Hello All,

Well it's a lovely sunny morning in the Atacama and we're just getting active after successfully completing the Long Stage (74km); but it certainly wasn't a night without drama - more of that later.

First, a confession.  There has been a certain amount of censorship of this blog for the last few days.  Now that we are safely through the Long Stage though we can tell the full story.  The reason we didn't post a blog after Stage 3 wasn't solely to do with the length of the queue, it had more to do with the fact that Caroline came down with heat exhaustion around 11km from the end of what was already a difficult day, but managed to make it to the end after a couple of hours of struggling to breathe.  Having literally collapsed across the line, unable to breath and with hands that had swollen into wierd lobster claws, she spent the next hour or so in the care of the senior doctor before finally being given the all-clear to start the next day.

Stage 4 was also hot and hard, as we've said, which meant a repeat dose of the claws and having to fight for breath even at walking pace.  Unfortunately this time it happened in the middle of the salt flats, 7km in any direction from any form of help.  Having made it through, the doctor at the check point again gave the all-clear and we finished the stage, but this time with some decent advice on how to moderate the effects of the heat.  Although this was a completly uncontrollable physiological response to exertion in the heat (i.e. nothing to do with the hydration strategy, which was spot on) it turns out we could do something to lessen the effects, and it was probably this advice that got us through hottest parts of the Long Stage.  So as well as suffering at least two bouts of heat exhaustion Caroline is also now on a pretty decent dose of antibiotics and has a rash on both legs that has all of the doctors (one of whom is a dermatolgist) completely baffled.  The conclusion?  Caroline is alergic to the sun, heat, deserts and running!  We picked the right event then.

So, what about the Long Stage?  Well, our strategy was to go hard early to get miles under the belt before the heat came on and Mrs Lobster Claw came out.  As it happens this was probably what allowed us to finish.  The day was long, as expected, but the terrain was easier than previous days so we made good time initially.  Shortly after we had cleared the 40km point word came through that competitors behind us had been hit by a sand-storm, which we had narrowly avoided.  By this time we were skirting along the edge of a minefield (seriously!) with Mother Nature laying on a spectacular lightning show for us as we went.  Unfortunately the course then turned us directly into the storm's path, meaning we, along with around 30 others, were held for around an hour and a half at the entrance to the Valley of the Moon.  By the time they released us it was pitch black and pouring rain, but with only 9kms to go we pushed on.  We'd made good time and finished the day in around 15 hours so we were quite surprised to find the camp full when we arrived.  It turns out that they had stopped the race just behind us, evacuating all competitors out of the storm's path for fear of lightning strikes and hypothermia.  If it hadn't been for our quick early miles we wouldn't have made it in.

So there you go, an eventful few days, but we're both well and in good spirits, if a little sore and stiff.  The storm has passed, the minefields are behind us and today is a rest day, so hopefully no heat exhaustion to contend with either.  We're now looking forward to the final stage tomorrow and, all being well, we should be in San Pedro for lunch.

Speak to you all soon,

Garreth & Caroline

Hello All,

Thanks for all the messages and news.  First up, an apology for not getting a blog up last night.  Yesterday was emotional and the queue for the blog tent would have kept us waiting until well past bedtime, so we'll catch up the last two days here.

Stage 3 (yesterday)  was long and very hot.  Aside from seeing two wild donkeys about 30kms into the day there wasn't much else to report on the scenery - except for the sand, which was everywhere.  Running through sandy river beds near the end should have been a pleasure, but the flash floods last month had turned them into slab-sided canyons!  We spent the night next to the base station for the Alma Project, which will be the World's second largest telescope when it is finished.  The stars were amazing.

Stage 4 picked up where Stage 3 left off, still incredibly hot and just as long.  Today's treat was 14kms across the Atacama Salt Flats.  These look a lot like coral, and running on them feels about how I imagine that would.  To give you an idea, one of our (French) tent-mates' shoes have literally been cut to shreds - he did today with them wrapped in duct tape.

But, we're still here, upright, and going in roughly the right direction.  Tomorrow is the big one.  Everyday so far has been between 30km (Stage 1) and 40km (Stages 2, 3, 4), but tomorrow is around 74km, depending on the final route, which we'll get briefed on in the morning.  Needless to say we are unlikely to post an update tomorrow, but will catch up with news of our progress on Friday.

Thanks again for all your messages, that's all for tonight, we're off to prepare for tomorrow.

Garreth & Caroline

Long day!  Matt, you were right about the river crossings - 4 in total, plus a lot of sand meant lots of time spent on foot admin.  Pace wasn't too bad, but all the stops added up to a long day in the sun.  Couple of blisters, but thankfully nothing more significant to report.  Handily, we're camped tonight next to some salt lakes, which makes for excellent foot spas, overwatched by flocks of flamingos.

The first half of today's stage had some stunning scenery, awesome views and some massive sand-dunes, which Caroline enjoyed running down like a child.  Lots of photo and video being taken too, so you might be able to see a photo of us somewhere on the website - we're bib numbers 19 & 20.

Unfortunately all the lovely scenery disappeared after we entered Death Valley. The final 20kms were flat and dull with a bit of a taste of the infamous salt flats thrown in as a free preview of what we have to look forward to on Stage 4.

Thanks for all of your messages and emails - sorry we can't reply to each, but we only get one message a night so this is it.

That's all for now, we're heading back to the tent to report news of France's sound thrashing in the Six Nations to our French tent mates (with a bit of luck they won't find out the true score until we get back to civilisation!).

Garreth & Caroline

First day done, now sitting in Camp 2 after a steady start to the event.  Both feeling ok, so nothing much to report on that front - wait until tomorrow, it may be a different story.

The scenery today was stunning, but the ground was brutal. We thought we'd trained on some representative terrain, but Aldershot training area just doesn't compare to the rocky ground out here.  The heat wasn't too bad, although it started to warm up considerably around mid-day, luckily we were almost done by then.  Tomorrow the packs will be a little lighter, and the altitude a little less and we get to run through slot-canyons, which we're expecting will probably mean getting wet.

Could someone please email us the score in the Ireland-France game?  Half the people in our tent are French, so if Ireland didn't win I'm just going to have to lie, but it would be good to know in case they try the same trick on us!

Unfortunately that's going to have to be it for today, primarily because the 'cyber-tent' is getting thrashed by a sandstorm and threatening to take off at any minute.  Just time to wish Martin a Happy Birthday before we retreat back to the tent full of half-clothed frenchmen!

Garreth and Caroline.