by John Huston

This is a long expedition and in many ways it's an expedition of self care. The better we take care of our bodies and minds the greater our chance for success. So we structure our expedition around that idea and gain a bunch of weight beforehand so that we wouldn't be burning muscle when the cold hit us in the beginning.  And we also have very strict routines which we adhere to, to propel the expedition northward efficiently and safely, but also to take care of our bodies and make sure we're getting enough sleep. So far, things are going very, very well. We have had very little complication physically 

Tyler started the expedition with a cough and cold, and a kind of a nasty illness that he picked up in Iqaluit. And after three weeks or so it dissipated quite a bit and now it's finally gone. He has taken no medications; he's stretching a bit more to help knots that are forming in his legs, and that seems to be working well. He's got a little slight bit of frosting on his left cheek and the left side of his nose and that's clearing up. His fingers have been numb a bit and they are still a bit dull, but they are working fine and there is no damage. And he has no chronic aches or pains. He has a little bit of chilblains on his thighs and those are healing up. Chilblains are the very surface level of frostbite or frost nip and they kind of feel like a bruise and then they itch and then they clear up.

I am doing well. I have very little to complain about. I have taken four Excedrin and that's due to some headaches at two different times, no problem. I had some minor inner thigh chafing and that has been cleared up, but it can potentially be a serious issue if legs are chafing quite a lot. And I have pretty good chilblains on my outer thighs, but they don't itch and I'm taking care of those, just no problem.

We are hungrier than we have been in the past, but we're happy with our food. We eat the same food everyday, but we love it. Everyday, no joke, we look forward to every meal. And we love the taste of the food and we're happy with the amount of the food, we feel we have enough calories.

We've lost most of the weight that we're going to lose on the expedition.  We started 20, 25 pounds heavier than our normal body weight that we would have if we were ski racing and we have lost most of that fat, if not all of it. We'll probably lose a few more pounds from this point forward, but we're definitely skinnier people than when we started the expedition 33 days ago.

That is the medical update. Really we are super pleased. We have no blisters on our feet. We have a few split skin issues on the tips of our fingers, but that's normal. And we have no pulled muscles or anything that's really wearing on us. Cross your fingers that that stays the same and so will we and we will check in tomorrow. Happy 86th everybody.

Daily Expedition Data
Date: April 3rd, 2009
Location: N86° 00.274' W074 46.742'
Time Traveled: 10 hours 30 minutes
Distance Traveled: 10.4 nautical miles
AM Temperature: -22°F (5:30), -10°F (8:30)
PM Temperature: -20°F
sunny and warm, GREAT weather, no wind/SWpuffs