All posts tagged: travel

Stranded at 30K Feet

Published by Colin Nanka

I had a flight back to the east coast with my wife this week and was ready to catch up on some work and blog writing.  In the old days of travel, when you were fortunate to board a cross country flight that was piloting wifi and get some connection, it was an unexpected treat.  If you wanted to get work done, you likely had MS Word or MS PPT copies saved to your computer and would work offline. You would then transfer or upload the work when you hit the office. Well the old days are gone and technology is helping us be more effective. Or so I thought! I was getting used to taking Virgin to San Francisco with solid, reliable wifi. It’s always an enjoyable flight. It’s so reliable, I took it as a given that my flight to Toronto would follow suit. I was wrong. First, I learned a valuable lesson that my wife lovingly reminded me of (several times) as I got more and more frustrated (thanks, honey): If it was so important …

Flip the Paradigm

Published by Colin Nanka

I was 14 hours into a 50 mile run, after running the over 100 miles the previous four days in the middle of the desert.  I had hit the wall six times already, and was about to go for a deep and dark seventh. Literally. It was 2am in the middle of the Sahara desert and my eyes were playing tricks on me.  At the end of my rope, stumbling through the sand I hit a crisis point. I projected four hours away from finishing the race and I didn’t know if I could go any further.  As I agonized over my situation, like grinding over the top of a giant hill, a new horizon brought a new perspective my way in the form of a question.  What’s the learning opportunity here? When I got real curious over why I was in so much agony, the paradigm shifted and I raised my gaze towards overcoming the obstacle instead of lamenting on it.   It’s something that has stuck with me to build awareness and to problem …

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Day 6 – The Final Lap

Published by Colin Nanka

The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2016 Well it was more than one, it was five. 2KM laps around an incredible lake that looked upon an Everest like mountain range with the other side flowing into Half Moon Bay Antarctica. Sometimes you get a flat track where you can plod along and contemplate the week, other times you get crusty snow that as the micro climate changes every 15 mins goes from breaking through 1.5-foot-deep snow to trudging through slush. Everyone is pretty banged up. Most hobble along, some find second winds of inspiration to finish out the epic adventure in the final three hours. If I could highlight the week it would be “absolute stunning views, stillness and harsh landscape” all wrapped in one. We were very fortunate with the weather, with only one day shortened due to inclement weather. I am always in a reflective mood going through the last day. Sometimes it’s about the friendships you have made, the hardships you have encountered or the terrain you have conquered. I would say in this …

Chile — Racing The Sun

Published by Colin Nanka

We started the day at 8am after a brutal cold night camping out on the salt flats. This desert has huge extremes and we are getting both of them. The long march started out with 16km of salt flats. Mix of crusty trail and nasty craggy hard and sharp salt. Many places all you can do is hike, carefully and try not to blow any ankle. It knocks the wind right out of you. The next two stages were mix of hard and soft packed sand and I handled ok. Just pushed one stage at a time. It’s amazing how your mindset changes in this day. I judged wanted to get through the first 42km so I could push hard in the last three. After the end of stage 3 – 32km, we got a surprise, they gave each of us the choice of Coke or Pepsi. Coke it was! Oh man, what a boost! Gave us a good jolt and helped me run a difficult stage four. A mix of sand, salt flats, a …

Chile — Resiliency Stage 2

Published by Colin Nanka

Resiliency My mantra going into this race was “Strong, Resilient and Grateful.” My continuation of “Strong, Relaxed and Grateful” from Iceland. I talked with a couple people about preserving energy in this race. Today, as with many people, the breakfast didn’t taste so good and had to focus on keeping it down. Had to trek most the first stage. Once I got the stomach in check I was able to run a decent amount of the final three stages. We ran down and hiked up huge dunes and had a 15km salt flats from hell section. It was hot, monotonous, and crusty. Everyone hated it. On a new note, bit by two bugs, one had sharp teeth, took a quill in the foot. Was pre warned but we’re hard to see. Surface wound. Pulled it out and kept going to. Our tent had a good day. 1,2, 10,11, 12, 20, 43 (me), 50 and the Finns! 7/8 of us are in. Our inspirational Finn still on course. We know he’ll make it. I’m tired, the …

Iceland — Day 4 ~ Bend, Don’t Break

Published by Colin Nanka

Left leg is shot. Knee pain, tendinitis in shin and knee pain in right starting. I ran more than walked today as it was painful to walk and didn’t want to be out there all day. Upside it was a beautiful day out. Ran in tights and t shirt and after getting crushed yesterday in the wind. When we moved slow we enjoyed the scenery. The last stage I got some motivation and attacked the last stage until we hit 5km of jeep track with mid sized stones. Hurt like hell. Especially the downhill to camp. I’m ok going up hill, going down is crushing on my shin. After drinking recovery drink and putting feet up to reduce swelling I could barely move. Went to med tent and blisters are minor, knee is ok and just have to deal with the pain tomorrow. My goal was finish the day. Same tomorrow. If I can get to start of the long day, I can make it. Loading up on food and bed early. Chat on the …

Iceland — Day 2

Published by Colin Nanka

Last night was cold as F! The tent whipped relentless all night and it was colder than the night before. Fully clothed in our bags again and I considered wrapping my bivvy/space blanket over my sleeping bags as a couple others with lighter sleeping bags did! I think I invented three new sleeping positions to try and make the knee feel more comfortable. 47km and five checkpoints today. 7.5 hours on course. 90 km under our belt and the two longest single days done Jessie and I teamed from start to finish both having our moments of challenge. We ran most the first three stages when flat or downhill and then ran/walk hobbled the rest. Met a guy from Germany/USA that recently did the idiserod in Alaska (dog sled race) on foot and took him 28 days. Some incredibly accomplished people here. Ran a little w Chris from USA/Hong Kong from the GOBI, was great to see him again. We saw some epic views today, scaling up the side of a mountain into crazy winds …