The theme of the last part of 2020 for me was endurance. I quietly trained for a marathon which I completed in early December. Towards the end of my training and perhaps some of the hardest points, I picked up The Impossible First by Colin O’Brady. A fascinating read about the 2018 race across Antarctica between Colin O’Brady and Captain Louis Rudd. It helped me personally continue pushing myself on those cold November mornings through my long runs and encourage me to battle the freezing temperatures. I’ve always found Arctic explorers like Ernest Shackleton and Ronald Amundsen to be interesting and inspiring men. This book takes the reader on a modern day adventure while Colin O’Brady does a deep dive into his own personal psyche. A great book to get inspiration from to help you conquer your own personal challenges.
Starting on November 3rd, 2018, O’Brady writes, “Beginnings are simple. You take a step forward. If you’re going a thousand miles or a hundred yards, it’s the same. And maybe endings are simple, too – my finish line, should I succeed in reaching it, is a post pounded into the ice by the United States Geological Survey at the continent’s far side, on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.” Thus marking the beginning of a 48 day odyssey for O’Brady over 760 miles unsupported and most terrifying of all: alone. He loaded his sled down with over 400 pounds of essential gear and “Colin Bars” which were specifically designed for him by a company. A few days into the expedition with Captain Louis Rudd closely behind him, O’Brady was hit by an intense storm. He writes of the “whiteout”, “Whiteouts aren’t just about the strange blank light. I was prepared for that. What startled me was how much the whiteness grabbed onto me, pulled me in, and closed up the world even tighter, down to the little bubble of me and my sled. The light flattened completely, erasing the horizon of every defining boundary and eliminating all the contrasts of light and subtle differences of the ice.”
Other than the physical challenge which was immense, O’Brady had to fight his own mind. Being alone and unsupported in a challenge such as this brought out much more from Colin’s mind than perhaps initially expected, “As I went deeper into the textureless landscape, it began to seem that the texture of memory was everywhere, and that I wasn’t merely recalling events and conversations but real and starkly observed scenes as if in a waking dream. Then it went beyond even that, I found that in the vacuum of sensory deprivation, I was able to recall with sharpness and detail the whole tapestry of my life in the blur and distraction of the normal world I’d never have access to.” The intense feeling of loneliness is one I have periodically felt on camping trips or when I left college and started a new life. O’Brady felt this on a massive scale throughout his race. Being the only human being for miles in vast expanse of ice and snow. He kept pushing knowing that Rudd was on his trail. Not only did he have his goal to complete the challenge but O’Brady was in a race at the true end of the earth.
The book weaves the reader through the icy seventh continent while O’Brady reflects on his past, present and future. He recalls the deep love from his parents, his near crippling injury in Thailand that involved a fiery jumprope, his long suffering girlfriend, his dreams of becoming an olympic athlete and much more from beginning to end. The challenge in theory was simple: make it across Antartica but the reality of it, the pain, the suffering molding him into a finished product that was forged in subzero temperatures, deep reflection on life and the simple beginnings of a thought, a challenge and a goal. This book will inspire you to find your own challenge or if you are in the middle of one currently, it is an excellent resource to draw strength from. There is much to this book and it is worth your time as it portrays determination at it’s highest level.
Written by Michael McPhail
Colin O’Brady with his sled
Brains and Brawn 