The one word that I can use to describe how I felt about yesterday is grateful. I got to experience some of the most beautiful terrain I have ever seen in my life. We had an epic climb up a steep sand dune/mountain, walked across its lunar-like surface, and very cautiously came back down its steep backside. I enjoyed my time alone in the evening, with a gorgeous full moon (making a head lamp almost unnecessary) and feeling the vastness of the mountains around me. I am so grateful for my body being strong and allowing me to have this experience. And I am so grateful for all the support!

It was beautiful and extremely brutal and a day that will be forever etched in my mind.

I am relaxing and recovering now at camp and tomorrow we have our last 8km, celebrations, and re-entry into civilization. I cannot wait for a shower!

Today was tough. Super super tough. I got in each checkpoint with 20-40 minutes to spare.

Last night I had gastro issues and a lot of coughing. I felt so bad disturbing my tentmates with my trips to the porta potty that I literally tried to fall asleep in there for 15 minutes before realizing there was no comfortable way to manage! Needless to say, I did not get a good night of sleep.

I took some pills today for my gastro issues and was fine. The cough got a lot worse today and my throat is completely sore and I have lost my voice. Otherwise I am ok!

I got in a bit late so I am not going to write a lot because I need to eat and rest up for tomorrows long stage. One more tough day and then the finish line will be in sight! I expect I will take 20ish hours so

As I said in my last post, you live a year in a day. Today was no different.

We had a super cold night last night with condensation on our sleeping bags and our tent. Nonetheless, I woke up feeling good. So I decided to run a bit. Today is deemed the hardest day. 39.9km that was mostly very technical. The worst section was 10km in the heat of the day in what they called the

Wow. I don

I made it to the quaint town San Pedro de Atacama on Thursday night and have been getting the last minute bits with my pack sorted and ready since then.

It's always nice reuniting with competitors from last races and catching up. While months and sometimes years pass between seeing some of these people it always feels like yesterday when especially when recounting our stories from past races. It feels a bit like a family reunion where your family is made up of 100 crazy runners!

After each race, I make a few tweaks to what I bring and eat and I think this year is quite a bit different then the last ones. Here are some of the changes this year:

• I'm bringing a power bank so I can charge up my Garmin after each stage. In the past I have not used my Garmin but I would really like to capture the stats. It's added weight but I am hoping some of my other changes below will offset this increase.