WALK/RUN 4/1 ON SEATON TRAIL -- 5.17 MILES @ 21 MINS 8 SECS PER M
Twenty-five years ago this holiday weekend I ran my first ultramarathon, one year after I ran my first and at that time only marathon.
Both races took place on the northern end of Baffin Island, 480 miles north of the Arctic Circle, on a gruelling gravel road between the Inuit community of Arctic Bay and the mining community of Nanisivik.
In 1979, I went north as a freelance correspondent for the Toronto Star planning to run only the 10K that was part of the first Midnight Sun Marathon and Road Races. The stark beauty of the Arctic made it seem like a run-forever kind of day. Although I was just getting into running, and my longest training run had not even been 10 miles, I felt so fresh at 10K that I pressed on, unexpectedly completing my first marathon.
I felt so good and so empowered by the experience that I vowed to return the next year to double the distance, and I did.
Thus, in 1980, the most northerly ultramarathon on the planet came to be.
http://www.nunavutrun.com/
5:08:30 PM
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