Hi Guys

Well I'm back and I have to admit that I have been very slack of late when it comes to my training. I have just returned from the Last Desert and what a fabulous place Antarctica is. Please try to get down there ASAP and see for yourself just how beautiful it is. Although a lot of the runners were disappointed about not being able to run everyday I think that seeing Antarctica unleash its fury with catergory 11 winds and huge seas ( driving one vessel onto rocks) was amazing. Just seeing nature at its most potent was so worthwhile:even made that dreaded crossing of Drake's Passage seem worth it although at times when I wasn't feeling that well  I might have disagreed with that last statement.

Now I 'm back into the real world and doing two a days so I can play catch up with my fitness and living  on a boat for two weeks didn't help at all. The fact that the food served up was sensational didn't help either but now I have to get seriousas it is less that 4 months to go and I know that the time will pass really quickly. So it's back on the eating  ( drinking ) plan and plenty of exercise and lots of kilometers to be covered. I have no intention of running during the race but I do hope to be able to keep to a 5-6 kms per hour walking pace which should have me out on the course 8-9 hours per day. Ok maybe I will try to do a little running. Karno in his latest book advocates starting with a 9/2 style. That kinda appeals to me. I think by March I could handle 9 minutes of walking and two minutes of running and if I push myself prehaps even an 8/3 or shock.,horror a 7/4. No that does sound too hard.

Looking at al you guys that have put your names down for Namibia has galvinised me and I have decied to follow up Atacama with competing in Namibia as well just to spend more time with the likes of Paul, Ryan Joe , Andy and Kah Shin. So by doing two races in the space of three months I should be ready to handle one by the end of May so I may have to look at competing in Gobi just to say that I ws reasonably fit for one of the races.

Anyway guys I wish you all the very best for Christmas and I look forward to seeing you all at some stage in 2009 or even 2010.

Erik

Hi Guys

Well training as taken a bit of a back seat lately as I had a dose of food poisoning a couple of weeks ago and was vomiting that hard that I tore the lining in the heart cavity. Nothing too serious but the pain was intense and I thought I was having a heart attack. Took myself to the local hospital where they ran tests and assured me that the heart was very strong and in great condition and that the pain was purely muscular. But also told me that  I oculdn't do anything to strenuous for a couple of weeks. I didn't need that. How quick do you lose condition and how bleeding hard is it to get your fitness back?

 I feel like I'm back at scratch again. Just as well we have five and half months to go. At least daylight saving has started and I can do some catchup in the evenings now but I have such a long way to go. Nevermind I knew it wasn't going to be easy and if it was the challenge wouldn't be as big so I tell myself to shut up and get on with it.

Fundraising is going well with nearly $15000 in the bank and the promise of more to come an dI am quitely confident of reaching my revised target especially as I am getting a bit of media attention of late. Good for teh ego but even better for the funds.

Although I don't really like running I am trying to do it more so I can make the team trifecta boys proud of me. I don't want to embarass them as they are my mentors and unofficial coaches especially Pete Wilson.

To everyone else who is taking part in the Atacama I hope things  are going well for you all and I look forward to meeting you in Chile in March 2009.

Cheers

Erik

Hi everybody .

it is a cold and wet rainy Sunday night in Sydney  and it matches my mood. Over the last few years my firends and I have endeavoured to raise money from the Clancy ward at Westmead Childrens hospital in Sydney largely becasue the son of a great friend, Johno Ward , was being treated there. Unfortunately Johnno was born with a crook liver and had to have a transplant at an early age and was always battling infection and his body rejecting the new liver. After a few near death experiences Johnno received his second liver transplant earlier this year.On my return form the Gobi desert in June  I was informed by Mal and Karen ( Johnno's parents) that the doctors had given little Johnno only 3 - 6 months to live. It just seems so unfair: here is a little guy who has fought his whole life just to have a normal life and to be able to play rugby league with his mates and for the Coogee Dolphins. Alas Poor Johnno died on Friday morning with Mal, Karen and his little brother Charlie by his bedside. Everybody who knows the Ward family and just how hard Johnno fought is devestated. So I have decided to dedicate my Atcarma run to Johnno Ward and I will carry his name and his photo on my race shirt.

I  will also set up a fund to raise money for the Clancy ward ( the liver  transplant section) of the Westmead Hospital. Please stay tuned to these blogs and I will have the bank account details listed shortly for anybody who would like to donate to this cause. Rest in peace Johnno . You will not be forgotten. You are my inspiration. Go with God.

Erik

Well I'm back again and I have been in training for nearly a month. I am feeling better apart from some sore spots but don't seem seem to have lost much weight. its not so much that the training is hard ( it is) but getting out of bed in the early morning hours on these cold August mornings is certainly proving to be hard. And I have to admit that there have been times when I have been a wuss and just stayed in bed when I know I should have gotten out of bed. I definately need to get out as I need to lose a few kilos as well as get myself a whole lot fitter to do this thing.

The good news is that the donations are coming in pretty well and I have collected $9475 for the Sydney Childrens Hospital so far, still a long way short of my $60000 target bur pretty good for just 4 weeks.  At least my mum is proud of me but my sisters are hurt and angry as they didn't get a mention in a newspaper article about me doing the "thing". I'm loathe to call it an adventure as it still seems to be an ordeal. Still when March comes around in 2009  I should have that adventure feeling inside of me. But for now it is still daunting. The strange thing is that since I made up my mind to do this race I have had a very comforting feeling  of warmth. I have absolutely no doubt that the decision to do this race was the right one for me even though I have so much work to do in a fitness sense. Physically I am still weak but mentally I am very strong ( except on cold mornings). it is now 4 pm on a Sunday afternoon , Souths are winning (at the moment anyway) and I can hear my conscience calling me to get off my bum and go out and do some exercise so until next time bye.

Oh my god what have I done. I have promised people that I will compete in an ultramarathon. I am fifty years ols and currently weighing 132 kilograms so it is just a little excess. But I am so looking forward to the race. I know after being a volunteer in 2008 that it is a hard race - prehaps the hardest of all the races in the series - according to Willo, Jimmy, Hully and Frank. But if you are going to do one it may as well be the hardest one. Some of my freinds and clients are looking at me and wondering if I have lost the plot but I can honestly say that since I have made teh decision to be a competitor I have never felt better about myself as I know that I am doing a good thing and not just for me.

My training has started and whilst I cannot say that I am enjoying it I do feel better once it is finished and I have cooled down. I am even actually starting to fell the benefits and by the tim ethe race begins I may indeed have become that lean mean loving machine that I always thought I could be.

To all those that have been before if you do have some advice or even just some words of encouragement please do not hesitate to provide them as I need everything i can get.