Well, we all have survived the 47mi stage 5. The day started at 9am with 9mi of brutal salt flats. The flats reeked havoc on our shoes. The bottoms of our shoes are completely shredded and have lost all support and traction. One wouldn’t believe just how sharp and undulating these flats are. The run encompassed all sorts of terrain. We had a 400’ high dune on the side of mountain we had to summit, followed by jagged rock followed by another slot canyon, followed by two dry waterfalls that we actually had to have help getting down… in the dark. I believed overall I am in tenth place with a 18-20 min lead over the next runner with 9.7k to go.

Today was our rest day which was definitely needed. I had to have two toenails re-drilled, four blisters popped on my left foot, and only one blister drained on the other foot. I had a blister on the bottom of my forefoot drained which was categorized by the doctor as a “gusher.” I was also told three of my toes are infected on my left foot to which they gave me antibiotics. The pain in my left foot was so bad last night I needed to wake the doctors and get two Advil and two vikaden in order to fall asleep. I can tell you I have NEVER experience pain in my foot that bad. It seemed as if someone was holding a flame to the ball of my foot. Even after falling asleep I was apparently moaning in pain according to the runners in the next tent over.

After seeing the doctors today, we cleaned ourselves and our clothes up as best we could. We also ate what food we had. To say I am hungry would be an understatement. I was given a quarter of an apple and even ate the core part. I also got a half bag of broken chips in a zip lock bag and proceeded to lick out every crumb. I think the past five days of running have kicked my metabolism into overdrive. We have spent hours today discussing what food we’d love to have most. Every thing from beacon and eggs to steak to pizza to cheeseburgers has come up… along with a ice cold coke of course. I plan on having all of the above when I come home, and lots of it! Last night while running I was dreaming of grilled hotdogs with lots of onions and mustard watching any baseball game then having a big bucket of buttery popcorn.. yummy. Anyway, it has also been nice to know that Dean said of all the races he has done, this one by far has been the hardest.

On that note we are all looking forward to tomorrow’s final stage. However, we just learned there will be three different start times…10,11, and noon. I no doubt will be in the noon wave making me wait even longer to get some real food. A person can only stand so many freeze dried meals. Will talk to you soon.. brad

Words from Matt-  Sorry we missed everyone on day 4 of the run it was particularly hard day with a hard push across some rocky moon like terrain in the beginning.  We dropped into a valley down some sand dunes and sand waterfalls into a slot canyon where we spent quite a lot of time slogging down a creek bed.  After the check point we spilled into a small village on the edge of the desert.  My time with the reps in Hialeah really paid off as I had my Pesos with me and knew how to ask – Donde esta la groceria? – I was able to pop into a small store and grap an orange fanta and a couple of cokes – Jim and I downed the fanta and then pushed into the desert.  Across the salt flats Mimi joined up with us and we   helped her across – we had a ½ coke every 30-45 minutes and it was a godsend!

We all 3 pushed to the final camp through a sand and rain storm with a 40 mile headwind- what fun!!!!  On the long day Brad, Jim and I started with the 2^nd group at 9:30.  We made great time across the flats and continued to push each other hard.  Jim had a groin pull around the 2^nd CP but continued to press on.  We really enjoyed passing the many friend we made along the way – Mark (from ) Roy (from ) and many others.  We climbed a 600ft  plus sand dune and again crossed the moon many times over.  As the night closed we soldiered through the CPs up to the Valley of the Moon. In the Dark at the last CP we were joined by Mimi as she caught up to Jim and I.  The valley of the moon cannot be described here! – I hope there are adequate pictures.  The cliffs, caves and climbs were amazing.  We made good time and came in to the camp at 11:30 pm just at our goal of 14 hours for the 48 plus mile trek!  We finished 18^th and 19^th  overall having passed all but 3 of the guys who started 1 hour ahead of us. 

I am feeling strong still.  Lost a few pounds, have a couple of extra blisters on the feet but otherwise great!  I really miss my WIFE!!! I love you Michelle!  Tell all the urchins – Collin Aidan and McKenna I send my love and will definitely play with them for hours on the new swing when I get home.  And Jessi – a special Happy 15^th Birthday to my Princess!  I love and miss you all.  I will try to call once the  race is over… 10k more to go.   

As for Brad – he is in a lot of pain and his feet are really screwed up – he will finish but will be paying for his excellent effort for many months to come….Jim is in good shape and the groin pull seems to have subsided! 

We are all sitting around camp today soaking up the sun, fixing our feet and preparing to close the chapter on this book.  Thanks to everyone for the great e-mails – I have made great new friends here, but I cherish the ones back home – and look forward to making new friends there, too!!! I love you Michelle, Jessi, Collin, Aidan & McKenna! 

Ben & Peggy- you are never far from our thoughts – we are dedicating this race to  you guys!

Life is good – remember, When you hold a torch to light another’s path you also light your own!

How does getting hurled 10ft in the air followed by sliding 10ft on your back sound? That is what happened AFTER today’s stage. I had just gotten into the tent when a horrible storm came. The winds were so strong that it tossed me the above distance and took my poles, tent, and water and tossed them 150 yards away to the edge of a salt flat. I suffered scrapped knuckles, knee, slightly dislocated thumb, and I landed so hard I dented my metal food tin. All that was after running 25.7mi in the most horrid terrain. The salt flat we encountered today was god-awful. I suffered two new blisters and had one new toe nail drilled. I really suffered today with the salt flat due to the blisters on the balls of my feet. Unfortunately they did not numb up until the first check point.. after crossing several streams. It was still very slow going though. As of right now I sit in eighth place.. not sure how today will affect the standings. Tomorrow is going to be equally as tough as we start in the salt flats for 6mi. before continuing the reminder 41 miles. I don’t expect to blog until Friday morning/midday. I am expecting this stage to take between 14-17hours depending on the first stage.

Finishing yesterdays blog.. what ever I was going to say I have forgot due to the pain I am currently in. I finished about 45 min ago and have not taken off my shoes yet… I am too scared to see what they look like. The good news is they went after the second check point. The bad news is they hurt like a s.o.b. now. We crossed 1.5 of the most horrific terrain I have ever seen. These salt flats were excruciatingly painful. I am amazed I didn’t sprain an ankle. I guess it would be comparable to walking on a floor made of drywall with studs every 12”…if you happen to land on the stud your fine, if not your foot drops through... only you don’t know which step will be the stable one..fun! I lost my shoe twice in that stuff.

After the salt we faced razor sharp flat rock.. more fun. I think one might have actually cut into my shoe and taken off one of my nails… like I said, I have yet to look at my feet. I do think I might have blacked out for a second due to the pain. I did managed to pass a few racers in that area though.

At the end we encountered 3-4 200’ ft sand dunes in addition to having to scale a rock cliff of about two stories. I don’t remember what adjective I used when I saw the dunes and the cliff, but I am sure it was quite colorful.

Finally, I have had several occasions to talk with Dean K and I must say he is truly a great guy. He is very modest given his accomplishments and a great spokesman for the sport. I’ll report back after I visit the medical tent.

A few notes from Matt:  Yesterday was a fun packed day of misery!  We started by dropping into  a slot canyon and spent much of the first 7 or so miles in 40 degree water! I was in my element and had a distinct advantage with my poles during the crossings.  I was able to run with the Chilean team again and also with Team Trifecta.  Mimi Anderson is the top placed female on the race and is also one of my tent mates (Brad, Jim and the Chileans round out the crew).  She was having a tough go at it on the crossings so I helped her across the multiple crossings and she paced me through to CP 1.  The next stage was a tremendous climb with a passage through a tunnel – sketchy as it was built in 1930 and part of it was caving in! 

I met up with the Chileans again as they missed a turn and had to come back about a 3 mile round trip.  We pushed down a 300 ft sand dune and then to CP2.  I was feeling good but the altitude and incline were tough.  The majority of the day was a long push down a canyon to CP3 then an unforgiving slow incline into camp – long slow and flat.

My feet are holding out fine – one blister.  Jim ran into a bit of trouble breathing and almost had to quit the race!  He is suffering some lingering effects from a respiratory infection prior to the race.  The docs gave him an inhaler and it seems to be working fine.

Day 3 – Jim and I ran together for the full day – partly because of his breathing issues, partly because it gets pretty boring.  We overnighted at a salt lake and pushed out early across a grassy salt flat.  That was pretty good going and we made the first CP in about 1:30.  On to CP 2 was a steady run on varied rocky and sandy terrain.  The real trial came as we crossed a major salt flat for about 4 miles.  I busted my rear when I tripped over a root and landed squarely on my right elbow!  We were in some high grass and when Jim turned around, he couldn’t see me and I had to lift up my pole.  No permanent damage.  We pushed to CP3 and then on to the finish through some gorgeous and tough sand dunes, some picturesque gorges – I cant wait to show you all the pictures… I have been taking a ton. 

My feet are holding out great with only one blister on the back right heel – doing fine and missing all of you!  I was able to wish Jessi a happy birthday on the course with a videographer – they have promised to post it on the web site before her birthday – look for it, I was in particularly good humor!

Matt!

Day 2.

Gotta make this one short on account the cyber tent will be closing. Today was painful. The reason I didn’t make it here earlier was because I was in the medical tent getting two toe nails drilled out.. not a good sign this early in the race. Over all I did well placing 7^th… but I paid the price. It took me 3 hours just to get enough energy to make it out of my tent to the medical tent. The constant water crossings caught up on mile 22 when my feet started to ache more than I have ever experienced. More to come tomorrow as I am getting booted out.. tomorrow is another 26mi.

Endurance Trust day 1 run

Today started with chilling temps in the low 30’s. Thankfully by race time the temps rose to around 50. The day started out rough for myself. On the way to use the “bathroom”, I managed to get jabbed by a thorn, I also realized I failed to sync my ipod after spending an hour organizing new songs for this race. I also left my medical tape in the hotel, and the heart rate monitor in Ft. Myers . Additionally  both Matt and I had issues with our packs malfunctioning. Fortunately Matt was able to get his corrected where I was not. The constant jerry rigging cost me at lest 30min, a bent walking pole, and took significant effort to get corrected every time it went down.

The stage itself was both stunning and agonizing. Views of the Andes , slot canyons, and dry lake bed were the stunning part. The dry lake bed and the 5mi incline afterwards were the agonizing part. The issue with the dry lake bed was the softball sized rocks that littered the route. The medical tent reported seeing “several ankle sprains” as a result of the rocks. That part of the race got the most talk at camp due to its difficulty.

As for me being the first American this race.. well don’t hold your breath. I am racing against Dean Kanassas… Google “ultramarathon man and you will understand.

A few notes from Matt:  Like Brad said… a tough day.  The elevation at base camp was reading a scant 11,050 feet.  We have been training at 11 feet..  There is a definite difference – I know that I was sucking wind for the first 13 miles which were all at elevations upwards of 11,000 to 12,000 feet.  The scenery was spectacular but it was also unrelenting.  I ran with the Chilean team up to checkpoint 3.  they powered ahead of me as we crossed the big open plain and the 3 mile climb to checkpoint 4.  Made it in a bit slower than I had hoped for but every day finished is one day closer to the finish on April 5^th.  On a side note, Michelle had tasked me out to meet two people on this race – one Korean Runner who is blind and running with his son.  He also has a few friends helping guide and one of them was a runner who ran with me for about 3 hours on the long day at the Gobi in 2006.  The second is Dean Karnazes – he won today’s stage in a very competitive field.   I sat and spoke with him after the race – he is in the same tent as a few of my friend from the Sahara – Mark (from ) and Roy (from ).  He is a very solid character and a family man with a son the same age as Collin – and he is just as active!  Anyway, he asked me to make sure that I send Michelle his regards!

Until tomorrow!

We arrived in San Pedro around 6pm last night. The weather was perfect and the scenery beautiful. The accommodations were very “spa” like. Our room/hut had a straw roof, clay walls but a very swank look and feel. The three of us ate well on fresh salmon (of which I learned is the largest exporter in the world), home made soup, and home made ice cream. Yeah, home made ice cream in the driest desert in the world.

Today we finished the final packing of our gear, attended registration, got medical clearance, and unpacked our gear for our equipment check off. Thankfully the bus ride from the hotel to base camp 1 was only about 1.5 hours (compared to the 8 in the Sahara ). The weather as I type this entry is a very windy 60-65ish at the altitude of 12,000ft. The camp is actually situated in a dry lake bed roughly eight miles in circumference surrounded by moderate foothills. In the distance you can see the snow covered mountains of the Andes mountain range. To the east there is a stunning volcano that has yet to lose its top.. perfectly formed like the one in Finding Nemo. 

The first few hours at camp were quite interesting at the camp because we actually had a sand funnel (small tornado) hit the camp for about 45 seconds which ripped several tents from their anchor. I have never seen sand cause a whiteout.. you literally couldn’t see more than a foot outside the tent. It was actually quite scary from the inside of the tent with our faces buried in our gear to avoid the sand. The roar of the storm was about the same as a very loud train.

The expected morning temps should be around 40-45ish.. hopefully without the 30mph wind that is now blowing. The email/blog situation for this race is not live. We actually type the blog in MS WORD and the staff uploads the data daily when they go into town the following day. So I am assuming our emails are a day delayed as well. If all goes well tomorrow and we have any energy left, one of us will provide the update of  stage one.

“we run for Ben”

Team Endurance Trust

Well, we are at it again. The three of us (Brad, Matt, and Jim) making up the Endurance Trust (www.endurancetrust.org) are in route to our final destination of Calama, . As of now, we sit in Santiago, , on a layover, exchanging memories of our previous races and training excursions to alleviate the anticipation of our pending start on Sunday. I think all of us are wondering if we have properly prepared for what faces us in coming days. For me (Brad), I feel it’s too late worry!  I am focusing on staying properly hydrated, rested and loose. The latter two are a real challenge sitting in coach for the nine hour flight from Miami to Santiago .

As we sit here reflecting on our past accomplishments, we can’t help but remember all of you who have supported us to get to this point. Without your help, we would not be where we are. We would not be doing what we are about to do. We are eternally grateful for your emotional, spiritual, and financial support. We are thankful for those of you who allotted us the time to train by watching our children, pets, and house while we trained for this far away race. Clearly you had the harder and less glamorous assignment. Most of all though, we want to thank the one person who motivates us with the greatest purpose to run… Thank you Ben! You will be in our thoughts and hearts for every one of the 150 miles we run.

Our goal going forward is to never lose site of the individuals who got us here – our family and friends.  When we are in pain and cramping we will think of you.  Our motto of “Fortitude” – The ability to hang on when others have let go – will be put to the test once again.  When we our feet begin to produce more blisters than forward momentum, we will think of you. When our legs refuse to ascend the final hill, we will think of you. For all of you are the heart and soul that keeps us going. Please respond to our blog and email us with your encouragement because you do make a difference.

Also, for Matt, this race is taking on additional significance.  Peggy, his wife’s aunt and a survivor of breast cancer, has recently been diagnosed with metastatic brain cancer.   She joins the thousands of people – and their families – who will be waking up each day in the race of (and for) their lives.  It is for the wonderful people like Peggy and Ben, with their indefatigable spirit and sense of fortitude, that we dedicate our race!