Day 4 in the books.

Day 2 and Day 3

This is a dual update since I did not get to the cyber tent before it closed yesterday.

Day 2

Day 2 was tough, but they are all tough I think.

Day 1

Last night was spent at camp 1. After dinner I got a game of threes (dice) together with about 10 competitors. It was a blast. 3 guys in a row ended up rolling zeroes. Tonight I may try LCR if I have the energy.

Tody was our shortest day but was exhausting. The terrain was almost completely void of life besides the runners and staff. I did see a llama with a baby. The baby was feeding on the mother with the mountains in the background and a daytime moon overhead. I saw one butterfly, 2 lizards and a single fly. While we were going through some slot canyons there was a dead horse. My guess is it fell and broke its leg. It was in the medium to late stages of decay. Still covered half in hair. It is amazing because there are absolutely no predators here to pick the bones clean, no flies even. This place will kill you and just let you lay there.

The views were gorgeous and the terrain was brutal and unforgiving. A good portion of the day was spent traversing loose soil with fist sized rocks. You would be sure to break an ankle if you were not paying attention. I had a few very minor twists of my ankles. Enough to really make me pay attention. Between checkpoint 2 and 3 was almost unbearably hot with high canyon on both sides. The absolute lack of any water here is very evident. It is no wonder that NASA uses the Atacama to test the Mars rovers. Redish brown soil, rocks and no life to speak of.

I used some music for the last half of checkpoint 2 to 3 and it was a huge morale boost.

My back I killing me and tomorrow will certainly be tough. I've also developed a bit of a cough but hoping I can fight it off.

Food and slep are on the menu for tonight.

Camp 1

Made it to camp 1 at 10,500 feet. Rio Grande I think. The terrain is unreal. It looks like the terrain from Total Recall...which was a fine piece of cinematography. Ate dinner, freeze dried cuban coconut rice and black beans. It was good today but im sure after 5 more days I will detest it. The excitement and tension is in the air, even from the veterans. Slow and steady will be my mantra tomorrow. I dont think these will post on facebook and I wont be able to get any comments from there but comments and emails to this blog should be able to be checked. Off to bed soon.

Final gear check, medical check and competitor registration complete!!

It's almost game time here in Chile. I've spent the past two nights in San Pedro de Atacama which is a small town in northern Chile which is in the Atacama desert. We are around 7000 feet above sea level (I think).

My trip starts in less than 16 hours.