Adventure in Antarctica

In last Friday’s column, two-time Guinness world record holder Eddie Vega shared his experience in trying to run a full marathon barefoot throughout the Seven Continents in 2013. The Leyte-born IT expert fell short in one continent, Antarctica where he was shoeless for only 8.7 miles before his feet were bloodied over the course of gravel and jagged rocks. Vega completed the rest of the 26.2 mile distance wearing a pair of running shoes.

“If it was just an average runner or even an elite marathoner, for that matter, either would have quit the race after sustaining my kind of injury,” says Vega. “In my case, however, I sensed that something might have changed me after I shook hands with Col. Glenn Frazier, a World War II Prisoner of War survivor from the Bataan Death March and author of ‘Hell’s Guest.’ I met him at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico the year before. When the thought of quitting crosses my mind in any kind of project, all I think about is how Col. Frazier and other Death March survivors were able to endure much harsher conditions during their 128K (80 miles) march from Bataan to Camp O’Donnell. That thought keeps me going because whatever pain and suffering I experience would be all relative in comparison to what the POWs endured.”

In Vega’s marathon resume, two of the seven events he’s run in the Philippines were the Bataan Death March Ultras – the first was a 102K distance in 2014 and the second a 160K stretch in 2015. Clearly, Vega’s encounter with Col. Frazier led to participating in the back-to-back Bataan Death March Ultra Marathons if only to relive the ordeal of the POWs and honor their courage.

Although Vega didn’t finish the Antarctica marathon barefoot, that didn’t stop him from running the rest of the Seven Continents shoeless. He started out with two barefoot marathons in Arizona to cover North America and Chile to cover South America. The third continent was Antarctica. The fourth was Asia and Vega conquered the continent at the Bohol International Marathon in the Philippines. The fifth was Oceania which he ticked off by running the Sydney Marathon in Australia. The sixth was Africa where he ran the Haile Gebrselassie Marathon in Ethiopia. Gebrselassie, now 43, is a celebrated Ethiopian long-distance runner who won the gold medal in the 10,000-meter distance at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. Vega named Gebrselassie and another Ethiopian Abebe Bikila as his marathon heroes. Finally, the seventh continent was Europe as Vega was a finisher at the Athens Classic Marathon. The journey started in Arizona on Feb. 2, 2013 and ended in Greece on Nov. 10 that same year.

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A marathon that turned out to be a misadventure for Vega was when he was hit by a car along the route in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in May 2014. He was in the process of establishing a Guinness world record of running the most barefoot marathons in a year. At that point, he had already completed 26 barefoot marathons. Vega would later set the Guinness mark of 101.

Vega was about 15 minutes late from the start and a few miles into the run when crossing an intersection, a car struck him from behind. Because he trailed the pack, the attention of the spectators, police and media was on the pacesetters so nobody noticed the car entering the marathon route. Vega’s right foot was hit by the vehicle and the momentum pushed him backwards onto the hood. He slid off the hood and fell flat on the pavement. Paramedics rushed to his aid and an ambulance brought him to a hospital for X-Rays of his foot and lower spinal lumbar. He was cleared of injuries.

“I think it was Divine Intervention that saved me from getting injured and more importantly, saved my life,” he says. “I always wear the Seiko watch that my father gave me long before I started running marathons. I wear it for every single marathon I run and on the day I got hit by the car, I noticed that the watch had stopped working. It wasn’t until about four hours later after I had already left the hospital emergency room that the watch started working again. The really odd thing about this is that it was just a few months ago when I visited my Dad’s grave in Guam. I asked him for guidance and protection while I pursue the Guinness world record. After visiting his grave, my watch completely stopped working but it started working again about eight hours later for no reason at all. I had not even changed the battery.”

After the Kalamazoo mishap, Vega went on to run 75 barefoot marathons and booked a total of 101 from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2014. Guinness has recognized the feat as a world record. That year, Vega ran 102 marathons but one was a 102K Ultra with shoes. Overall, the distance he covered running barefoot was 2,646.2 miles or 4,258 kilometers. He could have completed up to 105 barefoot marathons but failed to finish in four. Curiously, he did 21 back-to-back marathons, 18 of which were in different time zones. Vega’s other Guinness world record was running the most barefoot marathons on consecutive days with 10 from June 28 to July 7, 2014.

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Vega says he wore a GoPro on his chest focused on his feet, as required by Guinness, to prove that he actually ran barefoot in setting the world record. “I wasn’t allowed to put any protection on my feet such as duct tape, invisible skin, super glue or even band aid,” he notes. “Needless to say, I had to run with open cuts on my soles in several marathons.”

Vega was born in Bato, Leyte and migrated to Guam with his family when he was six. His father Charlie was a merchant marine and general manager of a retail store while his mother Rita was an elementary school teacher. His parents are now deceased. Vega has lived in Raleigh, North Carolina, for nearly 30 years. Four sisters live in California and Florida and a brother in North Carolina. Vega has three children Delayna, 32, Melissa, 26 and Megan, 21, and four grandchildren.

Vega, who runs to raise awareness for over 300 million shoeless children all over the world, has taken his cause to Asia. Aside from the seven marathons he has completed in the Philippines, he did the Great Wall of China twice (the second was a barefoot half-marathon) and barefoot marathons in Bangkok and Vietnam. After he married his marathon partner Nilda Sergio of Iriga City in Hilongos, Leyte, in 2015, Vega and his bride went to Vietnam for their honeymoon which was timed with a barefoot run in Danang.

“I’ve thought of organizing a barefoot run although not necessarily a full marathon,” he says. “I just don’t have the time considering I still work full-time and travel 90 percent of the time as an IT consultant. One of these days, I’ll make time. I’m sure to raise a lot of money for shoeless children if I ever organize a barefoot run.”

As for running competitively, the 57-year-old Vega says that’s not in his agenda. “Every time I train to improve my time, I always seem to get injured,” he says. “It’s probably a combination of aging and improper training because I get too eager to improve my time. Besides, it takes the fun out of running a marathon when I get too concerned about finishing a fast time instead of enjoying the run by talking to as many people as I can to spread the word about my charity.”