by Nicky Chisholm
When you picture Greenland you might think of snow, icebergs, ships and explorers. No one ever pictures a runner and a half marathon course, although the event at hand has been running for the past 18 years.
The Polar Circle Half Marathon, often referred to as "the coolest marathon on Earth" takes place in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. The endless ice and arctic tundra of this vast country are the backdrop for this unusual race, in which runners race over and through the soundless arctic desert past glacier tongues and moraine landscapes. I never expected the race course to be so sandy or so soundless!
When I signed up for the race, I knew this was totally out of my comfort zone, but I had over a year to get prepared. I made a plan, set up a spreadsheet, created a wish list of people I wanted to work with, contacted two local charities to start the fundraising, and then off I went.
Greenland is the coldest and strangest country I have ever been to. It is not green, and it’s what I imagine the end of the world to look like.
I knew crossing the start line was going to be challenging, but it’s getting to the start line that is the hardest part!
When I got to the start line, I wanted to be mentally strong, physically strong and plan to have some gas in the tank for emergencies. My Greenland plan went something like this:
- 7 months of pre training from January to July 2022: from a standing start up to 5Ks
- 4 months of specific half-marathon training programme July to October – race day was October 30th 2022
The 16-week half marathon training included 70 running sessions totaling 265 miles as well as 16 gym sessions, and training in The Environmental Extremes Laboratory at The University of Brighton, UK. This was a giant room that acted like a freezer. Inside the room was a running machine and various items of scientific testing equipment.
Here I had multiple training sessions running in temperatures of -10C and -20C. These sessions provided the opportunity to test my kit, fine tune fuelling, and most importantly, understand how my body would react to these extremely low temperatures. At first the sessions were scary and zapped my emotional and physical energy, but with practice they became bearable! At -20C, breathing was hard and I developed a dry rasping cough, my teeth hurt and my nose hairs froze. I was also expanding my comfort zone with every session.
It was ironic that I was training during a heat wave in the UK, with temperatures hitting 40 degrees Celsius, to go to a place with temperatures down to -20C. A 60-degree difference is hard to prepare for. I am not good in the heat, and ended up running at 6am before the temperature began to rise.
I had a plan for the physical training, but I knew it was my mental preparation that needed addressing. My biggest barrier was keeping a lid on my fear monkeys! They were loud, negative, and always at their most boisterous in the middle of the night.
I knew I needed help to power up my mindset. I knew I needed to manage my fear and not let it overwhelm me.
Why was Greenland so scary?
The course was very remote: literally at the top of the world – no crowds, no cheering, no people just you!
I was running on ice with spikes: the course was icy, rocky and unforgiving. I had never run with spikes before and you can’t practise that in Brighton.
The temperature can drop to -20C: that’s definitely scary, energy sapping and makes it hard to breathe.
You run most of the course on your own: the race has limited places and very quickly the runners spread out. This scared me the most but actually was what I loved the best!!
My strategy for the race was to “run steady,” and to LOVE every single moment, to be able to look about, embrace the enormity of the glacier, cherish every step I took, and bank what I saw and how I felt.
So, over the next year I worked with Zoe Carroll, a performance coach, to work on expanding my comfort zone, facing my fears and implementing a race strategy.
My strategy for the race was to “run steady,” and to LOVE every single moment, to be able to look about, embrace the enormity of the glacier, cherish every step I took, and bank what I saw and how I felt. Now 6 months on, I can remember every mile of the course. This was not a race that you just run, this is a race that you slide on your bottom, skid, walk, leap, shuffle and clamber on all fours. At times it literally took my breath away and made my heart burst with the silence, beauty and remoteness of the race.
At the last mile marker, I stopped and took it all in: just me and a 360-degree monochrome vista of ice and rock. I was both sad the end was near, and excited to cross the finish line. Over the last mile, I was getting slower and slower as the cold was creeping in, so I tapped into my race strategy, ate jelly babies and powered up my Inner Arctic Wonder Woman. For me it was never about racing to the finish line, but all the miles and experiences along the way.
I remembered crossing the line, hugging my sister and looking back on the alien landscape feeling cold, elated and a little crazy. My finishers medal hangs in my kitchen and I see it every day, as a daily reminder of adventures done and to be had!
The unexpected surprises of my Greenland journey:
Celebration: I had a photo shoot with a 9-foot inflatable polar bear that caused a stir on Brighton beach and made the local papers and local radio. I was presented with a polar flag from my sponsors, had an igloo cake made for me, had a song written for me and was given a gingerbread good luck charm.
Uncomfortable: My experience with a rectal thermometer (a part of the safety protocol with the Laboratory team) was…interesting. The thermometer kept an eye on my core temperature and allowed us to track my body’s reaction to the extreme cold. It turns out my body likes the cold, but I won’t miss the thermometer!
Scary: I learnt about the “3 degrees of frostbite,” and was scared at how my lungs reacted to -20C in my first training session in the Lab. I had a meltdown in the car on the way home. The whole experience was totally outside my comfort zone, and I had no point of reference to hold onto. Thankfully I enjoyed the other sessions as I knew what was coming.
Managing the calls of nature on the ice cap: We must leave nothing behind, so we had to be prepared with environmentally-friendly wipes, nappy bags and hand sanitizer. I had to prepare to have a chilly bottom and leave my modesty at home.
Fundraising was a big part of the journey: Through donations and sponsorship, I raised over £2500 for two local charities Safe in Sussex and Chestnut Tree House. The support from friends, family and the kindness of strangers was a powerful driver throughout my training.
Meeting extraordinary people: One of the things that I loved the most was connecting with the race entrants that had travelled to Greenland from across the world. Walking in to meet everyone for the first time was seriously nerve-wracking. I had to walk back out, give myself a strong talking to, take lots of deep breaths and remind myself I had a much right to be in that room as everyone else. I was a novice, but had done all the training and was super prepared. I spent the next week listening and learning from an eclectic, interesting and humble bunch of runners. These included a Doctor from Delhi, an Everest Marathon runner, 2 accountants that had just done the Antarctica Marathon, helicopter pilots, runners in the 5 marathons on 5 continents challenge and 2 Mexican ultra runners. These all led to some very interesting conversations over breakfast. These were not your average bunch of people, and it slowly dawned on me that I was part of this bunch too!
I have recently turned 50, and my adventure journey has changed so many times over the years, from a 20-year-old canoeing and sailing instructor, to a Mum with young children teaching them to embrace the outdoors through camping, building dens and cooking on open fires, to a mum of young teens when we surfed, coast steered, climbed Ben Nevis and swam in the North Sea!
My boys are in their late teens and are slowly leaving the nest. I find myself now ready to embrace the next stage of my adventure journey. I wanted to embrace my new chapter head on, and what better way than getting fit, running in Greenland, and stepping far outside my comfort zone.
What have I learnt:
It was a big race and far beyond my capabilities when I first read about it. By making a plan and breaking it down, coupled with determination and focus you can turn the impossible into possible.
When I need to, I can unleash a powerful attitude and as it turns out making things happen is one of my super powers!
What’s next for me:
I have my eye on the North Pole Half Marathon. That is a whole new level of cold and scary! I have always believed that I am more capable than I know, and braver than I think I am!
The most asked question over the last year was “why are you doing such a crazy race?”
Nicky Chisholm is a Greenland adventurer, Arctic Warrior, Charity fundraiser and tries and Adventure campaign queen.
Nicky squeezes adventure into herlife every day. When she is not on adventures, she runs her own business hiring out her beautiful VW Camper Van called Daisy for Branding photo shoots. Daisy brings the WOW factor to make business stand out online.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%91%8Anicky-chisholm-a177208/
