WOW!! The long stage is over and it is less than two hours before we do the final 10kms.
 
I know I have used the word "epic" several times to describe this race but I think it is quite an appropriate word right now for the 74kms we did yesterday. We set off yesterday at 7:30 and I was feeling rather emotional as I was on the starting line. I hadnt slept so well and was still struggling to get food down. Its crazy what running 240kms does to your body.
 
There were 6 stages yesterday and the first three were approx 15kms each. The first 15kms was on the salt flats again and it was far worse than the previous day. There was no defined path as there was the day before and each foot step was incredibly painful on my very blistered feet. I went off myself and could see Gareth, Daniel and Matt a few metre in front of me. The Chilean girls caught up to me and I had a few chats which was a great distraction from quite a hard stage. Typical Sam style I grab my 1.5litres at the check point and continue through- passing probably 7 people.
 
The next stage was more flat on sand and loose rocks. The boys were even closer in my sight so I pushed to try and catch them- to no avail. I came into the 2nd checkpoint as the first female to start at 7:30 (there were one women who started at 8:30 who had already passed me). Lyndal was at this checkpoint and told me I was close to the boys but said I should be careful as I had a long way to go. Still feeling good I jogged out of the checkpoint passing Angus from the UK who pulled out because he was peeing blood.
 
The next stage was a toughie: 15kms on the sand and there was a MASSIVE sand dune. I saw it and had a little cry as I couldnt imagine how i would get up it. I was walking with some guys who headed off at 8:30 and I let them go ahead as I put on my ipod for some inspiration. I somehow got up the dune and felt incredibly exhilirated. It was a beautiful view and I managed to get into a trot and threw myself down the cliff side into the next checkpoint.
 
I dont know how but i was feeling great. I had gone about 35kms and only had three more checkpoints to get through. I passed the Canadian team and punched out a solid 8kms by running and walking between the flags. Then the unbelievable happened I caught up to Matt, Daniel and Gareth. Gareth was feeling a little shit and running out of water. I walked with Daniel for a bit and then he went back to his boy posse. As we got into the checkpoint Daniel asked if i wanted to head off with the boys. So that is how the rest of the race went. The four of us struggled through 18kms together and we had a series of highs and lows. Matt had a pretty bad 8km section and only felt better after a nurofen plus. Daniel had a really difficult last 5kms and started to get incredibly cold. I fell over whilst I was running and bruised my hip and hurt my knee (and i vomited at the top of the final sand dune). Matty told me this morning that he didnt think i would make it after the final sand dune as I was on the sand floor a total mess.
 
The last 10kms seemed to take forever but we came in strong around 8:30pm (which is a total of approx 13 hours for 74kms).
 
I better head off and hydrate before the final 10kms. It will be very tough as I have an infection in my foot from a terrible blisters. I woke this morning with lovely puss going everywhere. EWWWK.
 
Not sure where I am placed at the moment but I think I have moved up a few places.
 
Approx 20 people have pulled out (by choice or by force). It is a tough race but I will write my final blog later tonight. Cannot wait for pizza and beer at the finish line.
 
Love to all.
 
Samantha

Ahhh big thank you for all of the great messages from everyone. It puts such a dile to my smile when i read them. Today was a good day. I completed the infamous salt flat stages in decent time- 8 hour 40 (approx) coming in about 51st. A stack of people have been pulled off the course and our lovely tent mate Diego pulled out this morning before we headed off. We set off at 8am and I found my race partner Andrea and we set off together. We started by going up 5 or 6 sand dunes which meant alot of the field were walking up them- they were pretty big (even bigger than the mountains we climbed in Kokoda). My plan for today was to take it quite carefully as I still felt pretty sick this morning. However I set out at a pretty decent pace and pushed Andrea along with me. I was forcing myself to eat something every hour as I didnt want a repeat of yesterday. After a death defying sand dune climb down we hit a river crossing and i decided to take off my shoes and socks as i dont have any more spare socks to destroy in the salty water. It was such a nice feeling to get my toes wet even though it meant my tape all over my blisters went all mushy. After a pretty boring and straight lined 14kms I hit checkpoint two and went off into the salt flats. Alot of people were chilling and eating at the checkpoint but my moto is to grab my water and go. You can make up alot of time and keep momentum going this way. It worked well for Andrea and I, we charged through the salt flats which are like rough pieces of coral which smash your toes and feet with every step. We met up with another competitor who continued with us for the final 10kms. The last checkpoint was pretty cruisey (only 6.7kms) and flat surface= sweet. I took off my shoes at the finish line and I have to say the site is not that pretty. Blisters everywhere and they have had to drill my two pinky toenails as i have blisters underneath them. However I am in incredibly high spirits. We head off tomorrow for 74kms, the long stage. I have organised my food by swapping with some other people!! Just a quick brief on our tent mates. We have Atacama Mumma from South Africa and she is absolutely amazing. She is in her 40s and is coming second in the female race. She looks after everyone in the tent and has pearls of wisdoms (she also has no blisters on her feet). Note to Sandy and Cole: she won the sahara female category last year. We have Matt from Brisbane (23 years old) and doing amazingly, coming in about 20th. Daniel and Gareth are obviously superstars and had another solid day coming in the early 30s. Janelle is 24 and from the states and is having a pretty tough time. Her feet are completely swollen and she wanted to cut off her shoes as she cant fit her feet in them. Martine from Chile is a pretty quite lad but also coming in the early 30s.... So thats us... Ive had some dinner, about to drain my blisters and go to bed ASAP. A bit nervous for tomorrow but aware that this race is nearly over.... Dad: Im impressed with all of your painting and understand that your bite must have been very painful ;) Mum: Though it will be over three months till i see you I am looking forward to salad with ravioli and watching some trashy dvds with you. Cassandra: I know i still owe you money, woops... will do a transfer when i get back to Santiago (love you lots). Ian: Thank you heaps for following the race and your sweet words. PS. At this point I am coming 1st in my category (female 18-29) and 5th female over all.. Alot can change tomorrow however!! Night and love. xx

I am writing this blog exhausted and a little worse for wear. If you look at the times for today I had a pretty good day (equal fourth or fifth female across the line) but I ended the final stage vomitting, dehydrated and a little delirious. I wasnt able to eat my dinner last night, it is really difficult to get the dehydrated meals down and I am finding that high salt snacks are the easiest things to consume (this means salt and vinegar chips crushed up). This is mind i made sure I had all of my breaky this morning and tried to consume as much water before the race started.
 
We were located in a beautiful spot last night and before i went to sleep Daniel, Gareth, Matt and I sat by the lake and rested off our sore feet. I was suprised that I didnt have more pain in my legs this morning and big props to ascend for their protein recovery shake which i have within thirty minutes of completing.
 
The gun went off and I couldnt find my running buddy from yesterday so I went off by myself. Quickly we were put in single file going through some crusty surface which had 95% of the field walking. This is with exception to Ryan and Eric who are absolute demons and in a field of their own. Ryan is winning the race by nearly 2 hours and there is no chance that any one else will catch him. I was only a few people behind Daniel and Gareth in the single file and I kept up my Samantha march and pushed ahead of a few people. When the terrain became a bit more manageable I started to run between one pink flag then walk to the next pink flag, continuing this for about 15kms. My run has completely changed form and I now call myself the shoe shuffler. When i catch a competitor they always say "its the little Aussie with a high cadence". The first two checkpoints went really well for me and I was happy that I could push ahead a bit. The third checkpoint was quite tough as we started to hit a version of saltflats and it was pretty much impossible to run. The sun was getting stronger and stronger and I consumed all of the 1.5litres we had been given for that stage. Mum and Dad you would be proud of my water useage.
 
Going into the last checkpoint i knew it was going to be a toughie. It was pretty much 11.5kms of sand dunes, rocky dunes and alot of climbing. If it gives any indication it took me nearly 4 hours to do 11.5kms and I can do a marathon in 3 hours 36mins. I met up with another girl from the States (Mel) and we decided to team up for the last 8kms. She was my saviour in the final few kms as I lost my ability to walk in a straight line. The 1.5litres of water we were given was by no means enough. My heart goes out to the people who are still on the course (it has been over 4 hours since i finished). I was virtually on my hand and knees as i crawled up the last sand dune. I crossed the finish line struggling to breathe, having a little teary with a very dry mouth. The medics called out to Daniel and he took me over to the medical tent and I stayed there for a few hours. Lets just say the medical tent was the main attraction today as most competitors made there way in their.
 
Finishing up:
- over 6 people have pulled out today (with more to come im sure)
- i have a few yucky blisters but by no means the worst off in this situation
- alot of people have the runs and i am embracing the hand sanitiser
- creeped up a few spots in the overall placement today, not really sure where I am placed however
 
Lots of love to everyone and thank you to those who have given me lovely and motivational comments. It really helps out here.
 
xx Samantha

Day two was filled with river crossings, massive sand dunes and long crusty flat sections (that  seemed to go on forever).
 
It was 42.4kms today, just a little over a marathon. I woke with my legs feeling good and with a decent sleep i was looking forward to heading out on the course. I decided the night before to run with Andrea from the United States as she finished in a few minutes before me the previous day. We were all lined up and it started by a rocky downhill where I passed one of my tent mates from Denmark who had an amazing finish the first day but as a result has a knee the size of a watermelon. I found out when I got into camp today that she pulled out of the race and is already on a plane out of the desert. Andrea and I went out at a solid but relatively slow pace and like everyone else (even the top competitors) we walked up the hills. At the 4km mark we hit the first river crossing and i didnt get too wet. That didnt last long, soon i was waste deep in freezing cold water with a decent current. It required alot of jumping into the water into unknown depths and clearly my midget status earnt me some assistance from a group of UK guys. It was about 8kms of river crossing and despite being quite difficult it was great to vary up the terrain and everyone was in quite high spirits as we went through them.
 
We then hit checkpoint one where I saw Daniel getting some medical treatment from Lyndal as he lost his sunglasses and then got something in his eye. I made the executive decision to continue on as I knew he would catch me up before long- which he obviously did.
 
There were several killer moments of the day but the first one was climbing up to a huge ridge which took over an hour. The heat had started to come out and there was little rest from it. My little legs struggled up it but all i could keep doing was put one leg in front of the other. We then had another 1.5hours along the ridge where you literally felt you were on top of the world. Off one edge of the ridge was a massive sanddune which we eventually went down. It was HUGE and AWESOME. Have some sweet mid action pics! Had a mass of sand in my shoes aftetrwards and my shoes were still wet so I wanted to change my socks and tape up my feet as soon as possible. One of the highlights of the day was seeing Nico at the bottom of the sand dune, it was such a motivation and lovely to see a friendly and clean face. Thank you Nico!!
 
I stopped at checkpoint two for a few minutes to fix my feet and Andrea & I headed off into a quick march followed by the UK boys. We spent about 90 minutes walking together or alternating the leaders. In the end we left the boys in a tunnel as 1 was vomiting continuously and another guy had horrid blisters. It took another 40minutes to get to the next checkpoint and Andrea and I had caught up a few more people. So last checkpoint was VERY TOUGH despite being pretty flat. The terrain was crusty at some points and sandy at the other. Each step was pretty difficult and I had a internal meltdown for about 2kms which was probably a result of dehydration and a lack of food. At this point we had been out for over 6 hours and all I had consumed was 5 gu chomps and 1/4 protein bar. The heat makes it very difficult to heat and your body starts to rebel from all of the electrolites even though you need to have them to survive. The last 10.5 kms felt like 20kms and we could not see the finalie flags or tents in the distance. Andrea was a legend and slowed down for a few minutes when i felt horrid and i obviously returned the favour when she was in struggle town. It was a great partnership and we spent the last few kms sharing an earphone listening to Elton John "Tiny Dancing".. The long stretch eventually ended and we troted into the finish line to the beat of the drums being played.
 
Summary of the day- tough, wet, beautiful, varied and monotonous. I think i will be feeling it more tomorrow and only hope I can jog some of the 40kms we have tomorrow. Daniel came in about 30 minutes before me and Matt (from Brisbane) came in the top 20 again (legend)!!
 
Our fellow tent mate, Erica (South Africa) came in 15th today after being wasted yesterday and needed 2 IV saline drips.
 
This race is epic and despite the constant pain and personal physical and emotional battle I am loving meeting all of the people.
 
Will be having dinner and heading straight to bed...
 
Night and love to all.
x

Hola...
 
Wow, the first day was tougher than I thought. Luckily most of the other competitors thought so as well. The 35kms were broken into four checkpoints and at each checkpoint we were given another 1.5litres of water.
 
I woke up at 5:15am not able to sleep any longer as I was pretty nervous about the race starting (thinking of you Sandy as you will be the earliest of risers when you do the Sahara). As we packed our bags for the final time a Chilean band was playing around the camp fire. It was pretty freezing last night and this morning as we were up in altitude. As i waited on the start line I coudn't feel my toes. The gun went off at 8:15am and 150 competitors all went off!! Despite my conservative approach I wanted to make the most of the flatter ground and I started running at a pretty cruisey pace. Within the first 3kms I followed all of the runners ahead of me and went the wrong AND longer way (probably about 1/2 km, which is alot when you are running 35kms). About 30 people passed me and I rejoined the group as we were about to make our way up a big hill. I met up with my running mentor Linda Quirk and we had a quick chat before I power walked off to make up some ground.
 
The first 10.8kms were marked as difficult and i finished it feeling pretty good. I walked most of it but at a very solid pace- 9.30 minutes per km. The second checkpoint of 10.7kms were also pretty comfortable. I managed to meet up with the female Chilean team and we slowly jogged into the checkpoint together. Lyndal (Daniel's Mum) is a medic in the race and was waiting at checkpoint two. It was great to have here there and she told me that Gareth and Daniel were coming it 30th= wow. Checkpoint three was supposedly 10.2kms but it fell a whole of a lot longer and it was by far the toughest section of the course. The itinery stated it was 6.1km downfill on a compact surface and 4.1 km over compact track. Hmmm not a very good description and it ended in a 5km hill. I was walking a solid pace over the rocky rocky ground with a guy from Ireland and the States. They were great guys to run with but after 5 or 6kms I couldnt keep up with them, my short legs couldnt match their long stride. I was in quite a bit of pain at this point, my water was running low and I couldnt get any food into me (you always know your in trouble when you cant eat). It was 34 degrees outside and I managed to catch up to two other females who were also feeling nauseas. I was not able to talk to any of them and tried desperately to put one foot in front of the other. I was a minute or two ahead and decided to relieve myself on the track- so much water I had consumed. I thought I would have a little privacy but my legs locked up and the other girls had caught up and I was shouting my apologies as I couldnt get my skins back on. It is funny how quickly normal privacy, modesty and decency get thrown out the window when you do one of these things.
 
Finally making it into checkpoint three where I grabbed some water and refused the lovely offer of a seat before the final 3.5kms. I headed off before my legs locked off and attempted a feeble run. In the end I walked most of the last few kms and did the occasional shuffle. Despite being a llittle ahead I stopped for a girl from the States and an Irish guy and we crossed the finish line together.
 
6hours 6 minutes- placed 68th/150 and equal 7th female.
 
Have tried to have a little rest since coming into camp but starting to feel a bit dehydrated now. Need to smash some water and eat my dehydrated meal. 
 
Daniel finished 34th coming in 45 minutes before me. Very proud of him and also suprised that my 98% running only has me 45 minutes behind. It appears that solid and consistent walking or very slow and consistent jogging will get you through this race at a decent spot. Some people have pushed themselves pretty hard today and will probably pay for it tomorrow.
 
Fingers crossed I am not too sore tomorrow as I will be hitting 42.8kms and it will be an extremely difficult terrain.
 
Love to all
 
Samantha xx

Hello All,
 
We have arrived at camp one which is 3200metres in altitude. The land is pretty much filled with dirt, dust, lama's and lycra. We spent the day checking in all our gear with the race organisers. It meant 150 competitors lined up for a medical check, calorie count and mandatory gear check. I gave my long sleeve night top to the hotel last night to have my nationality patches ironed on. It was 11pm when i went to the reception to discover that they burnt a huge hole in it. It meant i had a rather eventful day buying a new top and frantically sewing my patches onto them. I now have a combination of duct tape and random stiches holding them in place.
 
My pack weighed in at 7kg which i was pretty happy with. When i include my 1.5litres of water tomorrow morning it should be no more than 8.5kgs (less weight than what i occasionally trained with). The lightest pack was that of an Irish women who had only 5.6kgs- amazing. She was the winner of the Gobi Race. Some people's packs came in over 14kg- ewwwk.
 
I am just about to head off to have my freeze dried meal of mediterranean vegetable pasta (800 calories). We are heading off for 35kms at 8am tomorrow. The first part of the day is marked as difficult and i noticed that there is no section marked at easy. Daniel is getting into the zone and already tucking into his first of two meals.
 
Well write again tomorrow after the 35kms.
 
Will be taking it really easy/conservative tomorrow. No point in blowing out in the first day.
 
Our tent has eight people from Chile, Denmark, 3 Aussies, USA and South African.
 
Love to all (keep the comments coming).
 
Samantha

Hello friends, family and fellow competitors, 

The young Aussie contingent of Daniel, Matt Meckenstock and myself are all in Santiago and experienced one of the largest Earthquakes recorded. It appears that our family and friends in Australia and other competitors all over the world have a greater idea of what is happening in Chile than we do. We have been without power since the earthquake and Daniel and I are currently sitting in the foyer of a gym using their WIFI at the cost of 2 cookie and cream cornetto's (great pre race nutrition). 

On Friday night we were staying at Nico Gordon's house (2007 chilean competitor and Andrea Zanghellini's boyfriend). Having had a super pasta feed we were dead to the world when all of a sudden I woke to Nico's Atacama and other running medals clanging furiously at the foot of the bed. As the sound increased and the walls started to shake I sat up and started to have my own little freak out (please note that Daniel told me that everything was OK and I should go back to sleep). Within seconds we were both running into the living room as glasses, plates and vases were being thrown throughout the apartment and we saw the flashes of explosions out of the window. Nico was already there and was holding up the wall with one hand and holding onto the table with another one. So there we are, all in our underwear, looking out the window and hoping the shaking would not take the apartment down. 

As scary as this was Santiago was definitely not the worst hit and towns in Southern Chile have had devestating casualties and damage to homes and buildings. I thank everyone for their emails of concern and apologise for not having the chance to write back to you all. We are both safe and Santiago appears to be functioning as normal. 

Like many other competitors Daniel and I want to shift our fundraising focus to supporting the earthquake appeal. We will be posting information very soon about how you can support our race across the desert through donating to those affected by the earthquake. 

Good luck to all of the race competitors in your adventure to San Pedro. We fly down to Calama on the 3rd and expect flights to be returned to normal by then. 

Samantha

So if my last seemed to focus on injuries this post is about being uber positive.  I watched a documentary on a UK footballer taking up the challenge to train for the Atacama Crossing in 2004 with 8 weeks notice. He was in a team of seasoned ultra marathoners and he completed most of his training on a treadmill.  It was daunting yet exciting to watch this long distance novice go through each stage of the race. He was mentally unprepared about what the race was about and it was incredible to see how he managed to get himself to the start line each day – even though he was virtually ready to pull out the night before. 

The main thing I learned from watching the doco is that I cannot let my foot injuries provide me with an excuse to pull out of the race. Every single competitor is going to be hurting and in serious amount of pain at some point and I do not want to use my injury as an easy way out.  My idea is to be very conservative the first few days and I no longer feel guilty about planning to walk some parts. Enough said!!!

I have been in Santiago for over two weeks now and have met the female Chilean team. We have gone on a few runs together and Andrea and I have scouted the Santiago shops for lightweight snacks, down jackets, SPF chapstick and discussed how we are going to braid my hair back.  In a very mature but girly way we have become new BFFs and I am excited to hit the desert with her and have a few pisco sours when we return to Santiago. 

More good news is that I have now locked in a graduate spot for when I finish my law degree in July 2011. I was be working for Baker and McKenzie in Melbourne and I appreciate all of the support that my soon to be workmates have given me for this race.. Note to Ryan Hennessy that I will not be doing the race with my crutches! 

I am off for a cheeky run with Daniel and previous Atacama competitor Nico Gordon and med/tri extraordanire Phillipe. On Friday Daniel and I are moving location to stay with Manuel Barros (also a 2007 Atacama competitor). We are spoilt for information about the race and needless to say excitement is running high. 

Bring on the 7th of March!!

 

 

Hello All,

The last month has been incredibly difficult as I injured my left foot/ankle on a training run. All was going smoothly as I set out for a 35km run with my 9kg backpack when all of a sudden I had an acute pain on my left foot. I took two more steps only to come crashing to the ground in pain with two lovely Italian men running over the road to help me.

In order of treatment and diagnosis this is the running order of events 

- Went to the ED to get an X-ray= no obvious fracture; 

-  Grabbed some crutches, went to my friend who is an osteo who massaged my tight ankles (thank Bec); 

-  Felt better in two days so went off the crutches; 

- Whilst walking 2km to the physio my pain came back; 

-  Physio says I have a calcaneal stress fracture and I wont be able to do the race (I cry like a little girl and he responds " I am a smart girl and should have known something was wrong"); 

- Get back on crutches, book MRI; 

-  See another physio who says I don’t have a fracture but soft tissue damage and there is a chance I could race; 

- Ride the bike on the gym and do weights, cancel MRI;

- See a sports physician who says he thinks it is a navicular bone fracture (grade1-2) and says I may need to be in a cast; 

- Book MRI;

-  Last day in Melbourne before flying to LA (MRI= no fracture, have a cortizone injection, get a moon boot. 


So that was 8 days ago and the moon boot is off and I am walking around with no pain. Hopefully I will be back to running next week and until then it is the pool, bike and weights for me. All in all the last month has been incredibly traumatic on a physical and emotional level. Having been injury free since deciding to do this race it felt like a cruel twist of fate that I was to be a cripple in the six weeks leading up to the start.

I am aware that the race can no longer be what I thought it could be but I will definitely be doing everything I can in these last few weeks to rehabilitate myself to get through it.

That being said I am in Santiago with Daniel right now and will be here till we fly to Calama on the 3rd of March.

Look forward to seeing everyone in San Pedro.

Ciao.

 

Third blog, just a little over 10 weeks till the race and feeling somewhat undercooked. What an end to a very busy year, exams are over and I am in the final days of my law summer clerkship at Baker and McKenzie, the mince tarts are a plenty and the rum balls keep calling my name.

Before I get into race preparation and equipment debrief I thought I would write about something else I have acquired through entering this race. As a lovely addition to the excitement of running a 250km race across the Atacama Desert I have also met my perfect match in fellow competitor Daniel Trevena. In April of this year I was scoping out the official competitor list in an attempt to find a training partner  who lived in Melbourne . I came across Daniel's name- residence: Australian, nationality: and thought I would see if he lived in my home town. In the typical gen Y manner I put his name into facebook, it came up with three Daniel Trevena's and I wrote to all of them,  asking if they were running across the Atacama Desert . Daniel turned out to live in Sydney but we managed to catch up when I competed in the City to Surf a month or so later. Keeping in short and sweet Daniel and I met and instantly the sparks flew. We have been together ever since in a blissful endorphin state.

Ahhh now onto business Daniel and I placed our final order with racingtheplanet last night after deliberating for weeks on what would be the best jumper for night, Nuun flavour (electorlites), back up head torch and what degrees my sleeping bag should go down too. I only need to purchase my sleeping bag and my skins shorts and I am DONE!!!!!!!!!!

The basic idea for my equipment & clothing is minimal though as I look at the mandatory gear and my stack of equipment already purchased I can see how the weight creeps up. I am guessing that my pack will weigh about 10kgs but will do a test in the beginning of January.

As I mentioned in my first blog I was super worried about which backpack to purchase due to my ridiculously small height and small frame. I talked to Eric (racingtheplanet store & competitor), Samantha (racingtheplanet) and did my own indepth research and have chosen the OMM 25litre backpack. I give the backpack around a 7.5/10, it is still a little bit big for me around the shoulders but the length of the backpack is perfect. 

I have bought the Salomon trailshoes and having quite a few problems with them at the moment. The arch is incredibly high and the shoe is quite narrow. For someone who rarely gets blisters after a short run before work I was rewarded with a blister on the inner part of each sole. My foot care plan stepped into action and I am attempting to look after the blisters as I would during the race with the exception of taking two days of running to repair them ASAP.

I note that there are only a few students who have signed up to compete in the Atacama Crossing and I am sure they are all dealing with the difficulties of trying to finance this adventure. I am lucky enough to be supported by my university ( Monash University ) and also Injinji .

Training last week

It appears that i am in a constant battle between trying to clock up more kms, keeping on top of my studies and getting a head start of the logistical aspects of this race. It seems that last week my studies went down and my kms went up. I managed to run a little over 70kms, which included a 30km run on the bay with very windy conditions. My friend Jim joined me for the last 16kms as i have been guiding him through the training for his first marathon in mid October. It was super having him along as i began to struggle in the final few kms and Jimbo slapped me a high five and told me to push it- Go Jim!!

My charity 

I have been working pretty steadily on trying to raise the profile and subsequently the donations/sponsors for my charity- Connecting With Indigenous Communities (www.cwicvolunteers.org). It is a non-profit organisation that i established earlier this year. The concept is to send Victorian University Students to volunteer in remote indigenous Communities in the Northern Territory. We had  the pilot trip this June and 8 student, studying a variety of degrees (medicine, law, sociology, circus arts & early childhood) spent a month up north. The trip was a great success and allowed the volunteers to have an insight into an integral yet largely unknown part of Australian culture. 

So my goal, is not only to concur 250kms in the Atacama Desert, but to raise awareness to the inadequacies in health care, education and nutrition for Indigenous Australians. Limited awarness has turned into a lack of understanding which fosters cultural insensitivity and encourages ignorance. 

Thought i would shoot off a quick blog before heading out for a training run with a fellow Atacama 2010 competitor- Daniel. Deposit for rego has been paid, research into equipment has begun and training is underway. Essentially this means there is no turning back. Pretty excited for what i imagine will be an epic adventure. 

Over the next two months i will be doing the Sydney half marathon & the Melbourne Marathon. Contemplating at this stage if i will run the Melbourne Marathon with a backpack as it would be a good chance to get closely acquainted with my backpack. Considering i am just under 5 foot tall i think carrying approx 9kg of weight on my back will be a huge challenge for me. 

Anyway better head off to run with the kangaroos around Lysterfield Lake.