Atacama Crossing Blogs 2009

Christian Zagal

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Atacama Crossing (2009) blog posts from Christian Zagal

30 March 2009 09:15 am (GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi

Stage 1 & 2 are finally over. The 1st one took me about 5:50 hr and the 2nd 8:20.
Stage 1 (35 km) was cruel especially the altitude and the hills. I got cramps all over my body right after crossing the finish line. I properly pushed my body to hard and the penality is waiting. Oh boy did i get punished in stage 2 (41,1 km). I was forced to walk from checkpoint 1 out of 3 cp. The course was hard but with a fantastic view of the andes mountains. We had a lot of rivercrossing and we also have to sanddunes to get through. It seems to me that i cant get rid of my cramps and I was struggling. the sun is very hot in the desert and i got burned.
Kristine (my girlfriend) is sweeping the course today and she hasnt come in yet. Im just looking forward to see her in the camp.
at least 5 have dropped out of 83 runners. well lets see how im doing tomorrow.
 
 
Etape 2: saa er jeg kommet imaal og jeg er faerdig faerdig faerdig. hele dagen har vaeret praeget af kramper. Jeg bebrejder mig selv at jeg har forceret mig selv for haardt igaar. idag betalte jeg prisen og jeg maatte gaa fra checkpoint 1 ud af 4. Selve ruten var en draber, men med en fantastisk udsigt, en masse floder skulle krydses, store sandbanker, flere km bakker og en masse oerken. Derudover var solen rimelig haard. jeg er blevet forbraendt hvilket er ret unormalt.
Har vaeret til laegen for at faa et checkup. Jeg er oem over det hele, og paa smertestillende. Heldigvis har jeg kun faet 1 vabel. 
Nu vil jeg bare have lidt soevn, saa jeg kan blive klar til imorgen. Etapen imorgen er omkring 42 km og den bliver haard.
 
Godnat herfra
Christian

Comments: Total (2) comments

Posted On: 31 Mar 2009 12:36 pm

Hej Christian... Hvor du får energien og kræfterne fra, ja - men under alle omstændigheder ta'r jeg hatten af for jer. Det er utrolig flot gået. Håber du kommer dig hurtigt over de første par dage, og husk så at passe lidt bedre på dig selv.;o)) Fortsat go' tur. Mange hilsner Mona

Posted On: 31 Mar 2009 07:32 am

Hej. Så dig på en video på vej ned af en sandbanke i fin stil. Jeg synes du er for rå.... God tur. Hilsen Niels

26 March 2009 10:15 am (GMT-04:00) Santiago

Hi there,
Finally after almost 40 hours of transportation we arrived yesterday at Hotel Tulor at 9:30 pm, one of many hotels in San Pedro. Along the trip I hooked up with several other runners and I can already feel this race will be a lot of fun. My girlfriend Kristine is also very eager to meet the other volunteers.
The weather is quite warm and dry and San Pedro is a desert city covered with a rusty color.  

Right now I am just hanging out and taking it easy.

Write you later

Christian
www.adventurerun.dk
 

Comments: Total (2) comments

Posted On: 30 Mar 2009 08:59 am

Hi - C Hope you enjoy everything - even when it gets tough. HELD OG LYKKE - Jens K

Posted On: 27 Mar 2009 10:34 am

Hi Christian, good luck! Mary

23 February 2009 05:37 am (GMT+01:00) Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris

Hey everybody,
I hope all of you are doing great and will be fit to the big event

About my own training, there has been ups and downs, mostly ups. Since last time I wrote (in November) I have been testing shoes and other items but I have not fully decided what to bring. 

For a long time it has been more than hard to find the Inov-8 F-Lite 300 shoes, but I have them now and I can not wait to try them on.  
I got a brandnew 32 L backpack from OMM, I tried out the 25 L OMM and 25 L Salomon Raid, but they are both too small. 
Mini Gaiters from Raid Light, which you should not use in places with thorn bushes. I have been patching my gaiters with puncture and sewing kit... 
I still don't know if I should wear long or short sleeves during the stages..I might bring both with me.. About the poles..I still don't know.. I will try to make a equipment list before departure.

What else have I been doing? Oh yeah I still try to keep my pace down. For some reasons I tend to overdue my pace, so coach Jacob is helping me to slow down. Speaking of which, Jacob is designing my programs, so I really hope it will pays off. So rigth now I have a training pace with a 6 kg packback between 6-6,5 min/km

I have minor injuries and for some reasons I was lucky winner of getting staphylococcus on my shinbones...How the hell do you get staphylococcus?? I have no clues but it has been itching so much....

Fortunately it is all over now..thank you my pink pills 

BTW Kristine and I will be in San Pedro 25th of March, will there be runners there??

Happy training and see you in Chile

Christian
http://www.adventurerun.dk/uk/indexuk.html

Comments: Total (3) comments

Posted On: 24 Mar 2009 10:37 am

Rigtig go tur og pas godt på dig selv. I wish you luck

Posted On: 23 Feb 2009 09:54 pm

I fly into Santiago on 23rd so I reckon I'll be in San Pedro 24th/25th. See you there!

Posted On: 19 Feb 2009 10:19 am

I arrive in San Pedro on the night of the 24th so see you both there - not long now - agh!!

26 November 2008 09:11 am (GMT+01:00) Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna

Well it’s about time I start writing a new blog. In the last few months I have been running marathons in Berlin and New York , which have been a lot of fun. I managed to run below 3 hours in Berlin and 3:04 in NY. The last one was a tough cookie.

 

Anyway my couch Jacob has started to intensify my training. And it’s hard.

 

 

I thought I was looking for a pair of shoes to run the Atacama. But Jacob recommended me a pair of shoes from Inov-8: F-lite 300:

 

 http://inov-8.com/Products-Detail.asp?PG=PG1&P=5050973088&L=26

 

 

So I am properly taking his advice and buy these babies. I have so many questions about equipment and what to wear and to bring. For instance: do I need polls? Do I need a fancy sleep mat? How much food do I have to bring? When I was racing the Jungle Marathon last year, I was starving the last 2 days of the race.

 

 

My girlfriend Kristine is coming with me, as a supporter for the racing the planet. I really hope she will get a superb experience of the race. You can all rest easy; I will not get any special treatment – on the contrary.

 

 

Well that’s all for now.

 

See you soon.

 

Chris

 

 

 

 

Comments: Total (1) comments

Posted On: 12 Jan 2009 11:27 am

Hi Christian, just wanted to wish you luck in the Atacama Crossing. Mary

26 August 2008 03:12 am (GMT+01:00) Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris

Hi there,

First at all I am very pleased to be a part of this great race. I have heard so much about it.

Second I am a novice within desertracing so I am looking forward to try this kind of footrace out.

My training is not focoused yet, but it will be 100 % after I have finished Berlin Marathon and NYC Marathon this fall.

I will try to blog every month how my training is going but be patient. :o)

 

Meanwhile check out my website: http://www.adventurerun.dk  

Bests

Christian 

 

Comments: Total (0) comments