What it takes to win the Antarctic Ice Marathon
How this Texas man won the World’s Southernmost Marathon
Eleven miles into the marathon, the 39-year-old Texas man put away his Shokz headphones, becoming one of the few to use Pandora in Antarctica.
When it comes to having Wi-Fi 600 miles from the South Pole, he could thank Elon Musk, who visited the continent the past summer on an alien expedition. Mike didn’t know if Elon found ETs, and he didn’t care. He was just thankful Starlink allowed him to listen to modern rock as a distraction from the -20°F temperature. But now the headphones were out. He knew he didn’t travel 9,000 miles from home to listen to music. He came for healing.
To the sound of katabatic winds and his steps crunching the snow, he started to replay his life. He hoped to find the answer to the one question he’d been asking for the past year: “How’d I end up here?”
The move
Just three years earlier, in March 2020, Mike and his wife had twin boys. They already had a two-year-old son. Juggling three boys in a global pandemic was more than a challenge for Mike and his wife — it was a strain on their marriage. If it takes a village to raise a kid, then what do you do when you have three kids and the village is in lockdown?
Hope came in June of 2022. Mike’s wife got a promotion that moved their family from Atlanta to Texas. Mike thought a new place could be what the family needed to find their new normal. But that didn’t exactly pan out.
By the end of October, just four months into the move, Mike’s wife came home from a work trip with words nobody expects to hear in their lifetime: “I can’t do this marriage anymore.”
After seven years of marriage, Mike’s wife wanted a divorce. And the move that Mike saw as an opportunity to start fresh became the move that left him on his own.
He’d never thought about everything that comes with a divorce — from keeping up with the paperwork to finding a rental by himself to explaining the changes to his three sons — he was drowning in unchartered waters in a new city.
The plan
There were moments of depression, where Mike felt like a failure. He worried what his three boys would think about him. He didn’t want them to see their dad as a defeated and weak man. The isolation made it all worse. Making friends in a new city at the age of 39 is hard. And working from home didn’t help. Mike was suffering alone and most of the mainstream advice felt wrong.
“Start going wild on the dating apps.”
“Have some drinks 7 nights a week.”
“Go make experiences and become a whole new person.”
“Sleep around.”
“Get antidepressants.”
None of the stereotypical prescriptions felt right for Mike.
He came back to something his former boss told him years ago:
“Your strengths are your opportunities.”
Since the age of 15, one of Mike’s greatest strengths has been running. The former Penn State runner thought he might be able to run his way to healing. But what would that look like? He’d already run a few marathons. He needed a new challenge — a challenge so difficult that it created a new structure and demanded his entire focus.
One race had been on Mike’s bucket list for years. But he’d never have a good enough reason to train and pay for it. With a price tag of $21K, The Antarctic Ice Marathon had always been a pipe dream. But now he had a reason to take a risk.
In January of 2023, Mike signed up for the race also known as the World’s Southernmost Marathon. The race was in December. He had 11 months to prepare.
The race date of December 13th became a beacon of hope for Mike — something he could look forward to and train toward every day of the year. The race date was also the same week as the BMW Dallas Marathon. Mike joined the Coppell Running Club and trained with other people preparing for the marathon in Dallas. He started to log miles. But more importantly, he started to build community.
One of the best parts of running is that it removes distractions. When you run with others there aren’t many options beyond talking. You’re encouraged to ask questions, listen, and share. And a little pain lowers the walls. You trade stories. You get vulnerable. When this happened with Mike, he heard stories of hope from people who’d been divorced. He heard their pain and saw how they’ve come out the other side as better people. He started to feel like he wasn’t alone.
“It’s a shame physical activity is not a stronger prescribed recommendation. We’re so quick to throw antidepressants at someone without actually helping them do the hard work of healing in a natural way.” — Mike
The training created community and structure. Instead of going for drinks on Friday nights, he cooked pasta dinners and went to bed early in preparation for Saturday morning long runs.
The race also gave him a talking point with his boys. He got to show his oldest son Antarctica on a map and tell him about the vast, white landscape and what it would be like to run on it. He got to show his boys a hopeful, hardworking dad who hadn’t given up on life or them.
But there was still one problem: Mike lived in Texas, where 100-degree temperatures are more common than sweater weather. How was he going to train for sub-zero weather?
Paul Norris, a South African runner and manager of the local Fleet Feet, had the answer. Paul told Mike to go on runs when it’s the hottest point of the day. He explained that if you can train in extreme conditions — like 110 degrees — then you’ll be ready for all sorts of extreme conditions. Mike thought he had to get ready for the cold. But Paul showed him something more important: building resiliency.
Mike did most of his runs with the Coppell Running Club, but in the heat of the day, he’d run a few miles by himself. He was averaging 55-60 miles a week. He was fit and ready to go with no expectations other than running a race he’d be proud of.
The Coppell Running Club threw him a going-away party, and then he was off to his 9,000-mile-long journey.
The race
About 70 runners took the flight from Chile to Antarctica, where they landed on a blue-ice runway in Union Glacier.
There were runners from over 20 countries, including Finland, Denmark, Russia, and Switzerland — places used to the cold. They all camped in clam tents at Union Glacier in the remote southern Ellsworth Mountains. No running water, no electricity, and nowhere to go. Mike had to face himself.
The Coppell Running Club gave him letters that he saved for the night before the race. In his sleeping bag with the wind whipping against his tent, he read every letter. Tears streaming, he realized his new normal: he wasn’t alone.
Thanks to Elon’s Starlink, the event could be live-streamed for the first time in its 18-year history. His community in Coppell, Texas would be watching, and he wanted to make them proud.
The race was four 10k loops. The start was sludge because it’s where the most activity was. One section of the loop forced the runners to face the 25 mph wind head-on. Another section was more bearable because the winds were calm and the sun was out. The loop felt like a frozen hell mixed with a brief reprieve. Loops that followed a similar pattern to Mike’s life for the past year.
Thirteen miles in, Mike was in second place by three minutes. In a time of 1:53, he was running about 8:40 per mile. On the third loop, he noticed the leader stopped to stretch his hamstring. Mike took the lead. He also found his advantage.
Runners had to wear so much gear that one of the health risks was overheating. But if you shed layers, your sweat would freeze and could make an already extremely challenging race even more difficult. The man who trained through the summers of Texas wasn’t suffering from overheating. He was staying steady and thinking of what it would mean to bring home a win back to his community.
At mile 23, Mike was gassed and stopped for Gatorade. When he looked back, expecting to get passed, he didn’t see anyone. He realized he just had to hang on for three miles to win the race.
“How’d I end up here?”
He kept replaying his life. Thinking of his three sons. His running community. His healing journey. He’d traveled 9,000 miles to run 26.2. One year of navigating a nightmare wasn’t enough to feel completely restored, but it was enough for him to be proud of how far he’d come. On the starting line, he was already grateful, but now, he was overwhelmed by the future. He could see the finish line, and it looked like hope.
Mike held on and won The Antarctic Ice Marathon in a time of 4:01.
The return
When Mike returned home, his running club hosted a happy hour.
Wes Mays, the Mayor of Coppell, named January 9th Michael Higgins Appreciation Day. Mike had only been a resident there for a year and a half, but the community was proud to claim him forever.
His trophy is now proudly showcased in Paul Norris’s Fleet Feet.
But what he’s most proud of is showing his boys the power of community and resiliency. Mike shares:
“One of the most inspirational quotes I’ve ever heard is from the 2006 film Rocky Balboa where he shares with his son ‘It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!’
I hope anyone who reads my story can find inspiration to commit to a healthy form of exercise and know they are not alone when life hits. It can be uncomfortable at first putting yourself out there and being vulnerable, but you would be amazed how kindness in humanity still exists that you would have never known otherwise.”
The epilogue
On MLK Day in 2024, just one month after the race and one year after signing up for it, Dallas experienced a snowstorm. Mike thought it was perfect. “I have all of this gear. I might as well use it and go on a run.” A few miles in, he slipped on an ice patch and busted his ankle. He fractured his tibia and fibula and needed surgery. Thankfully, he didn’t have to suffer alone. His new girlfriend — who he met through his running club — cared for him as he healed from the most ironic injury north of the South Pole.
