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Posted by Sean Cornwell, Senior Product
Marketing Manager

I'm just back from running a marathon at the http://www.npmarathon.com/” >North Pole.
It's only by continuously repeating this sentence out loud that
the experience has started to become more real. Certainly, when you
are at the Pole — a place of absolute wondrous beauty, isolation,
and harshness — it feels very surreal. The 24-hour light with the
sun always at the horizon, the mind-numbing cold, the lack of sleep
– it all gets to you. Wow, don't I make it sound like
fun?

So why, you might ask, did I put myself through this?

Well, a friend and I also ran the http://www.saharamarathon.org/”>Sahara marathon at the
end of February as a kick start to launch http://www.earthfireice.com/”>EarthFireIce, a campaign to
raise awareness for the importance of individual action to reduce
carbon emissions. By racing in such extreme conditions, the hottest
and coldest marathons in the world, we also hoped to highlight two
regions that stand to be seriously affected by climate change.
People can make simple pledges of action on an interactive Google
Maps mashup at http://earthfireice.com/pledge-template.php”>our campaign
site.

We've frequently been asked how we prepare for such extremes.
The answer is that it's very hard. We tried to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6378929.stm”>
wrap ourselves in plastic wrap to replicate the Sahara heat,
and we sat in a http://www.global-cool.com/en/2007/04/02/earthfireice-ice-baby”>
Kriotherapy chamber at -130 C (-202 F) to get used to the
extreme cold. Neither experience, I must confess, was that useful.
The Sahara, at 42 C (approx. 108 F), simply sapped all my energy.
And the second half of that run was one of the slowest and most
painful in my life. Watch the video of the Sahara run, and me
struggling through it:

The North Pole, on the other hand, was tough because you have to
wear those ridiculous snowshoes, and because the terrain varies
from hard ice to 2 foot deep powder snow. So it's much more of
a slow jog, and thus less exhausting. However, the battle there is
with the cold: at -30 C (-22 F), you really feel it despite the act
of running.

What's next, you may ask? Well, a lot of rest and relaxation,
and back to my day job — and then, some more events under the http://www.earthfireice.com/”>EarthFireIce banner,
hopefully with lots of others joining us!

Tags: , Cornwell, ManagerIm, Marketing, Posted, product, Sean, Senior