We always knew the double marathon on stage five would be huge so we had prepared for it mentally. The four previous marathons had been gruelling but they were merely just a warm up for this day. The one thought that stuck with us was that once we had done this stage we had broken the back of the course. We were almost there.

The advice around camp from the pros was to think of it in stages rather than one big slog. We were warned that we were going to enter a whole new world of pain and the organisers told us at the morning briefing that the drop out rate was going to be high.
 

When we got up in the morning Pedro had his race face on. I could see he was in the right place. His injuries were gone and he was ready to give this one his all. I was still suffering from the foot problem but had been told that the only way of getting through the day was to zone out and not focus on the pain or I wouldn`t even make it to the first checkpoint.

As all 180 competitors edged towards the start line with the rocky theme tune blasting out, the sun was just coming up over the mountain range in the distance and spread light over vast desert spread out infront of us. It was terrifying to be honest.

The first part of the race was good, we set off for this first 20km at a pretty decent pace and covered them in two and a half hours. The course then took a turn for the worse and we entered a long stretch of horrible jagged rocky terrain that was impossible to run on. I kept on pushing reminding myself that day was early and it was not good to complain at this point. I past a Bret, a Canadian competitor who asked me how i was getting on .I told him about the foot  to which he said "Dude, the same thing happened to me on day one. If you let it take you over, you`ll never get through this.You need to be in charge of the pain, you need to be its master or you have no chance." I took his wise words on board an managed the pain.

As we turned a corner behind a mountain, a vast expanse opened up infront of us and in the far horizon we could see the world`s biggest sand dune, hundreds of meters high. It was a monster and we now had this beast staring down on us as. We had about 4km of very soft sand to run accross before we got to it and as we covered this I gradually begun to see the track. Not going diagonally accross making it easier to climb but going right up the center. Oh dear. I chucked some sports jelly beans in my mouth, took a big gulp of water, gritted my teeth and  took it on at full speed not stopping till I reached the summit.  

The rest of the day was relentless track that went on four hours and hours  through canyons accross plains and up mountains. In the mid afternoon heat, everything in your head is telling you to give up and throw in the towel. This distance in this heat just isn`t possible! ! You can`t do this! I had to keep pushing these thoughts aside and battling on with the fiish line still hours away.

I crossed the line in the dark with three other friends in an emotional state.  That day we had run 70km accross the driest desert in the world. Stage 5 - Tick.

I am in 67 position now out of the 180 competitors. Let`s hope I can hold onto this in Stage 6 where beers and pizza await on the finish line.

Thank you all so much for your messages.

Thank you all so much for your messages. Please keep them coming!

At the finish line each day we have a bloody sample taken by a doctor. Unfortunately, that doctor came to our tent last night to tell me I had severe dehydration and my kidneys weren`t in a good way. If I didn`t sort it out by the morning he was going to pull me from the race. This was pretty demotivating as you can imagine. My tent mates heard the news and stuffed me with about three litres of water and gave me all the different electrolytes for me to get back in the zone. Luckily, by the moring I was fine and back in the race.

Today was about getting to the finish line. My body has been through a lot and with another marathon today with 16 km accross salt flats that were described by the Atacama Crossing record hold as "absolutely brutal" we knew we were in for a rough ride. At this stage though, we have a renewed confidence from the fact we had already done three gruelling days in these conditions, so we could do one more. I had to listen to my body now, the muscle I pulled in my foot is agony every time I tread on it and I needed to stay far more hydrated.

Pedro got me through today. Stopping for me at checkpoints and motivating me along the way. He has his own injuries, which makes me all the more grateful for his support. We battle accross the salt flats together in the mid day heat. Head to the ground as every step had to be plotted carefully so not to break an ankle; its very much like running on a frozen ploughed field.

With three km to the finish, we were tailing a chap from luxemburg who was about 600m in front. As we jogged along beside each other, Pedro turned to me and said "shall we do him?". On this, we conjured up our strategy. We would use all our remaining energy to pick up the pace and pull up alongside him and when we got closer to the finish we would race ahead a take him. Not the best idea you may be thinking, hovever we`ve been in the sun a lot this week and have gone a bit loopy. We got to the finish line in a 300m sprint finish with the Luxemburg lad with all the drums going, the flags of all the competitor nationalities blowing and the finishers cheering us on. It was a great moment.

Tomorrow is the biggy. We`ll be running the equivalent of two marathons and after what we have been through so far this is going to take its toll. Depsite this, everyone is in good moods in the camp and the thoughts are basically around just getting through it. Many of the seasoned ultra marathon runners here aren`t used to doing four marathons before a single 79 km day like this so there`s no particular strategy. Just keep on going and never give up.

Think of us though, it will undoubtedbly be the hardest day of our lives both physically and mentally. We will clock in on Friday. Hopefully!

Till then, thanks for reading!

Thanks for all your messages of support. It helps a lot! Keep looking at the website for photos as the get posted every eve.

At the course briefing this morning, we were told by a Rannulph Fiennes type character that this was going to be the hardest day and we`d better be ready for it . Breakfast didn`t slip down too easily after that.

Unfortunately I pulled a muscle in my right foot towards the end of the race yesterday so I had spent the night awake worrying about how this would be in the morning. Not good, it turns out. As I hobbled out the tent at 4am I thought the race was over  for me. I went to the medic tent and any anti-inflammatory drugs were a real no go given all the water we were taking on and salt capsules. It would just destroy my liver apparantly so I opted for some tylenol from the american doc. This made no difference but it was now time to man up, get my gear on and take on todays 41km. I wasn`t going to let this get in the way of race I had a committed the last 6 months to. I was going to have to push the pain aside and enjoy the day out in the desert.

I got back to camp in one piece after one hell of a day.I ran most the way with a team of Aussies who were able to keep me motivated. I`ve got alot to thank them for . We were told that a lot of contestants would drop out today and several of the frontrunners came by me on the course with their dreams crushed. Rather like me, I think many of them push it too hard on the early days and have nothing left. A good friend I`ve made called Massimo, an italian competitor, was in the top five and walked past me back to the previous checkpoint. He was in a really bad way being sick and stumbling around like he was drunk. It was pretty sad to see but we`ve been told there will be lots of this over the coming three days.

Pedro has been running like a real Trojan (Ray, don`t worry we`ve looking after each other). Today he was the hero of the day helping an x US Marine accross the finish line who was about to collapse on his own. He hauled him accross 10km of vast sand dunes (Having experience them myself were absolutely horrendous) to the finish taking hime over 3 hours. It was the hardest thing he has ever done apparantly and when turned up at our tent he didn`t look happy. He`s got his energy back and is now typing a blog right next to me, alive.

We have lucked out with our tent. Anne Marie, who is winning the female race, has been giving us all advice on our strategies for taking on the dunes and how to pace yourself (Some of it I obviously didnt take in). Each night everyone sits around the fire eating their horrible energy packed dehydrated meals telling stories of the day`s race. There`s a great bunch of people here and we`ve made some damn good friends already.

Thanks for reading!

I`m praying for a better recovery over night so I can regain some places tomorrow. At this point it`s just about getting to the finish.

We started this morning by running accross a few rivers and then went straight up a mountain.The view from the top was phenomenal and the course followed the ridge accross for 10 km which was the nicest part of the day as it was still quite cool. A few kilometers later we took a sharp left turn and were met with a vast sand dune which we quickly through ourselves over and flew down about 400m meters in a big ball of sand. This was epic!

I reached checkpoint one in a good position having picked up a good pace along the ridge. This was going to change !

As we entered the appropriately named "death valley" it begun to get very hot and my legs started to feel the pain of the previous day`s race. I wanted to stop and walk and the thought  the finish line in a whole 6 days time was a horrible prospect. After an hour going up a canyon in the full glare of the sun and with the heavy rucksack I was ready sack it all in and had reached a real low. I thought of the guys at BLESMA that we are running for and how much they would do to be able to run and do an event like this. It all came into perspective and I motored on with a renewed energy.

We now pulled onto the salt flats for the last 20km of the race, a tricky surface in which your feet sink into the ground every step you take . At a steady pace I made it through and crossed the finish line having lost a few places from yesterday but ready to take on day three. Despite how painful it was, I loved it. Now the endorphins have kcked in I`m ready to head out tomorrow and give it a good bash.

I`ll clock in tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

P.s Make sure you go to the website and check out the photos as they get put up from each day!

We arrived three days ago and as we got flight connection after connection more competitors joined our journey. They all looked like professional athletes, wearing sponsored kit and sporting facial hair we could only ever dream of; these were real men we were up against!

San Pedro , where we were staying for two days was a dusty outpost right in the middle of the desert. It was scorching hot and was very high up so it was a great place forus to acclimatise.

Atfter a day at competitor check in we met lots ultramarathon runners from all over the world who told us stories of the desert runs they had done and the hundreds of miles they train. As we took the bus out to the desert to the startpost, we felt very out of depth and stared out the windows in silence.

We arrived at camp and the next morning woke at 5am to start the 250km we had been preparing for for the last 8 months. As the countdown begun, people shouted and cheered and a chilean band were beating drums. And we were off, the heat was immense and the altitude made in very hard to breathe but I ploughed  on through the morning making sure i stayed hydrated by drinking every 5 mins. By the first two checkpoints I was feeling ok, it was painful but I was still running at a bit of a pace and taking on the hills.

It was after checkpoint two that things got bad and we turned a corner to traverse up a mountain for about 8 km. The sun was now beating down hard. This was incredibly challenging and took it all out of me. After pushing up for a good hour I finally reached the top and saw the flags of the final checkpoint, a huge relief and at this point I refilled my bottles and got on my way .

Further down the track, as I shouted to a steward for the distance to the finish, a Spaniard came upon my shoulder and shouted "3km Britain and I`m going to get their first".  Despite having no energy after the climb, the Spaniard had thrown down the gauntlet and I was`t going to let this guy beat me after that comment. I turned it up a notch and found some energy from somewhere and ran faster than I had all day, head to head with this man. After 2km we crested a hill and I could see the finish in the distance.

I suddenly pulled ahead and then turrned around after a minute and the saw him still there just behind. This wasn`t going to be the steady first day I had planned. We raced to the line and I was able to just stay in front.  We shook hands and laughed about it, then shortly collapsed in the shade after an exhausting first stage of about 25 miles.

I came in at 3 hours and 53 mins and in the top 30 competitors out of 180.  A good day, I just hope I didnt overdo the first day.

Thanks for reading!