Martin Parnell

Chapter 15

COVID-19

“Old age isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative.”
- MAURICE CHEVALIER, Entertainer

Life changed the week of March 9, 2020. COVID-19 was impacting people all over the world. Flights were cancelled and lockdowns put in place. The new normal was “Social Distancing” and “Self-Isolation.” Closer to home the impact was immediate. The Secret Marathon was scheduled to be shown at the Kingston Film Festival from March 11 to 13. It managed to be screened on the first night but then had to be shut down.

My keynote presentations planned for 2020 were all cancelled and Sue and I started our new life under COVID-19. In the last two weeks of March I noticed a number of races and events were either postponed or cancelled. However, the other thing I spotted was that several virtual events had started to appear. It was one of those I found myself participating in.

Early morning Saturday, April 4, I was standing on my treadmill, in my basement, waiting for a race to begin. In total there were over 2,400 participants from over 55 countries and we were about to participate in an event the likes of which had never been seen before.

A couple of weeks prior, my wife Sue was listening to CBC when Dave Proctor, a Calgary elite ultrarunner, was talking about an event that would connect the world. With the spring racing calendar being totally wiped out due to COVID-19, Dave was looking for something to pull the global running community together and he came up with the Personal Peak Quarantine Backyard Ultra.

Originally, Dave had been planning a Trans-Canadian speed record for May, and his crew was going to be made up of the Personal Peak team. However, with the coronavirus outbreak, he had to cancel the attempt. Instead of letting his training go to waste, he decided to use it for a virtual race. Along with Personal Peak, an endurance training company, he organized the Quarantine Backyard Ultra and sent invitations to the world’s best ultrarunners. The event was also open to non-elite runners.

For the Quarantine Backyard Ultra, all runners had to log into Zoom. Racers had a choice between running on a treadmill or running outside as they had to complete a 6.706-km lap in less than an hour and prove it by showing the Zoom audience their GPS data if they ran outside or their treadmill screen inside. Then they could move onto the next lap, with every lap starting on the hour.

Having had my Boston Marathon cancelled, I was looking for something to fill the space. I certainly didn’t want to waste my weeks of training. The other thing I wanted to do was to use the race as a fundraiser. I decided to combine the donations I raised from my Year End Run with the Backyard Ultra and see if I could hit the $10,000 fundraising target for the Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane and area.

So at 6:45 a.m. MST, and with 15 minutes to go, my hydration and nutrition were prepared and I set up my laptop so that the camera could view me on the treadmill. I then logged into Zoom. The screen was filled with 30 runners from around the globe, just a small fraction of the 620 who were in my starting group.

At 7 a.m. MST a bell rang and we were off. I decided to watch some TV, and my friend Wayne suggested The Kindness Diaries on Netflix. I had set a pace of 7:30 per kilometre and with 6.71 km to run it took me 53:40. Now the goal I had set myself was to run a marathon (42.2 km), so if I ran for seven loops (seven hours) that would give me 47 km. The first five loops went well. I started to struggle on loop six and Sue told me that I was too close to the back of the treadmill. I was definitely having a hard time holding my pace.

I had toyed with the idea of doing ten loops but on loop seven I knew that was it. I didn’t want to get spat out the back of the treadmill and splatted against the back wall. At the end of the seventh loop I got off the treadmill and logged off Zoom. That meant that I got a “Did Not Finish” (DNF). In fact every participant would get a DNF other than the winner.

Over the rest of Saturday I followed the event and learned about several of the participants. There was “The Living Room Guy,” who ran around his sofa, “Coffee Shop Matt,” who did loops inside a closed coffee shop, and Anna, who was running in northern Sweden through the ice and snow. By 7 p.m. that night there were 671 runners remaining.

Sunday morning, after a good night’s sleep, I checked the YouTube live feed at 7 a.m. MST. A total of 24 laps had been completed for 160 km, and 71 runners remained. Over the next 12 hours a number of the top contenders had pulled the plug, including Dave Proctor, who was dealing with a hip flexor issue. At 7 p.m. MST, 36 loops were done for 242 km and the final 14 remained. Time for another sleep.

Monday morning at 7 a.m. MST I checked the Personal Peaks Facebook page. A total of 48 loops had been completed, 322 km covered and only two runners were still going. Mike Wardian from Arlington, Virginia, was doing loops around his neighbourhood, and Radek Brunner from the Czech Republic, was running on a treadmill he had purchased a week before.

I checked the feed every hour and this epic battle continued until 9 p.m. MST. Mike and Radek had both finished lap 62 and were about to head out on lap 63. The start bell sounded and Mike headed off. Radek was on the treadmill but wasn’t moving. For two minutes he stood there and then he started to run. However, the rules state that you must start running right away and Radek was disqualified. A very tough break.

Mike finished his lap in 31:05, his fastest lap of the entire race. Mike wanted to keep going to break the record of 68 laps, but he was told that the rules stipulated that he could only do one lap after the other person had dropped out. In total Mike ran 422.3 km over 63 hours and was awarded the grand prize: The Golden Toilet Paper Roll.

It had been an amazing event bringing people together from all over the world. There was a real connection that is so important in this time of social distancing and isolation.

And the cherry on top was that my combined Final Year End / Backyard Ultra fundraiser hit the $10,000 target for the Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane and Area. Now that is worth celebrating. The Quarantine Backyard Ultra had shown that even during this very difficult time people could come together and accomplish something incredible.

When one door closes then another one opens. Two days before the Quarantine Backyard Ultra, I had received this email from Hayley Degaust, Provincial Projects Coordinator for Ever Active Schools:

As you all know schools look a little different right now, which means so do our run clubs. Today we are launching a virtual AMA Youth Run Club for families to sign up and join along for 10 weeks of training, games, and activities. We would love to share some videos and inspiring words from our Ambassadors that we can share with run club participants.

If you are willing we are looking for short videos (20–120 seconds) from each of you. If this is something you are interested in please send the videos to me. Some things to include I have listed below:

It had been churning in my mind what activity I could suggest to the kids that they could do while being socially isolated. Then I had a brain wave: Why not have them climb Mount Everest? Now, Mount Everest is 29,028 feet high and base camp is 17,600 feet high, so about 11,400 feet difference. So if they climbed 200 stairs a day then it would take 95 days, including four camp days. I sent this idea to Hayley and she loved it. I also told Sue, Kris and Nathan about the idea and they were in. We all agreed that the climb would start on Tuesday, April 14.

At the time, Nathan lived in Montreal and I talked to him about the idea of writing a weekly journal of our adventures climbing this mighty mountain. We gave ourselves climbing names, Mountaineer Martin and Nanatuk Nathan. This is Day 1 of the climb:

Day 1 of 95: Tuesday, April 14, 2020 (Elevation 17,600 feet: Stairs 0: Vertical height climbed 0 feet)

Mountaineer Martin and Nanatuk Nathan leave Base Camp at 8 a.m. It’s a blue sky but the bitter wind is howling; however, the journey must begin. There’s only 95 days to complete the climb and then we will be pulled off the mountain. There’s no turning back now.

I posted the weekly journal entries on Facebook and people started asking how they could join in. I made up a route map, tracking sheet, medal and certificate they could download. Nathan and I did lots of research on Everest and we found out that the Sherpas had lost their jobs and livelihoods due to the closing of Everest on March 15. Nathan asked if we could help. I typed into Google “Support the Sherpas” and came across a GoFundMe page, and this is what it said:

Hi, my name is Jyamchang Bhote Sherpa and I have over 20 years of mountain climbing experience, including 7 summits of Mt. Everest!

I run a Nepal based climbing company that employs dozens of local Sherpa mountain guides and porters. Nepal is a developing country but has 8 of the 14 highest mountains on earth!

The local economy is driven by tourism, and normally during this season my team would be guiding hundreds of trekkers and climbers through the Himalayas. I was even planning to make an Everest climb this season with returning clients! We had many trekking and climbing expeditions planned for spring 2020.

Unfortunately, on March 15th Nepal closed the border and cancelled all climbing permits due to COVID-19 spread. We think this was a smart and safe decision, but it hurt the tourism sector and especially all of the hard workers who rely on expedition fees and tips from international clients.

The money raised on this page will go directly to aid and support all of the Sherpas, guides, and porters that work for High Himalayan Climbing and Expeditions Ltd. They will use the money for their family’s daily lives, including rent, food, children’s education, and maintaining health and fitness so they can be climbing again when it is safe!

Porters, Sherpa Guides, and Staff’s Families will benefit a lot from this fund for Education, health and Daily for their living. Any donation will help make an impact. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause...it means so much to us.

Sherpa Jyamchang was hoping to raise US$5,000, so Nathan and I decided to see what we could do. Week after week we climbed the stairs in the basements. Climbers across Canada and the US joined us on our journey of reaching the summit by July 17. My friend Ally suggested that I set up a Facebook event, so this I did and on June 1 I posted this challenge:

Grandson Nathan, aged 10, and I started to virtually climb Mount Everest on April 14th. Climbing at 200 stairs/day, our plan is to reach the summit on July 17th. We want to see as many people as possible summit the mountain on that day with us (no limit!!). How many people can we fit on the summit of Everest? Here is your opportunity to be part of this adventure. There are several climbing options:

Gut Buster: Start now: Divide the number of days from today until July 17th into the total number of stairs (18,200) or total elevation (11,428 feet). Complete the climb by 4:10 p.m. July 17.

Killer Kramps: 8-day challenge: Start 8:00 a.m. July 10, finish 4:10 p.m. July 17 (2,275 stairs/day or 1,429 feet/day)

Extreme Everest: 4-day challenge: Start 8:00 a.m. July 14, finish 4:10 p.m. July 17 (4,550 stairs/day or 2,857 feet/day)

Summit Screamer: 1-day challenge: On 21 May 2004 Camp to the summit of Mt Everest in a time of 8 hours, 10 minutes, the fastest ever ascent of the Pemba Dorje Sherpa (Nepal) climbed from Base world’s highest mountain. Your challenge: Start 8:00 a.m. July 17, Finish 4:10 p.m. July 17 (18,200 stairs or 11,428 feet). Do you have what it takes??????

Rule #1: Use basement stairs, patio stairs, park stairs, stair climber, footstool or hill repeats (just keep track of your vertical gain/loss with your device).

The average cost to climb Mount Everest is $45,000. The registration for the Great Virtual Everest Charity Climb is a donation (any amount) to support the Sherpas and their families who have lost their jobs and livelihoods when the mountain closed on March 15th:

1. Pick an event (Start Now, Gut Buster, Killer Kramps, Extreme Everest or Summit Screamer)

4. Download: Route map, tracking sheet, bib, medal and certificate. Check “Recent Post” for downloads. (sorry, no shirt)

We quickly had 25 individuals who were joining us and 131 who were interested. Every week I would chat with Nathan and he would tell me something else he had found out about Mount Everest. This is the journal for the final day:

Day 95 of 95: Summit Everest: Friday July 17, 2020 (Elevation 29,028 feet: Stairs 18,200: Vertical height climbed 11,429 feet)

Sherpa Jyamchang woke us up early and we had breakfast. It was time for the final push. As we started to the top we could see a worm of light slowly moving up a dark wall. It was the headlights of climbers flickering in the dark. It was completely silent. Nobody was talking. We climbed and climbed, waiting for the first ray of dawn. It was desperately cold and there were some very icy parts. The ice axe and crampons barely cut into the ice.

We reached the Balcony and Sherpa Jyamchang gave us all new oxygen bottles. Ever upwards, we reached a small plateau of the South Summit and there – just around the corner – was Everest summit itself! Continuing on, as we pushed towards our goal, Sherpa Jyamchang helped us over the final challenge.... The Hillary Step. Finally, we reached another white edge, but this time it didn’t continue. Looking over the edge, there was a slope down instead. This was the North side of Everest. Nanatuk Nathan, Mountaineer Martin and Sherpa Jyamchang had reached the summit.

Nanatuk Nathan, age 11, completed the Great Virtual Everest Charity Climb on July 17. His journey took him from Base Camp to the Summit and back to Base Camp. In total he climbed 18,200 stairs (11,428 feet vertical) in 95 days. Not only that but he also helped raise over US$1,400 for a group of Sherpas who have lost their jobs due to the closure of Mount Everest. When asked how it felt to have summited Everest, Nanatuk Nathan said, “It was good, it took a lot of work to get there. But every day we did a lot of steps and in the end we got there.” Well done, Nanatuk Nathan...you did it!

The Great Virtual Everest Charity Climb undertaken by Mountaineer Martin and Nanatuk Nathan introduced us to a group of strong, fearless man and women, boys and girls. The other key member of the “Three Amigos” was Jyamchang Bhote Sherpa Salaka. Jyamchang guided us to the top of Everest and we will forever be in his debt.

Supporting us every step of the way was Mountaineer Nanatuk Nathan’s mum Klemheist-Knot Kristina. Nanatuk Nathan also had help from Brother Merkel Matthew, Jamming Joshua, Leashless Lewis the dog and Bashie Bones the cat.

Joining us on the adventure were a number of organizers and climbers. These included Alpine Ally, who spread the word about this amazing adventure; Crampon Charlie, a top US mountaineer and “Twinkie” fan; K2 Kristiana and her kids Twist-Lock Teague (15) and Leavittation Lucia (12); Munter-hitch Manon and Kneebar Kurt, who had both been to Base Camp before and gave us some great intel; and Summit Steve and his family.

Donors (and climbers) included Crash-Pad Carolyn, Skyhook Shane, Jib Joanne, Heel-hook Helen, BigWall Brett, Cowbell Cathy, Rebolting Roy, Jug-hold Jon, Lock-off Lydia, Jumar Joanna, Skitting Sirra, Mono Malc, Liquid-chalk Laura, High-ball Hiro, Cut-loose Chris, Cheese Grater Catherine, Mantel Marilyn, Adze Ashley and Prusik Patti. Finally, I want to thank Mountaineer Martin’s wife Sherpa Sue, who was with him every step of the way.

During the virtual Everest attempt I was busy with my Rotary work. I’ve been a member of the Rotary Club of Cochrane since 2011 and this year I’ve taken up the role of District Governor Elect for District 5360. It’s been a very difficult year for the organization as all club meetings had to be cancelled. Very quickly we went from face-to-face to Zoom meetings But it had proven to be an extremely stressful time for members.

Also, during the virtual ascent of Everest I received an email from the Boston Marathon organizers stating that the 2020 running, already postponed until September, would now be a virtual event, and anyone originally registered could either receive a full refund or participate in the virtual marathon, which could be run any time between September 7 and September 14.

Registration is now open for the 124th Boston Marathon Virtual Experience! The virtual race is open only to participants who were originally entered in the Boston Marathon scheduled for April 20, 2020.

The fee to register for the 124th Boston Marathon Virtual Experience is $50. The link below will bring you to your unique registration page. Entries are not transferable to other athletes nor are they deferrable to future events.

I registered right away and the next day I got the news that my entry into the 124th Boston Marathon Virtual Experience had been accepted.

During this time another source of inspiration was from Tobias Weller. Tobias is a 9-year-old lad from Sheffield, England, who has cerebral palsy and the awesome power of autism. On May 31, using his walker, he completed a marathon, walking day after day, up and down his street. In total it took him 70 days and he raised over £80,000 for the Sheffield Children’s Hospital and Paces Special School.

But this wasn’t enough for Captain Tobias. He decided that he wanted to do a second marathon, this time using a race runner. When I read about Tobias I knew I wanted to support him. Sue suggested I send him a copy of Marathon Quest. Unfortunately we didn’t know the address so we popped the book into an envelope and put: TOBIAS WELLER, THE MARATHON BOY, SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND. A week later I Donors (and climbers) included Crash-Pad Carolyn, Skyhook Shane, Jib Joanne, Heel-hook Helen, BigWall Brett, Cowbell Cathy, Rebolting Roy, Jug-hold Jon, Lock-off Lydia, Jumar Joanna, Skitting Sirra, Mono Malc, Liquid-chalk Laura, High-ball Hiro, Cut-loose Chris, Cheese Grater Catherine, Mantel Marilyn, Adze Ashley and Prusik Patti. saw this post on twitter: A marathon guy from Canada called @MartinJParnell sent me a package and it reached me! Well done to the postal service and thank you to Martin.

Since then Tobias has been pushing towards the finish line, and on Saturday, August 1, he made it. Tobias had family and friends all around him and one very special guest, Jess Ennis-Hill, 2012 Women’s Heptathlon Olympic Champion. Tobias pipped her at the post. The final leg of the marathon challenge was shown on Facebook live and people around the world were cheering Tobias on. At this point over £149,000 has been raised for the charities and he’s going for £150,000.

Is that it for Tobias? Is he going to fold up his race runner and go home? I very much doubt it. When you watch Tobias on video you can hear the passion in his voice and the see the fire in his eyes. This story is very far from over. GO Tobias GO!

My training continued during the summer and eventually the big day arrived....The Virtual Boston Marathon on Saturday, September 12. I was joined by running buddy Ken and my nephew Chris. I had thought about a number of options for the route, but in the end there was one that stood out, the Cochrane Foothills Marathon Course.

This course was measured by Marcel LaMontagne and verified by Athletics Canada on November 16, 2009. The route starts at the intersection of Horse Creek Road and Highway 22 just outside of Cochrane. It then heads west for 4.6 km before going north on Grand Valley Road. At the 20 km mark it turns east on to Township Road 280. After another 4 km it goes south on Horse Creek Road and all the way back to Highway 22 for the marathon finish.

This is the route I took in 2010 for the first 28 marathons of Marathon Quest 250, and I didn’t run it again until September 12, 2020. Race day was clear and warm and the three amigos came in at 4:49:36. Job done!