{"id":20087,"date":"2017-11-28T19:01:38","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T00:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.runkevinrun.com\/?p=20087"},"modified":"2017-12-01T11:48:04","modified_gmt":"2017-12-01T16:48:04","slug":"november-28-2017-running-the-numbers-with-albatros-adventure-marathons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/?p=20087","title":{"rendered":"November 28, 2017 – Running the Numbers with Albatros Adventure Marathons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winging my way back on what is the last of the flight legs to Los Angeles, I\u2019m somewhere between consciousness and delirium.<\/p>\n

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I slept a bit in a transit hotel in Kunming, the smell of cigarettes permeating the sheets and a chill in the room thanks to the staff\u2019s efforts to air the place out via open windows.\u00a0 But it was a fast turnaround to get back to the airport to catch my early morning flight to Shanghai for this last connection.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve tried dozing but it\u2019s that pretzeled restless sleep.\u00a0 I did luck out\u2026 there\u2019s no one next me\u2026 nor to the guy seated on the other end of the aisle.<\/p>\n

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But he decided he was entitled to three of our four-seat row and is sacked out, his head weirdly close to my arm.\u00a0 I want to tell him the last time I was in this kind of situation, my then girlfriend was flying with me and he doesn\u2019t look anything like her.<\/p>\n

The Bagan Temple Marathon trip is quickly coming to a close.\u00a0 I received a notification that the pay-to-display photos are available for purchase online.\u00a0 I scrolled through them and there\u2019s a couple of maybe decent ones of me\u2026 I\u2019m hemming and hawing over the 60 euro plus price though.\u00a0 Amongst the stock shots are images of balloons rising over the temples\u2026 this is the definition of stock.\u00a0 I found out from folks who went up in the balloons on Sunday that apparently during the day of the race there was such a backlog of aircraft at the Bagan airport due to recent rains that the planes got preference for airspace\u2026 meaning for the first time this season the balloons didn\u2019t fly.\u00a0 I thought the air was devoid of dirigibles, albeit assuredly NOT devoid of hot air!\u00a0 Hey-yo!<\/p>\n

Still, it was a bummer not to get that experience.\u00a0 I try not to penalize a race or race organization for the weather \u2013 that remains beyond the control of anyone not named Storm or Sir August De Wynter<\/a>.\u00a0 But I do take some umbrage at the stock pics showing the balloons, implying we had them on race day.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve now run four of the five Albatros Adventure Marathons.\u00a0 And Bagan is my least favorite.\u00a0 That\u2019s not to say it\u2019s not a good race; it is.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad I went, I met some great runners, Albatros did their usual bang-up job despite a few glaring hiccups on logistics for the two big dinners.\u00a0 But maybe I\u2019ve done a few too may Southeast Asia races latterly; or just exotic travel marathons in general.\u00a0 Whatever the reason, I found the race to be good, not \u201coh my god!\u00a0 This is an incredible thing and I would totally do this again!\u201d\u00a0 And for the record, that\u2019s what I\u2019d say about the horserace for their number one event \u2013 it\u2019s a dead heat (heat being the operative word) for the Petra Marathon and the Big Five Marathon.\u00a0 The Great Wall Marathon is next on the list with its biggest drawback being after the marathon there\u2019s a 5 hour-ish bus ride back to Beijing.\u00a0 That\u2019s tough on this old man\u2019s body and soul.<\/p>\n

As for the fifth event they currently offer \u2013 well, hell.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure at some stage I\u2019ll give it a go\u2026 but it\u2019s just so darn chilly.\u00a0 It\u2019s a Polar Circle Marathon up in Greenland.\u00a0 I\u2019d love to do it but I need to gear up for it.\u00a0 Literally gear up \u2013 the cold and wind is far beyond what I needed for Antarctica.\u00a0 And the trip, while novel, is limited to 80 or so people, with no guides needed as basically you fly in, acclimate a bit, run, and fly out.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure there\u2019s much in the way of sightseeing\u2026 it may just be a bunch of frozen wastelands.\u00a0 But that is something to see\u2026 and like all of Albatros Marathons, offers a decidedly unique element to their event.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Oh, and before I go and piece together the tour index page for this adventure, I thought I might close out with the highlight video Albatros showed at the Celebration Dinner.\u00a0 Inexplicably I think I\u2019m in there three times\u2026 four if we assume I\u2019m just out of frame for falling to the ground in another shot.\u00a0 But this is a placeholder notation — Albatros hasn’t uploaded it to YouTube yet but when they do, I’ll put it<\/p>\n

RIGHT HERE.<\/p>\n

Updated 12\/1\/2017 — Here’s the video:<\/em><\/p>\n