Race conditions

A friend asked me to write about what I expect for conditions on marathon day, so here is what I know about it so far.

The course changes a bit every year due to how the preceding winter affected the area. The race used to go part way up a glacier but now the glacier is too unstable so we won't be doing that part. And of course there is the famous/infamous year that the weather was so bad they couldn't get to the land from the ship and had to hold the race on the ship!

The terrain will be dirt and rocks and possibly some water on the course. Snow is possible but not as likely since it will be the end of summer there. It will be windy so I try not to be such a wimp about the wind when I am training.

There are several research stations in the area where the race is held and we will run past some of them. I heard that one country asked that the marathon not go past their station this year, but I have also heard that most stations like the race because it is something to distract the workers for a day!

The course will be a figure 8 design of about 9 miles each time around so we go past the "bathroom" (a tent with a bucket)
and aid stations several times. We have to bring our own water or Gatorade in 3 bottles and carry one with us from aid station to aid station. Since no trash can contaminate the land we must decant any food or gels supplements ( I use Gu ) into one container so the packets or wrappings don't accidentally get blown away.

Add in some significant hills at each end of the loops and it sounds like a fun time, right?