Antarctica Training - Bob Rebello’s Worldwide Marathons

My Trip To Antarctica Begins!

February 23, 2011 By Bob 1 Comment

For those of you who have missed my most recent Facebook & Twitter posts, I am underway on my journey to Antarctica! Based on what I have read from people who have run the Antarctica marathon this will be the toughest marathon that I have run to date.

To quote Tom Gilligan, “I will be traveling to the coldest, iciest, windiest and most remote corner of the planet and a most inhospitable location for a running event”.

On February 13th I completed my 18-week 750-mile Antarctica marathon training when I finished my last long run of 20 miles. I then tapered for the rest of the week [2/14 to 2/19] and I concentrated on strengthening my body, weights, stretching, crunches, etc, for the rigorous Antarctica weather and running conditions. I flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina on February 20th and arrived in the city in the morning of the 21st. I will be staying at the Marriott Plaza for 3 days and will have the opportunity to meet the other runners from around the world who will also be running the marathon. We will be flying to Ushuaia tomorrow (2/24/11), the southern most city in the world, and board our ship the Sea Spirit. We will spend 2 days aboard ship crossing the Beagle Channel and Drake Passage to get to Antarctica.

My primary goal for the Antarctica marathon, as it was for the previous 16 worldwide marathons, is to finish the marathon. I am looking forward, at age 74 years “young”, to the challenge of finishing my toughest marathon and doing it on the most pristine continent in the world. I will be updating my journey to Antarctica on a daily basis – you can follow my adventures by going to my Facebook and Twitter accounts.

I hope that you like the stories that I have written about all of my worldwide marathons that are on my Blog and the marathon photos that are on my home page. I would like to give a big thank you to Adam Viccaro, President of BluRose Media for his outstanding and creative work in setting up my Social Media website, Facebook, and Twitter sites. Because of his outstanding work I now have over 900 followers on Facebook and Twitter and my website has been visited by 38 countries and 38 US States.

Filed Under: Antarctica Training Tagged With: antarctica marathon

Antarctica Marathon Updates Through The End Of 2010

February 16, 2011 By Bob 1 Comment

Photo: Scott Wilson

Antarctica Trip:

On October 23, 2010 my February 2011 trip to Antarctica was put on hold when I received a bulletin from Marathon Tours that the ship that was supposed to take the runners to Antarctica for the February 28, 2011 marathon was deemed unseaworthy. On November 9, 2010 I received another bulletin from Tom Gilligan, the owner of Marathon Tours, informing me and the other runners that our trip to Antarctica is now on again. He gave us the amazing news that he had secured the Sea Spirit, a Quark Luxury vessel, which greatly exceeds the quality of the ship we had originally planned on using. He had secured the Sea Spirit [formerly called the Spirit of Oceanus] due to a recent bankruptcy by a cruise company that left the ship owners with no revenue for the entire season.

The ship is confirmed for the same dates and thankfully it has the exact number of berths. However, the quality of Sea Spirit is far superior to the Clipper Adventurer. We are now confirming at the same price a huge improvement in ship quality and all cabins are suites of varying sizes from 235 square feet to 353 square feet. Everyone is getting a huge upgrade. A voyage to Antarctica for 10 days on board this ship would be about $3,000 – $6,000 more per person under ordinary circumstances. Thanks Thom for all your efforts in making my trip of a lifetime come true.

To ensure my name was on the final list for the 2010 Antarctica marathon I paid the trip cost in 3 payments [June, July and November] as required by Marathon tours and Travel. The trip cost did not include my roundtrip airfare from San Diego to Buenos Aires, Argentina, which I purchased in December 2010. Continental airfare from San Diego to Buenos Aires from Marathon Tours. I will be stopping in Boston from March 7th to March 14th to spend time with my daughter Lisa and her husband Steve. The trip to Antarctica, airfare included, was expensive but the trip is a once in a lifetime experience. I purchased the “Seven Continents Marathon Finisher Medal” – I am an optimist – I will finish the marathon.

Antarctica Training:

I started my Antarctica training on November 1st after taking 3 weeks off from running after returning from the long trip to Cape Town South Africa. I will be doing a very aggressive 16-week Antarctica training program that will consist of two days [M & F] of weights/stationary bike/stretching ,swimming, and 5 days [T, W, TH, Sat] of running trails, long steep hills, intervals and one day of 20 miles or more [Sunday]. For the month of November I ran 5 days a week for a total of 120 miles. I did not have any injuries in November. For the month of December I ran a total of 167 miles. I did not have any major injuries in December.

April 2009 – My Antarctica Marathon Gets Pushed Back By An Entire Year

February 7, 2011 By Bob Leave a Comment

On April 30, 2009 my plans for the 2010 Antarctica marathon were put on hold when I received an e-mail from Thom Gilligan, the owner of Marathon Tours, that informed me that they will be limited to only one ship for the 2010 Antarctica marathon and must confirm travelers according to when deposits were received. As my deposit was received late in the process my trip to Antarctica would be moved out from March 6, 2010 to February 28, 2011.

My original plan was that Antarctica in 2010 would be my 6th continent and Cape Town South Africa would be my final continent, the 7th continent in 2011. With the cancellation of my trip to Antarctica I now had to start the process of scheduling Africa in 2010 instead of 2011. I was very fortunate that I was in the early stages of the planning/registration process of my Africa marathon. In all honesty, it actually worked out well to have Antarctica as my final continent rather than Africa. It may be my biggest challenge yet, but I’m up for it.

Filed Under: Antarctica Training Tagged With: antarctica marathon, worldwide marathons

May 2008 – My Journey To Antarctica Begins

January 31, 2011 By Bob 1 Comment

The 14- year plan [1999 to 2012] that I put together in 1999 to bring worldwide awareness about kidney cancer was a commitment that I would complete at least one worldwide marathon each year, for 14 years, and to run at least one marathon on all 7 continents by 2012 – when I turn 75. By 2008 I had finished 12 worldwide marathons on 5 continents [North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia], which meant that I needed to finish marathons on the remaining two continents – Africa and Antarctica.

On May 28, 2008 I signed up for the 2010 Antarctica marathon by paying my deposit of $300.00 to the company that manages the Antarctica marathon, Marathon Tours & Travel of Boston, Massachusetts. I was told that my deposit would ensure me that I would be on the list of runners who would be running the 2010 Antarctica marathon on March 6, 2010. The cost of the trip to Antarctica is $7,090.00 and includes 3 nights in the Marriott Plaza Hotel in Buenos Aires, round trip flights from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, 2 day boat ride to King George Island to run the marathon – three meals daily on board ship, sightseeing trips to Paradise Bay and through the fjords near the Lemaire channel, and the 2 day boat ride from Antarctica to Ushuaia.

The package that I received from Marathon Tours informed me that there would be two ships going to the marathon with 150+ runners, race support staff, and the ships Russian crew. The ships, the Loffe and the Vavilov, that we would travel on were built in Finland in 1987 and sold to the Russians, allegedly for scientific research but more likely for spying on U.S. submarines. They were specifically designed for the Antarctic and built to withstand eighty-mile-per-hour winds, sixty-foot-high seas, and to plow through ice three feet thick and were converted to carry passengers to Antarctica. I selected to go on the Loffe as the ship that I would travel to Antarctica on.

Filed Under: Antarctica Training Tagged With: antarctica marathon, most challenging marathons, worldwide marathons

2011 Antarctica Marathon Report – 7 Continents Finished!

#12 – 2010 Cape Town Marathon

#11 – 2009 Stockholm Marathon

#10 – 2008 Berlin Marathon

#9 – 2007 Buenos Aires Marathon

#8 – 2006 Bangkok Marathon

#7 – 2005 Sydney Marathon

2004 – Boston Marathon

#6 – 2004 Lausanne Marathon

2003 – Napa Valley Marathon

#5 – 2003 Budapest Marathon

2002 – Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon, San Diego

#4 – 2002 Monaco Marathon

#3 – 2001 Medoc Marathon

#2 – 2000 Dublin Marathon

My Trip To Antarctica Begins!

Antarctica Marathon Updates Through The End Of 2010

April 2009 – My Antarctica Marathon Gets Pushed Back By An Entire Year

May 2008 – My Journey To Antarctica Begins

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