Laurel Lopez's blog

February 2, 2:30pm

“He arrived. We picked him up. He ran. He showered. He celebrated. He left.” Jay Glassman, race director, Toronto Marathon

 

After taking my first-class seat and figuring out all the buttons (ie how to move the seat to horizontal) I texted my wife Caroline to say everything was okay. But it wasn’t.

Flights were being cancelled. The worst logistical nightmare of this challenge was unfolding as I sat on a stationary plane. An hour passed. Then another half-hour. We eventually took off two hours later than scheduled – but I was going to Toronto. Eight hours later, and after my first good sleep in days, I landed in Canada. I felt refreshed and was relieved to hear that the temperature was a mere 0°C – running shorts weather compared with London, where I stayed at London apartments. The jovial duo of Jay Glassman, the Toronto Marathon race director, and his colleague Mike Collins, met me at the airport. They were laughing more than me at the unreal nature of this whole challenge. Here I was, being helped by two guys I never met before, and whom I had first contacted by a email a couple of weeks beforehand. We were now on our way to the start of the official Toronto Marathon course.

 

The plan was for Jay to drive ahead and Mike to jump out periodically with directions. I don’t think I have ever laughed so much during any marathon. It was as if we collectively felt this was the most bizarre once-in-a-lifetime experience for all concerned. I managed to mistake

directions and ran off-course down Highway 401, Toronto’s busiest, during rush-hour traffic.

There was an energy to this city I didn’t feel elsewhere. The course brought me downtown

and to Toronto’s southern edge on Lake Ontario.

After making this the third continent on the vomit list, I finished in 4:07:04. I had enough time for a shower, a beer and a pizza before my scheduled 10-hour flight to Santiago.

 

Cbile is the departure point for the Antarctic Ice Marathon and 100K and I always enjoy visiting the country. Despite the brevity of this trip – 10 hours from arrival to departure time – this time would be no different.

Rodrigo Salas Moncada, the organiser of several major marathons in the country, had agreed to set up a course, monitor my performance and certify that I ran a marathon in South America.

As we drove to his apartment en route to the course, it was evident that searing heat would be the biggest problem: the temperature was 32°C. It reminded me of the time I was in Hawaii. It was pretty hot and most of the time I spent in hawaii rentals. The city lies in the centre of a large bowl-shaped valley. Mountains seemed to tower above me. The course was a 10K loop with 2.195K tagged on to the end. A group of runners from the local Santiago Runners Club showed up to support me, but it proved more difficult than I thought. The heat felt desert-like. There was no wind and little escape from direct rays of the sun. Inevitably, my stomach began turning two-thirds of the way through and I threw up. I had to focus on the simple act of putting one foot in the front of the other. I felt quite weary and didn’t have energy for much conversation towards the end. The support runners appeared entirely understanding and the genuine friendliness of the group was palpable.

 

I completed the run in 4:37:58 and then proceeded speedily to the airport after a hasty shower. My flight from Santiago to Sydney would take 18 hours, including a brief stop at New Zealand.

CALABRIA (Italy)

Routes and Fares: Reggio di Calabria may be reached in two hours by plane from Rome at a cost of about £13 return. Rome itself is three to four hours’ flying time (by rather faster planes!) from London. The return fares are: 1st class £74 16s., day tourist £55, one-month tourist excursion £45 17s., and night tourist excursions from £33 13s. to £41 5s. according to season and day of the week. Trains from Rome to Reggio take 10 to 12 hours. The surface journey from London to Rome takes about 30 hours: 2nd-class return tickets to Rome cost from £22 4s. to £25 17s. according to the route chosen; 1st class the cost is from £34 6s. to £38. Through return bookings to Reggio cost roughly £3 more in 2nd class and £4 in 1st: by rail, of course, it is possible to break the journey almost anywhere along your route. The entire route is also served by long-distance coaches.

Formalities: A valid passport i s required. International car documents are not necessary.

Accommodation: Calabria has the usual Italian range of hotels and pensions, but since the area is as yet relatively unknown to tourists, hotel prices are below average. Thus, in most of the area’s ten 1st-class hotels a room with private bath or shower costs only a basic £1 a night (excluding taxes and service amounting to 5s. or 6s. in all).

Internal Communications: The railway serves the coastal towns, but there is a bus network based on the provincial capitals that reaches every sizeable village. Frequent steamers from Reggio and Villa San Giovanni transport pas­sengers (from 2s.) and cars (from 21s.) to Messina in Sicily.

Information: The Italian State Tourist Office, 201 Regent Street, London, W.1.

ASSISI AND TORCELLO (Italy)

Routes and Fares: Assisi is roughly 125 miles from Florence by road or rail and rather less from Rome. From both towns there are train and coach services, the railway taking about three hours from Florence and two and a half from Rome. There are also coach day-excursions to Assisi. Rail and steamer fares from London to Florence cost from £20 5s. to £23 13s. 6d. for a 2nd-class return and £30 11 s. to £34 1st class.

Torcello is six miles north-east of Venice. Motor-boat ferry services from Venice are frequent in the summer; the trip takes about three-quarters of an hour.

Accommodation: Assisi has four 2nd-class and two 3rd-class hotels. There is a 1st-class hotel in Perugia, 25 miles away, and, of course, a wide choice of accommodation in Rome or Florence.

In Torcello, the Locanda Cipriani, a first-class pension and restaurant, provides full board for £4 a day; all rooms have baths.

CAPE DORSET (Baffin Island, Canada)

Baffin Island forms part of Canada’s specially administered Northwest Territories. There are no scheduled services, either by surface or by air routes to Cape Dorset. Intending visitors will normally have to join a group using a chartered plane, and the department which supervises the arrangements for such flights is the Industrial Division, Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources, Kent-Albert Building, Ottawa, Canada. Costs vary with the charter, but are normally high: the air journey is difficult and the flying season very limited. Anyone with special reasons for visiting the area might be able to get help from the Hudson’s Bay