Circumpolar Race Around the World (CRAW)

[camaker]

I ran an easy 10k last night to appear as recovering. My wife got one of those percussive, handheld massagers and I want none of that right now

My wife got me one of those for Christmas. It’s definitely a mixed bag. I’ve experienced everything from “ahhhh, that feels good” to “holy crap! That’s worse than foam rolling!”

 

[opusone]

My wife got one of those percussive, handheld massagers and I want none of that right now

My wife got me one of those for Christmas. It’s definitely a mixed bag. I’ve experienced everything from “ahhhh, that feels good” to “holy crap! That’s worse than foam rolling!”

We got one a few months ago, and everyone loves it!

 

[kbenson13]

My wife got one of those percussive, handheld massagers and I want none of that right now

I got my wife one of these for Christmas. We both love ours. Beats a foam roller!

 

[avondale]

I ran an easy 10k last night to appear as recovering. My wife got one of those percussive, handheld massagers and I want none of that right now

Was your race a 50k within 30 hours or a mile every hour? I would definitely prefer the former.

The Yeti 24-hr Challenge is 5.2 miles every 4 hours, 6 times. I ran at 6:30am, 10:30am, 2:30pm, 6:30pm, 10:30pm, and 2:30am. From what I can tell, the spirit of the challenge is to separate the start times by 4 hours, so you can't do 10.4 miles at the end of one period and the beginning of the next so that you can sort of have 8 hours off.

It really wasn't too bad. I did nothing else in those 24 hours, so I could come back after each run, eat a bit, put on my calf sleeves, and get off my feet. It was a decent recovery period in between each run. I didn't try to push the pace at all, because I wasn't sure how I would be holding up on the last couple of legs.

It was also quite intentional for me to do the challenge in winter because hot and humid weather kills me and has been my downfall in my last two marathons.

There is a different Yeti 24-hr Challenge that is 50 miles instead of 50k, and I'm thinking that one wouldn't have been nearly so easy for me, given my pace.

 

[avondale]

As we get toward the end of this region, when I see where we are on the map, I keep thinking we are going to run right off the end of South America!

 

[opusone]

Week 24 Update
Not completely unexpected after the various marathons and ultramarathons last weekend (again, one of our top 3 mileage weeks), but we had our lowest mileage week so far this past week.

At the end of Sunday (Valentine's Day), we were 2,351 miles into Argentina. We had a CRAW total of 8,516 miles completed. With only 262 miles to go and based on our weekday averages, we have a shot to finish Argentina and Region 3 on Saturday, although it could slip to Sunday. For the entire CRAW, the prediction model is still showing about 1 year 7.5 months total based on our average daily team mileage (51.0 miles per day).

Let's finish this region strong!

 

[kbenson13]

I saw that we just crossed water onto the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. Google Translate translates that as "Big Island of Tierra del Fuego". That's got to be a volcanic island, right? Anyway, we crossed the water at Faro Punta Delgada and if you look at the street view, it looks like the highway (237) goes straight into the water (a boat launch for sure) and emerges from the water on the other side. Google Map even shows the dotted highway under the water. That just seemed cool to me. Also, as a swimmer, it made me want to swim that little leg of our race. Not sure what the boat traffic and wild life is like, but it's "only" about 2.6 miles so very "doable" as a swim. It's probably pretty cold though.

 

[opusone]

I saw that we just crossed water onto the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. Google Translate translates that as "Big Island of Tierra del Fuego". That's got to be a volcanic island, right? Anyway, we crossed the water at Faro Punta Delgada and if you look at the street view, it looks like the highway (237) goes straight into the water (a boat launch for sure) and emerges from the water on the other side. Google Map even shows the dotted highway under the water. That just seemed cool to me. Also, as a swimmer, it made me want to swim that little leg of our race. Not sure what the boat traffic and wild life is like, but it's "only" about 2.6 miles so very "doable" as a swim. It's probably pretty cold though.

Pretty cool. I believe there is a ferry that takes you/your bike/your car across (i.e. the "boat" ramp is actually a ferry ramp), but you feel free to swim... I will be using the ferry!

 

[kbenson13]

Pretty cool. I believe there is a ferry that takes you/your bike/your car across (i.e. the "boat" ramp is actually a ferry ramp), but you feel free to swim... I will be using the ferry!

After I posted I found a image on Google taken on the ferry. It's pretty big! I wouldn't want to be swimming anywhere near that thing...

 

[opusone]

Congrats team on finishing Region 3!! Now, on to Antarctica.

 

[opusone]

Region 3 (South America - Pampas) Summary
The CRAW Region 3 route consisted of only two countries for a total of 3,173 miles. We were in Chile for about 559 miles and then a long trudge through Argentina for about 2,614 miles. Argentina was the longest we will spend in any country during CRAW... well, at least any country that is not a continent (i.e. Antarctica and Australia).

Our team's breakout of running vs. walking was:

Running (including treadmill)	2,127 miles (67%)
Walking (including hiking)	1,046 miles (33%)
Total	3,173 miles

And now, for Region 3 top honors...

Top 3 Mileage (Running & Walking)

1. @RunDopey - 601.3 miles (average of 9.3 miles per day) - second straight region with over 600 miles
2. @camaker - 498.2 miles (average of 7.7 miles per day)
3. @Baloo in MI - 458.7 miles (average of 7.1 miles per day)

@avondale was a close 4th - only 10 miles out of 3rd place, with @Dopey 2020 another 6 miles back for 5th. All-in-all it was extremely close from 3rd through 5th.

Top 3 Running Mileage

1. @RunDopey - 590.0 miles
2. @camaker - 359.7 miles
3. @opusone - 240.3 miles

Top 3 Walking Mileage

1. @Baloo in MI - 258.7 miles
2. @Dopey 2020 - 245.3 miles
3. @avondale - 235.8 miles

For an aggregate total of the entire CRAW to date, here are the overall awards (Regions 1-3 combined)...

Top 3 Total CRAW Mileage (Running & Walking)

1. @RunDopey - 1,540 miles (average of 9.0 miles per day)
2. @camaker - 1,377 miles (average of 8.0 miles per day)
3. @Baloo in MI - 1,270 miles (average of 7.4 miles per day)

Two others have crossed over the 1,000-mile total threshold: @Dopey 2020 (1,206 miles) & @avondale (1,086 miles)

Top 3 Total CRAW Running Mileage

1. @RunDopey - 1,477 miles
2. @camaker - 970 miles
3. @opusone - 865 miles

Top 3 Total CRAW Walking Mileage

1. @Dopey 2020 - 682 miles
2. @Baloo in MI - 676 miles
3. @avondale - 472 miles

Three regions down, nine to go! We have completed a total of 8,779 miles so far as a team, and although we have only completed 3 of 12 (or 25%) of the regions, we have completed over 29% of the total mileage, so future regions will be getting shorter on average (except of course for Region 4). Awesome job!!

 

[opusone]

Frame for CRAW Medals

I know some of you do not use Facebook, so I wanted to let you know how the frame for the medals is going to work. They were originally planning on having it as an additional item you could purchase (like the t-shirt); however, they have determined that they will now provide it for free to anybody who has registered for at least six regions. Their reasoning is that they will now have extra money with the registration fees staying as they currently are. Since some multisport teams have already finished CRAW, and the leading running-only teams are on regions 10 & 11, instead of trying to charge less in registration fees for certain regions (and dealing with refunds for folks who have already registered for those regions), they will just absorb the cost of the frames with the excess funds.

In any case, these frames should be shipped to us sometime after we start Region 6. The frame is about 40" x 20", you use the medals as puzzle pieces, and it will look like this when complete with all 12 region medals...

 

[avondale]

Region 3 (South America - Pampas) Summary
The CRAW Region 3 route consisted of only two countries for a total of 3,173 miles. We were in Chile for about 559 miles and then a long trudge through Argentina for about 2,614 miles. Argentina was the longest we will spend in any country during CRAW... well, at least any country that is not a continent (i.e. Antarctica and Australia).

Our team's breakout of running vs. walking was:

Running (including treadmill)	2,127 miles (67%)
Walking (including hiking)	1,046 miles (33%)
Total	3,173 miles

And now, for Region 3 top honors...

Top 3 Mileage (Running & Walking)

1. @RunDopey - 601.3 miles (average of 9.3 miles per day) - second straight region with over 600 miles
2. @camaker - 498.2 miles (average of 7.7 miles per day)
3. @Baloo in MI - 458.7 miles (average of 7.1 miles per day)

@avondale was a close 4th - only 10 miles out of 3rd place, with @Dopey 2020 another 6 miles back for 5th. All-in-all it was extremely close from 3rd through 5th.

Top 3 Running Mileage

1. @RunDopey - 590.0 miles
2. @camaker - 359.7 miles
3. @opusone - 240.3 miles

Top 3 Walking Mileage

1. @Baloo in MI - 258.7 miles
2. @Dopey 2020 - 245.3 miles
3. @avondale - 235.8 miles

For an aggregate total of the entire CRAW to date, here are the overall awards (Regions 1-3 combined)...

Top 3 Total CRAW Mileage (Running & Walking)

1. @RunDopey - 1,540 miles (average of 9.0 miles per day)
2. @camaker - 1,377 miles (average of 8.0 miles per day)
3. @Baloo in MI - 1,270 miles (average of 7.4 miles per day)

Two others have crossed over the 1,000-mile total threshold: @Dopey 2020 (1,206 miles) & @avondale (1,086 miles)

Top 3 Total CRAW Running Mileage

1. @RunDopey - 1,477 miles
2. @camaker - 970 miles
3. @opusone - 865 miles

Top 3 Total CRAW Walking Mileage

1. @Dopey 2020 - 682 miles
2. @Baloo in MI - 676 miles
3. @avondale - 472 miles

Three regions down, nine to go! We have completed a total of 8,779 miles so far as a team, and although we have only completed 3 of 12 (or 25%) of the regions, we have completed over 29% of the total mileage, so future regions will be getting shorter on average (except of course for Region 4). Awesome job!!

Thanks for doing the stats again! I was so happy to be hanging close to 3rd place, although I think that I was only able to place so high because others were not able to do as many miles as usual. It's so silly to care about this, but I have made an evening ritual of posting my miles, seeing where I am in the team standings, and then looking at the map for what's around us.

 

[avondale]

Frame for CRAW Medals

I know some of you do not use Facebook, so I wanted to let you know how the frame for the medals is going to work. They were originally planning on having it as an additional item you could purchase (like the t-shirt); however, they have determined that they will now provide it for free to anybody who has registered for at least six regions. Their reasoning is that they will now have extra money with the registration fees staying as they currently are. Since some multisport teams have already finished CRAW, and the leading running-only teams are on regions 10 & 11, instead of trying to charge less in registration fees for certain regions (and dealing with refunds for folks who have already registered for those regions), they will just absorb the cost of the frames with the excess funds.

In any case, these frames should be shipped to us sometime after we start Region 6. The frame is about 40" x 20", you use the medals as puzzle pieces, and it will look like this when complete with all 12 region medals...

View attachment 557863

That is so awesome! Thanks for letting us social media hermits know.

 

[avondale]

What's up with the Google map of our Antarctica path? I am guessing there is some kind of bug handling the actual south pole. Do you all see it like this?

 

[Dopey 2020]

Ha, I said the same thing when I looked at the region 4 map earlier today

 

[opusone]

Week 25 Update
Excellent week as we FINALLY finished Region 3 and South America! We definitely finished the region strong as we logged another 400+ mile week (our fourth so far). As for CRAW milestones this week:

• Completed Argentina (by far our longest country to date, only to be bested by the continents Antarctica and Australia - and Australia only beats Argentina by about 25 miles)
• Completed Region 3, the second longest of all regions
• After hanging out in South America for both Regions 2 & 3, we are now in (or on as it may be) Antarctica, the longest region of CRAW

At the end of yesterday, we were 176 miles into Antarctica. We had a CRAW total of 8,955 miles completed, and the prediction models are showing that we should finish Region 4 between 4/24 & 4/25. For the entire CRAW, the prediction model is showing about 1 year 7.5 months total based on our average daily team mileage (51.5 miles per day).

We've had a strong start to Region 4, so let's keep it going!

Please don't pay too much attention to the best fit line below as it only has two days of data with 76 miles average per day since they were both weekend days.

 

[opusone]

Week 26 Update
What a great first full week in Antarctica! We set a new weekly mileage record... 434 miles. As for CRAW milestones this week:

• Completed 30% of CRAW (9,062 miles) on Wednesday
• Not really a milestone, but any chance our Antarctica region just got shorter? https://abcnews.go.com/Internationa...er-york-city-breaks-off-ice/story?id=76166893

At the end of yesterday, we were 610 miles into Antarctica, and the prediction models are slightly divergent given our strong start in Antarctica showing that we should finish Region 4 between 4/11 & 4/23 depending on whether you use our Region 4 average daily mileage (65.5 miles per day) or our overall average daily mileage (51.9 miles per day). We had a CRAW total of 9,389 miles completed, and for the entire CRAW, the prediction model is showing about 1 year 7 months total based on our average daily team mileage (again, 51.9 miles per day).

 

[avondale]

I wish they would fix the Antarctica map! It's such a bummer to try to see our progress on the map and still have the same mixed-up view.

 

[Dopey 2020]

I couldn’t help myself after looking at that map, I had to research a little as Apple Maps seems to handle it about as well as Google. After dropping pins all over the place and spinning things around to get the right orientation (hint: it’s tough to imagine a globe on a flat map) I have my imagined path across the ice. We’ve run past Alexander Island and are very close to the edge or maybe on the Ronne Ice Shelf with a lot of frozen miles in front of us.


One thing for sure, this has gotten me reading about something I probably never would have looked otherwise, and it’s somewhat interesting
Then there is the other curiosity, after we finish region 4, will it be a two piece medal? The map needs one piece in the Western Hemisphere and the other half in the Eastern. I’m looking forward to filling in that puzzle