TRIP REPORT
Guyana, South
America
11/11 – 11/15/15
Race Results:
Sat, Nov 14/15
Guyana Trail Marathon
Santa Mission, Guyana
Marathon # 377 – Country # 126
6:58:07
When a friend from Germany (Jurgen) informed me of a new,
1st-ever marathon, in Guyana I knew I had to register for the race
to keep my claim intact that I have completed every country in South America* (* - that has an official marathon). I was not enthused
about it being a trail marathon (I hate trail races) but “you have to do what
you have to do” to maintain WR (World Record) status.
I wasn’t keen on having to train through a HOT &
HUMID Florida summer to stay in shape after the marathon at the end of June in
Zimbabwe. As difficult as that was, it probably helped me because the race in
Guyana was very HOT& HUMID!
The 1st challenge was logistics. It is not
easy to get to Guyana. I ended up driving to Miami to catch a direct flight to
Georgetown, Guyana and flying back to Fort Lauderdale after the race. The
upside was that the flight and trip cost much less than the average cost of
$3000 I budget for an international marathon these days.
I arrived in the “Land of Many Waters” at Cheddi Jagan International
Airport, 40 Km south of Georgetown at 10pm. I had arranged for a local runner/taxi driver
to meet me at the airport. The drive to the Marriott Hotel located on the
Seawall along the Atlantic Ocean took almost 1 hr. in the dark and we seemed to
pass a lot of poor and industrial areas? The Marriott is close to downtown and
the port on the Demerara River. The area did not look good? Marc warned me not
to walk around the area at night!
On Thu morning it was raining so I decided to walk to the
shopping area downtown to shop for mandatory souvenirs. I was surprised that
the downtown area looked so poor/filthy and was in such poor shape? The streets
were filthy, most buildings are old and not well-maintained. There are few
modern/new buildings? Much of Georgetown is 6 ft. below sea level so the
original Dutch settlers built a system of dykes and canals to keep out the sea
and to irrigate cotton fields. The canals are now full of stagnant water and
trash and look/smell terrible! There were a lot of homeless people laying in
the streets but I didn’t feel threatened or unsafe. I managed to conduct a
self-guided walking tour of some of the important historical sites while
searching for my souvenirs and a post office. I collected all required
souvenirs by Noon and stopped at a local pizza shop. I wanted a pepperoni pizza
– no pepperoni - so I ordered a ‘meat’ pizza. The meat was wiener/hot dog? Also
no coke so I accepted some local drink that tasted like root beer? I had better
luck with the souvenirs that are often difficult to find?
After finding a post office to buy stamps I asked for
directions to a grocery store on the way back to the hotel. The supermarket was
in a shabby/poor building with few items in stock and everything seemed
expensive for the state of the economy and the wages that locals earn?
That afternoon I met up with another German friend, Dieter, and Brent and Sue
from Cheyenne, WY at the Marriott. I only saw one other modern/luxury hotel in
the city? Fortunately the Marriott was a major sponsor of the race and offered
runners a great discount! That night we all enjoyed appetizers and free drinks
in the Concierge Lounge because we didn’t want to venture outside to find a
restaurant. I also arranged for a city tour on Fri morning for Brent & Sue
& myself.
The city tour included many of the sites I had already
visited and never went farther than a few miles from the hotel? But the guide
was very knowledgeable about the city and history/culture of the country so it
was enjoyable. Guyana has a total population of 750,000 and 350,000 live in the
capital city of Georgetown. The official language is English but many of the
Amerindian tribes speak it with a Creole dialect. We toured many historical
sites such as the Red House, Prime Minister’s House, the Lighthouse (1817), St
George’s Cathedral – the 2nd tallest wooden church in the world built
in 1894, the Parliament Buildings (1834), Starbroek Market (1881) and the 1763
Monument that commemorates the slave rebellion. Our guide provided an excellent
narrated tour of the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology and National Museum. We
concluded the tour with a visit to the Zoo to see a few of the local animals
such as a Harp Eagle, black Cayman, jaguar and long/ugly pythons. I was hoping
that would be the only time I would get see any of these animals? I won’t
describe how the animals are caged – but animal lovers in the USA would close
the Zoo down tomorrow if they knew about it!
After our tour we returned to the Marriott to pick up our
race packets and attend a pasta dinner where Sevak, the Race Director, explained
the jungle course and rules for the race. There were about 100 runners in three
races and only 27 in the marathon. We would take a 4am bus from the hotel to
Timehri located on the Demerara River near the airport. Then we would be loaded
into small boats to depart at 5am across the Demerara River and up Kamuni Creek
for 1 hour to Santa Mission where the races would start/finish.
It sounded exciting but when we were loaded into the
small boats at 5am –in the dark – and started up 30 to 50 ft. wide Kamuni
Creek, I had visions of black Caymans and pythons waiting for us in the dark!
Happily we arrived safely. Santa Mission is an eco-resort
(resort means bring your own sleeping bag or hammock for $5/night) along with your
own food and supplies. You are clearly in the jungle and close to an Arawak
Village on the Arawak Reservation. The races would be run on jungle trails use
by the Arawak tribe (Amerindians). The trails cross several creeks and swamps!
The marathon started at 7:45am. It was already HOT &
HUMID! When we entered the jungle after 500m we could no longer see the sun and
it felt like I was running in a steam bath? I was surprised to find a lot of
white, soft sand in the jungle. Most of the interior of Guyana is sand? The Village
had spread a lot of sand at the start of the trail so it wouldn’t be muddy.
Great! Now it was soft, deep sand that provided no traction. Once we entered
the jungle the trail was a soft, spongy surface covered with 1 to 2 inches of
leaves – covering millions of tree roots! I knew that I was going to have
trouble staying upright. Sure enough – around 5Km I tripped on a root and went
flying! Fortunately the trail was soft so I landed, rolled a few times and
sprang to my feet. No damage except to my pride. Maddog screamed at me to focus
more carefully on each foot plant and to lift my feet! We crossed the 1st
creek around 8Km using logs that had been laid across the water. By the time I
reached 10Km in 1:30:06 and a split of 9:30 I knew it was going to be a
long/ugly day! The trail was a bitch and there were a lot more hills than had
been described! My heart rate was averaging around 135 to 140bpm. That is my
typical HR rate for an 11 to 12 min (per mile) pace on pavement and I was only
averaging a 9 to 10min/Km pace? When I reached 16Km (10 Miles) in 2:32:35, I
felt terrible and I was ready to give up and ask for a lift to the finish line.
There was an ATV patrolling the course once in a while to check on runners and I
figured they would give me a lift? However Maddog started screaming at me again
– calling me really bad names and stating that if I gave up then I had to give
up ALL future marathons in my plans – and retire to an Assisted Care Facility!
I decided to continue on to 21Km (Half) and re-evaluate
but I vowed that I would “Never run another trail race again”! I tried altering
my run strategy to see if I could find a cycle that didn’t fatigue me so
quickly? At that point I had been running until I became too tired to run and
then I would walk about 1 min to rest. It was not working! So I took a long,
deliberate walk break and then ran for 5 min and walked for 2 min. That seemed
to work much better and I was able to lower my average pace down to 9 min/km.
Maybe I became too confident and took my focus off the
trail - but OOPS – down I went again! Another roll and back up w/o any injury
except to my pride. And Maddog screaming at me again about how stupid I was! My
quad had tightened on that fall and I figured that if I went down again a
muscle was probably going to cramp and lock up and I would be in serious
trouble!
I reached the Half in 3:22:33. That was only the Half? I
would be lucky to finish under the 7-hr time limit?
Around 27 Km I passed a young couple. The male had
cramped severely and was trying to walk/limp the cramp off. We stayed close
until I reached 32Km in 5:13:20 and a split of 9:24/km. I was feeling better
with my new run cycle and was keeping my average pace below 10min/km so I felt
confident that with only 10Km to go I would finish under 7 hours.
However as I was looking for the 33Km marker I caught up to
the young female runner who was stymied by a huge tree blocking the trail? Had
we missed a turn? We were both fatigued and not thinking too clearly and we
didn’t want to venture off through the jungle to see if we could find the trail
so we erred on the side of safety and ran back to an aid station at 32Km to ask
if we were lost? A volunteer ran back with us to the tree and he ventured off
through the jungle to come back and advise us that the trail was on the other
side of the fallen tree! Sure enough we detoured around the tree and the 33Km
mark was only a few hundred feet beyond the tree. DAMN! We had just ran an
extra 2Km! I was pissed off and demoralized! The confusion and extra 2Km had cost
us 31 min and now there was no way I could finish under 7 hrs!
I decided I would continue to race to the 40Km mark and
use that time as my marathon time no matter what the RD said! At 37Km the trail
turned on to a narrow, single track trail through dense jungle and I became a
wee bit concerned because I hadn’t seen a runner, race volunteer or ATV since
our disaster at 33Km? The female runner had left me in the dust and I in turn
had left her boyfriend behind – in fact I figured that he had probably quit and
asked for a lift to the finish line? There were two more runners behind him but
I figured they had quit too and that meant I was the last runner on the trail –
with no volunteers or support around?
I reached 40Km in 6:58:07 and a split of 9:00/km. I was
upset because I would have to run the final/extra 2Km since there was no support
to be seen! I decided to jog the final 2Km easy. However, while I was concentrating
on my pain and dilemma I forgot to concentrate on the trail and – OOOPS – my right
foot caught a tree root and I started flying! I managed to prevent a fall but
the sudden acceleration to stay upright caused my right abductor to cramp and
lock up! I dropped immediately to the trail and started writhing around in pain
while trying to find a position – any position- to alleviate the pain! I tried
to grab my ankle to stretch the abductor and that only caused my calf to cramp
also. After few minutes of screaming and crying I was able to massage the
muscle and get it to release enough to stand up and use a tree to stretch both
muscles until they relaxed. Any thoughts of jogging/running the extra 2Km were
gone. I walked/limped gingerly for the next 1Km before the pain subsided enough
to allow me to jog across the finish line in 7:27:56.
I went straight to the RD to complain about the fallen
tree and the fact that there were no ribbons or signs telling runners to detour
around the tree. He agreed to post my 40Km time of 6:58:07 as my official
marathon time.
I was tired – totally wiped out – and now I still faced a
1-hr boat ride and a 1-hr bus ride back to the hotel and a hot shower! It was
not fun! Even after a hot shower I was still too fatigued to contemplate going
into town for a nice steak so I just ate an expensive buffet dinner and beer at
the Marriott before crashing for a long sleep.
But I had finished Marathon # 377 and Country #126 - a new World Record!
The last two marathons were very hard on my old bod &
psyche. I keep telling myself that they were tough courses and I will do better
when I run a marathon on nice, smooth pavement. I hope so because I don’t
believe I have any more ‘difficult’ marathons left in me? I will definitely
keep my vow to “NEVER run another trail race”!
Unfortunately all my future planned marathon adventures
are in tropical climates – but at least they are on pavement!
Stay tuned!
