Hiya all,
Race finished today. I was out on course for a while, helped out a bit with course than only did one lap. Wasn’t feeling it. Still bummed watching everybody on the last stage looking forward to finishing and racking up another race. Still have not been given a reason as to why I was disqualified. Seems rather arbitrary.  Still pissed off, but trying to enjoy myself with my mates regardless of the situation. Last stage was run in deep snow, fortunately after a couple of laps there was a mostly compact trail.  We were in a place called dorian bay. On thetrip down saw pod of killer whales hunting penguins. Quite incredible to see the whales knock the penguins flying into the air. Orcas also went after a humpback whale, but he apparently got a way. More spectacular scenery today, icebergs that were glowing various shades of blue. Massive penguin rookeries. Funny little things in the wild. We are heading back north. Supposed to have a day of sightseeing on the continent, the rumour going round is that we are now heading back to Ushuaia to avoid a massive storm. If we are caught in this storm, we are told that the 90% of us will be throwing up. I guess you know what I hope happens. Either way, I look forward to getting home. Still got to run upside down in some amazing locations at the bottom of the world, with some great people. Nothing wrong with that.
MJ

Where do I begin.  If anybody is still reading this stuff. Yesterday was supposed to be a long stage. I am still out. Really sucks. They got all the competitors to shore and had to bring them back because the weather was getting bad. Very hard to get on and off the ship by zodiac with 30-40mph winds. We steamed south to deception island and an 11 hour stage at old whaling station, which is located in the crater of an old volcano. Smells of sulphur, hot water on shore, but cold past first few feet. A couple people went in at shore, I was the only idiot that dove into the cold water. BRRRRR! Then I ran around like idiot on the shore in freezing weather in just my wet shorts. Penguins kept popping up on shore and a few big seals. There was a 1.3 mile loop along the shore that went up a slight ridge.  One of the top female runners asked me to run a bit with her to keep her company. I ended up running 5-6 hours. We finished in a near white out blizzard. Don’t know how far I went, didn’t really matter, but I did my best to cheer on all the runners on the course. After the run, I felt perfectly fine. Not tired or sore, full of energy. Lots of people thanked me for the encouragement, but it was a rather bitter sweet day. I know I would have done very well had I had the chance to participate. Don’t know what the next stage will be or whether I will
Join in, but running today surrounded by snow capped hills and black volcanic mud was amazing. Despite my frustrations, I will always appreciate this experience. Can’t wait to come home. Miss my kids.
mark

Soooooooo. I'm out. Not very happy. great trip getting here, no sea sickness,last evening had 25ft rolling seas, thought it was fun. got late start first morning due to weather. started at noon doing a figure 8 between the chinese and uruguayian research facilities. spectacular scenery, massive rock outcroppings snowy hills, small frozen lakes with seals. our course changed from thick mud to 3ft deep slush. i was feeling fine keeping up good pace, unfortunately my goretex (waterproof) shoes were not as effective as i hoped. after 6 hours i covered 26 miles and was in 7th place and gaining. was not tired or sore at all. BUT, my feet were wet and they slowly kept getting colder. stopped twice losing
20 minutes to change into dry socks, but to no avail. many slushy stream crossings, glacial runnoff, and just soft slushy snow for miles. After 3rd lap tried to warm feet up with hot water bottles, but no luck. i knew i had to go back to ship and soak them in warm water or risk losing a couple. felt like wooden blocks on ends of feet. as a result the race organizer told me i was disqualified.  2/3rds of runners covered only 26 miles yesterday in much slower time, but my early departure sealed my fate. this morning i asked if i could re-enter, taking a time penalty or some such, and was told NO. I'm upset and dissapointed. was having a great time yesterday, not tired,or sore was happily running, marching slogging a long. So it sort of blows that the race organizer was soo unyielding. so now i get to hang out, for the next few days, trying not to get more pissed off. on the good side, i am sharing a room with my moslem friend from lebanon. we have built a fence between us and keep throwing stuff at each other. he calls me moses, i call him camel jockey. sorry things didn't work out, i wish i had better news. If anything exciting happens, i will write later in the week. oh yeah, it is real cool down here.
MJ

So after 30 hours of traveling I arrived in Ushuaia. Nice place, looks a lot like the northwest or alaska. town surrounded by snow capped mountains. the weather is very mild, even warm, not what i expected. went for 3 hour hike today to help loosen the legs. getting on boat tomorrow about 3 ish. have met quite a few of the other runners. it´s always a weird reunion at these events. sharing a room with my iranian friend ash. who says kike´s and camel jockeys cant be friends?!

next blog should be from the boat. looks to be a great adventure.  miss my kids.

mj

I don't know what the hell I'm doing because I think this is the 3rd or 4th time I have written this. Started off this week in the mountains of Utah, 9000ft elevation average temp between 25-30 degrees F (-3C). Trying to acclimate. Not sure if it's working. I normally live in the desert, and don't care much for the cold. I was sitting having dinner with friends pondering how to get my car which was stuck on the ice out of the hilly terrain I was in without wrecking it and me.Problem. My handyman, redneck extrordinaire, wanted to blaze that baby through hill and dale and snow and go for the main road. Bigger Problem. My dear friend and lawyer was simultaneously encouraging his testosterone levels with aged makers mark whiskey. 

Spent as much time as I could outdoors, running, chopping wood, nuzzling my 9 month old retriever, manly stuff. only to find that dog drool and frozen snot in my beard is not all that pleasant. But it may not be as bad as the frozen chunkage likely to replace it during the crossing of drakes passage. I'm bringing a video camera and recommend that we have a competition: furthest hurl; biggest chunks; strangest color!
I hope I am ready for the race, I have enough gear for several runners, and I would be bringing more except the airlines told me there was a weight limit. The only plus is that all the money I am spending is giving my wife even more grey hair.
Need to thank my part time trainer and boxing coach JT. Gypsy and the Crazy communist bitch. Kendra (Lisa's replacement) and Heather. Of course my family is a big part of this. Thoughts of my kids keep me going when my mood sinks, I have imaginary conversations in which they agree with everything i say, and think all of my stupid jokes are terribly funny. Fortunately I have a daughter on the way; yes, a very big oops at my age, but what the heck. I'm willing to pay for her therapy, so I can screw with one more kid as much as I want.
Hopefully my feet and toes won't suffer too much and I am not found frozen in the ice spooning with a couple of penguins. 
Of all the sporting events i have participated in over the years this is the most intriguing. what the hell is a red-neck desert living jew boy from new york gonna do in the antarctic? I have no freakin idea. I guess we'll see. I'm staying at the Lennox hotel in that exciting metropolis of Ushuaia. I get in monday night around 7:30-8-:30. It's my birthday, anybody wants to come by, the drinks are on me.