 per mile)

First Half:  2:19:11

Second Half:  2:23:18

Marathons/Ultras in 2026:  21

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  593

Countries:  61

Race Report: 2026 Icefjord Midnight Marathon

On May 30, I ran the Icefjord Midnight Marathon in Ilulissat, Greenland.  This race is sponsored by Albatros Adventure Marathons, which puts on adventure races around the world.  Seven years ago, I ran the Bagan Temple Marathon, which was also sponsored by Albatros.  I booked the trip through Coddiwomple Travel.

Albatros Adventure Marathons is based in Denmark.  The tour package included flights to and from Greenland, but these flights originated in Copenhagen.  I was on my own to get to and from Copenhagen.

Wednesday, May 27

My first flight was an overnight flight to Amsterdam.  The IT systems in the Amsterdam airport were down, so they had to do passport control manually.  The line was pretty long, but I had a long enough layover that I didn’t need to stress about it.

From Amsterdam, I flew to Copenhagen, arriving around 11 AM.  My hotel was near the central train station, so I thought it would be easy to get there by train.  It should’ve been easy, but the trains kept getting delayed and then cancelled.  By the time I got to my hotel, it was 1:00.

I had one day on my own in Copenhagen before meeting up with my tour group to fly to Greenland.  I’ve been to Copenhagen before, so I didn’t feel the need to do any sightseeing.  Instead, I did a workout and took a shower.

I never had lunch, so I had an early dinner.  I have a knack for finding the best pizza in any city.  On my previous visit to Copenhagen, I discovered an Italian restaurant that was founded by a chef from Italy.  It was near my hotel, so I went back.  After dinner, I went to the Warpigs brewery, to sample some local beers.

My hotel in Copenhagen didn’t have air conditioning, so I needed to open windows to cool the room down.  While I waited for the room to get cool, I was resting in bed.  Before I knew it, I fell asleep.

Thursday, May 28

I woke up at 2:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I rested in bed until I needed to get up, but waking up so early made a long travel day feel even longer.

After breakfast, I took a train back to the airport, where I met the tour guides from Albatros and checked in for my flights to Greenland.  The guides from Albatros gave us each a backpack, which contained our race packets.

These flights were operated my Air Greenland.  Their baggage allowances are based on weight, rather than the number of pieces.  Checked bags are limited to 20 kg., total.  Carry-on bags are limited to 8 kg.  Knowing that, I brought two smaller bags, rather than taking a bag that was big enough for all my gear.  I had to check them both, because I also had a backpack with my laptop and all my electronics.

First, we flew to Nuuk, which is the largest city in Greenland.  That was a five-hour flight.  There was a three-hour time difference, so it was noon in Nuuk when we arrived.

Everyone in the group was on the same flight to Nuuk, but we were split over four different flights from Nuuk to Ilulissat.  I was on the last flight, which didn’t leave Nuuk until 7:55 PM.

Those of us on later flights had time to leave the airport and see some of the city.  We took a bus to the city center and walked down to the waterfront.

We also stopped at a museum, where we had the opportunity to learn more about Nuuk.  There was a cold wind on the waterfront, so it was nice to get out of the wind.

The flight to Ilulissat was relatively short, but I was pretty tired when we arrived.  It was 9:30 PM in Ilulissat, but it was after midnight in Copenhagen.  Having been awake since 2:30 AM, I was anxious to get to the hotel and get some sleep.

The group was staying in a few different hotels.  My home for the next five nights was Hotel Hvide Falk.  The first thing I did after checking in was to open a window.  While my room was cooling down, I joined the others on the patio to admire the views of icebergs in the bay.

I met several other runners from the U.S., but the majority of the runners on this trip were from Europe.  I met runners from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, England, Wales, Poland, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands.  I also met a few runners from Mexico, India, Singapore, and Australia.

I got to bed late that night, but I slept reasonably well.

Friday, May 29

The hotel had a breakfast buffet.  Every morning, we had views of the Icebergs in the bay.  There was much more ice Friday morning than there had been the previous evening.

After breakfast, we went for a hike through the Sermermiut Valley.  This gave us an opportunity to see portions of the marathon course, so we would know what to expect.  It also gave us our first views of the Ilulissat Icefjord.  Icebergs breaking off from the Jakobshavn Glacier flow out through this fjord and into the sea.

I had lunch at a café in town.  Then I went on a two-hour boat tour that let me see the Ilulissat Icefjord from the water.  I thought there was a lot of ice in the bay, but that was nothing compared what we saw when we reached the Icefjord.

I had time in the afternoon to do a workout.  In the evening, we had a pre-race briefing, followed by a pasta dinner.

I was able to get to sleep at a more reasonable hour.  I slept really well that night.  I needed that.

Saturday, May 30

Saturday was race day, but the race didn’t start until 9 PM.  Before that, I was on my own.  I slept in as late as I could before finally getting up and going to breakfast.

Every day, the bay looked different.  On Saturday, there was considerably less ice.  It all depended on the wind direction.

Every day there were optional excursions.  On Saturday, some people went kayaking, and others went to meet the sled dogs.  I didn’t schedule anything for Saturday.  I mostly relaxed at the hotel and saved my energy for the race.

Because the race started so late, I ate a full lunch.  I found a café in town where I could get a pizza.  One of their pizzas was a musk ox pizza.  It had musk ox, onions, peppers, and cheese.

Walking back to the hotel, I noticed it was foggy over the bay.  Everywhere else it was clear.

The pizza was a heavy meal, but I had several hours to digest before the race.  About an hour after lunch, I started to feel sleepy, so I climbed into bed to see if I could take an afternoon nap before the race.  It took about an hour to fall asleep, and then I only nodded off briefly before waking up again.  Still, I think it helped me to be more alert later in the day.

After getting up, I took a hot shower, did some stretches, and made a cup of tea.

Throughout the day, other runners were going out for short walks.  With so much time before the race, it was easy to get restless, but I did my best to save my energy for the race.

The last walking I did before the race was to walk to a nearby grocery store to get a pastry in lieu of dinner.  I didn’t want to eat anything heavy, but I also didn’t want to go more than eight hours without eating anything.

By now, the fog over the bay was thicker, and fog had moved into the town.  I was worried about visibility during the race, but I was assured that the fog would lift before the race started.  Sure enough, by 7:00 the fog had lifted, the skies were clear, there was very little wind, and it felt warmer than it did in the afternoon.

At 8:45, we met outside the hotel and walked together to Zion’s Church, where the race started.

The temperature at the start was 36 degrees, and it would drop a couple degrees during the night.  That’s cooler than I was expecting.  The hourly forecast for 9 PM was 44 degrees.  There wasn’t much wind, but I didn’t know if we would feel a cold breeze when we were near the Icefjord.  I wore two layers on top, plus tights.  I started the race with a jacket tied around my waist, in case I needed to add a layer later in the race.

This was my second straight night marathon, but this time it never got dark.  At night, the sun was close to the horizon, but it never set.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that this is a race that I knew would really challenge me.

The course was two laps of a 21.1K loop.  Each lap had 345 meters (1,131 feet) of ascent.  About one third of the race was on technical trails, and long sections were over rock, with uneven footing.

The time limit was seven hours.  I was glad they had a generous time limit, because I’ve struggled on hills lately, and the trail sections aren’t really runnable.  My only goal was to make steady progress and stay on pace to beat the time limit.

This was a cupless race.  We had collapsible cups in our race packets, but I brought a cup I could clip to my belt, so I could keep my hands free.

The first few kilometers were on city streets, but it was hilly.  On a few of the hills, I had to take walking breaks.  Despite walking the steeper hills, my pace on this section was about 10:30 per mile.  I was happy with that.

At about 4K, I went up a long set of stairs.  These led up to the first of four trails.  This trail was called the yellow trail, and it was marked with yellow pain spots, plus orange flagging.

This trail was mostly over rock, but the footing was uneven, and we constantly had to step up or step down.  I couldn’t run it, and it was tough to even maintain a consistent walking pace.  Also, there were low spots between the rocks that were wet or muddy, and I couldn’t avoid getting my shoes wet.

My pace on the yellow trail was slower than 20 minutes per mile.  If the whole race was this tough, I wouldn’t be able to stay on pace to beat the time limit.  I knew the technical sections were in the first half of the loop.  I was counting on maintaining a better pace when we got back onto roads.

While this trail was difficult, I was occasionally rewarded with great views of the icebergs in the Icefjord.

At about 7K, I reached the end of the yellow trail, and I turned onto a wooden walkway that was about a kilometer long.  I had hiked this section on Friday, so I knew this section was runnable.

The walkway ended with another set of stairs.  Then I started onto the blue trail.

The blue trail started with a tough climb, but it got better after that.  Like the yellow trail, it wasn’t runnable, but there were more level sections.  Toward the end, however, there were a few tough climbs.  My pace here was a little better than the yellow trail, but not by much.

The blue trail also gave me some good views.

We didn’t run all of the blue trail.  We only followed it until it met up with the red trail.  The red trail was less difficult than the yellow and blue trails.  At times, it was almost runnable.

At the end of the red trail, I reached the visitor center for the Sermermiut Valley.  After that, the rest of the loop was mostly on roads.

Where I turned onto the road, there was a building with bathrooms.  There weren’t many bathrooms on the course, so I decided to make a quick stop while I had the chance.

The next few kilometers were through residential neighborhoods in Ilulissat.  Here, I was able to pick up the pace again.

My hands started to get cold here.  I was wearing polypro gloves, and I also had some Gore-Tex mittens in my fanny pack.  I considered putting them on, but I knew that would make it more difficult to clip or unclip the band that attached my drinking cup to my fanny pack.

I had other options to keep myself warmer.  I was wearing a regular running hat, but I had a winter hat in my fanny pack.  I put on the winter hat and then pulled my running hat over it.  I still needed the brim of the running hat to keep the sun out of my eyes.

Before long, I reached a long hill.  I remembered seeing this hill on the elevation profile.  I had to walk most of it.

Whenever we were on roads, I was surprised by how much traffic there was.  By now, it was after 10:30, but every street had traffic in both directions, making it impossible to run the tangents.  I always had to keep to one side and watch for cars.

After that hill, I was able to run the rest of the way through town until I crossed a bridge and entered the northern section of Ilulissat.

There was an aid station just past 13K.  I knew there wouldn’t be another aid station until I reached a turnaround at the northernmost point on the course.  I drank first and then put on my Gore-Tex mittens.

As I crossed the bridge, I saw a runner coming back.  Right after the bridge, there was another long hill.  This was the largest hill on the course, so I had to walk most of it.

On this hill, I started to see more runners who were on their way back from the turnaround point.  They just had one kilometer left in their first lap.

I eventually had to leave this road to turn onto the last trail section.  This one was the orange trail.  This trail wasn’t as long as the yellow or blue trail.  It also wasn’t as technical.  Most of this trail was relatively flat.  It was also less rocky.  It times, it was runnable, but I had to watch out that I didn’t trip over rocks.  Out of a sense of caution, I rarely ran here.  Mostly, I was hiking at a brisk pace.

The trail was marked with orange flagging, but occasionally there was also a rock painted orange.  I was near the end of the trail when I ran past an orange rock, but couldn’t see any more orange flags.  Then a volunteer yelled to me that I needed to turn, and he pointed to the orange flagging.  I told him that the position of that orange rock had led me to keep going in the wrong direction.  After that, he removed the orange rock.

After turning to follow the orange flags, I quickly got back onto the road.  I just had to go a short distance on the road to reach the airport.  There was an aid station there with a sign indicating this was the turnaround point.

At the turnaround, one of the volunteers gave me a blue band to put on my wrist.  I needed that to prove that I had gone all the way to the turnaround.

Coming back from the airport, the route was different.  In this direction, I didn’t need to take the orange trail.  Instead, I stayed on the road.  I thought that would be easier, but this road had two long hills that I needed to walk.  Also, the road wasn’t as direct as the trail.

When I was coming back from the turnaround, I saw five runners who were a short distance behind me.  I didn’t know if there were more, because I couldn’t see runners who were still on the orange trail.

After walking two hills, I started down the long hill that would take me back to the bridge.  I started to see more runners going the other way, but they were wearing half marathon race bibs.  The half marathon started at 10:30, so these runners were making good time.

I eventually saw two runners on their way out with marathon bibs.  They were way behind me at this point.  I wondered if they were on pace to beat the seven-hour time limit.  In fact, these were the fast runners, who were already on their second lap.

I was still getting cold.  I had a Tyvek jacket tied around my waist.  My last option for keeping myself warm was to put on my jacket.  That would be difficult to do with mittens on.

The end of the lap was right in front of my hotel.  I was expecting to make another bathroom stop.  I figured that would be the best time to put on my jacket, since I would need to take off the mittens anyway.  Also, I would be indoors where it’s warmer.

I paid attention to where I was at midnight.  I was couldn’t quite make it back to the hotel before midnight.  I was just a few blocks away.  I could see the sun to my right.  I wanted to take a picture, but I didn’t want to take my gloves and mittens off.

Sunday, May 31

In the last kilometer of my first lap, I started to feel pressure in my intestines.  At first, I thought I could make it to the end of the lap.  Then I wasn’t so sure.  With about 200 meters left in my first lap, I ran down a short hill, and with every stride, I was losing control of my bowels, and there was nothing I could do about it until I got back to the hotel.

When I finished that lap, I ran into the hotel.  One of the tour guides asked me if I needed to use the bathroom.  I said, “more than that.”

My room was close to the hotel entrance.  I ran to my room and went to the bathroom.  I had already soiled my tights and my sport briefs.  Fortunately, I had packed two different types of leggings, not knowing which one I would wear.  I also had another pair of sport briefs.  I don’t remember why I packed those, but I was glad I had them.

I took off my shoes and then took off the soiled clothes and tossed them into the shower stall.  I would have to deal with washing them after the race.  After cleaning myself up, I changed into clean clothes.  While I was at it, I put on dry socks and my Tyvek jacket.  Then I headed back out to start my second lap.

My official time for the first lap was 3:02:40.  By the time I went back out to start my second lap, my time was closer to 3:17.  Stopping at the hotel cost me about 14 minutes, but I still had roughly 3:43 to finish my second lap.  I could afford to be about 40 minutes slower in my second lap than I was in the first lap.  I knew the second lap would be slower, but it seemed unlikely that I would be that much slower.

As I started my second lap, I found myself not only taking walking breaks on the hills, but sometimes walking briefly on sections that I ran on my first lap.  I wanted to force myself to run, but I had to be realistic.  The first lap had taken a lot out of me, and I was getting too tired to keep up the same pace.  My pace on the roads was a couple minutes slower.

When I got onto the yellow trail for the second time, I was fatigued, but I had a better idea what I was doing.  I was able to pick my lines with more confidence.

At one point, I made a bad step and turned my ankle.  I wasn’t sure if my race was over, but I walked it off, and within a minute my ankle was feeling OK again.

My first mile on this trail was two minutes faster than it was in my first lap.  At the time, that surprised me.  In retrospect, I was faster this time, because I wasn’t stopping to take pictures.

The next mile had two steep climbs that were really tiring.  I was slower on those climbs the second time around.  Even still, I was shocked when I got the next split from my watch.  I was seven minutes slower this time.

After the yellow trail, there was an aid station.  Up until now, I was drinking their energy drink at each aid station.  This one also had gels, so I ate a gel.

Next, I got back onto the wooden boardwalk.  This section is runnable, but I didn’t feel like I was running it as fast.  After running the yellow trail again, I had some soreness in my lower back and my glutes.  The trail wasn’t just tiring.  It was beating me up.

The blue trail starts with a tough climb, and I could tell I was slower this time.  When I had to take big steps uphill, I had to pause to catch my breath.  I had the same experience on the steepest climbs of the yellow trail.

Even after the trail leveled out somewhat, I wasn’t maintaining as brisk of a pace as I did on the first lap.  Then I reached more steep climbs.  Mile 18 included part of the blue trail, but it also included the boardwalk.  My pace in that mile was about the same as it was in the first lap.  Mile 19, which included two steep climbs was six minutes slower.  I wasn’t halfway through my second lap yet, and I was already at least 15 minutes slower than I had been in the first lap.

On the red trail, I sometimes found it difficult to see the trail markers.  The sun was at a low angle now, and I was having to look right into the sun on this section.

When I reached the end of the trail, I decided to use the bathroom again.  I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t have another “accident” later.  As it turns out, I really didn’t need to stop.

I was happy to be back on roads again, but I needed to do more walking this time.  Even before I reached the first long hill, I had to take a couple short walking breaks.  After running the trails again, I was just too tired to force myself to maintain a continuous run.

At the 32K mark, I checked to see how much time I had left.  I had 97 minutes to run the last 10.2 kilometers.  That seemed like it shouldn’t be too difficult, if I could force myself to run most of the runnable sections.

There were still numerous cars on the road.  They were coming from both directions.  At was after 2 AM now, and I wondered if anyone in this town ever sleeps.

I had to take occasional walking breaks, but I forced myself of keep them short.  After crossing the bridge again, I started up the longest hill, and I had to walk almost all of it.

At the 36K mark, I had 65 minutes left.  I could now afford to average almost 11 minutes per kilometer.  I felt good about that.

The first time I reached the beginning of the orange trail, there was a course marshal showing me where to leave the road.  Nobody was there this time, but I saw the sign, and I recognized the turn.

Parts of this trail are runnable, but I was so fatigued that I was afraid I would trip on a rock.  Instead, I did my best to walk it at a brisk pace.  The next time I got a split, I saw that I was maintaining the pace I needed, even on the trail.

As I was nearing the end of that trail, I didn’t see the orange rock that had confused me the first time.  I was also paying more attention to the orange flags.  I was relieved when I got back onto the road.  I still had some tiring hills, but no more trails.

I reached the turnaround and got a second wrist band.  Coming back from the turn, I didn’t see anybody behind me.  The runners who were right behind me on my first lap had all passed me when I made my long bathroom stop at the end of that lap.  It’s possible that there was a runner who was still on the orange trail, but as far as I could see, I was the last runner on the course.

Coming back, I not only had to walk the hills, but it was tough to force myself to run where it was flat.  Instead, I really focused on walking as briskly as I could, even on the steep hills.

I checked my pace at every kilometer.  I was consistently going faster than the pace I needed to average to beat the cutoff.

With three kilometers to go, I knew I would finish with at least five minutes to spare.  That margin kept improving.

I finished the race in 6:51:37.  I was immediately handed my finished medal.  It’s a pretty cool medal, with different designs on each side.  It also has a small spinner.

I thought I was going to be the last finisher.  Then I found out that there was still one more runner on the course.  At 4 AM, she still had one kilometer to go.  Everyone went outside to watch her finish.  She came in after the 4 AM deadline, but we all cheered for her.

The hotel bar stayed open all night.  Several of the other runners were having post-race beers.  I opted for hot chocolate instead.  I needed that to warm up.

A few people asked me my impression of the race.  As far as how much I enjoyed it, that was hard to answer.  My “accident” tainted my race experience.  As far as difficulty of the course, it probably ranks in the top five.  It also ranks in the top five for scenery.

After I got back to the room, I still needed to rinse out the filthy clothes that I discarded earlier.  Then I took a hot shower.  I wanted to get some sleep, but it was almost time for breakfast.  I decided to stay up a little longer and eat breakfast before going to sleep.

I slept for almost four hours.  Then I decided to get up, so I would be able to get to sleep in the evening.  When I went downstairs, I saw that it was foggy again.  I’m glad we didn’t have to run in this.

I only saw a few other runners in the afternoon.  Some people had booked optional excursion.  Others were sleeping.  I didn’t feel up to going anywhere, so I had lunch in the hotel’s restaurant with a couple from Singapore.

After lunch, I started to get sleepy again.  I took another brief nap.  Then I had to wake up and get ready for our celebration dinner.

The Albatros staff hosted a dinner for us in the evening.  It was a three-course meal, and between courses, they showed a video of the race, told us how many runners there were from each country, and recognized the top finishers in each race.  Here's a link to the video: Race Recap Video

I slept well that night.

Monday, June 1

Monday morning, I saw an example of how quickly the weather can change in Greenland.  When I went down to breakfast, if was so foggy that I couldn’t see any of the icebergs in the bay.  Ten minutes later, the fog was gone, and I could see all the way across the bay.

After breakfast, I went on a six-hour boat trip to the Eqi Glacier.

We also saw some interesting icebergs.

On our way back from the glacier, we did some whale watching.

In the evening, we had our final dinner together.  It was a Greenlandic buffet, with lots of fish and seafood.  Then I had to get to bed early, in preparation for an early flight.

Tuesday, June 2

Tuesday was a long travel day.  First, we flew to Kangerlussuaq.  The flights to Kangerlussuaq were all on small planes, so the group was spread over five different flights.

My flight was at 7 AM, so I had to be up early.  The hotel had an early breakfast for us at 4:45.

I had a five-hour layover in Kangerlussuaq.  I would've had time to leave the airport, but there isn’t much of a town, other than the airport.  There’s a hotel, a grocery store, a gift shop, and some houses.  Rather than explore, I just stayed in the airport terminal.  A few of us passed the time by playing cards.

After everyone else arrived, we were all on the same flight to Copenhagen.  The flight to Kangerlussuaq took less than an hour, but the flight back to Copenhagen took almost five hours.  Also, we took off almost an hour behind schedule.  Copenhagen is three hours ahead, so it was 9:30 PM when we arrived, and it was 10:30 by the time I had my bags.

I had one more night in Copenhagen before flying home, but this time I stayed at a hotel that I could walk to from the airport terminal.  I wanted to get there quickly, so I could get to sleep.  I also wanted to be able to get back to the airport quickly in the morning.

My room was on the top floor.  The room was warm, the AC didn't seem to be working, and I couldn't open a window.  Needless to say, I had trouble sleeping.

Wednesday, June 3

I flew home from Copenhagen on Wednesday, with a layover in Amsterdam.  It was my second consecutive day spending at least 14 hours on planes or in airports.  It's also the second consecutive day that I have to adjust to a significant time difference.  I’m very tired now, and I only have two days to recover from the jet lag before my next race.  Hopefully, I can catch up on sleep by then, because my next race is a 24-hour race.

Race statistics:

Distance:  42.2 kilometers

Time:  6:51:37

Average Pace:  9:45 per kilometer (15:42 per mile)

First Half:  3:02:40

Second Half:  3:48:57

Marathons/Ultras in 2026:  14

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  586

Countries:  60