Apologies for not posting sooner but I think we can be excused for not going straight to the cyber tent after killing ourselves running in the sun all day. Its now the second last day and rest day of the even. Its quite funny to see the competitors move around the camp. It looks more like the ministry of funny walks that a field of ultra runners haha.

Moving onto the account of the long march.

We got word in the morning briefing about the breakdown of the coarse: 6 check points, 74 km. The first 20 km were on hard flat track so we wanted to start strong and take advantage of the early cool weather and good running conditions, and we did just that. At the 20 km mark I think a lot of other runners had the same idea and we came in with about 50 runners in front of us; meaning we were below “par” compared to the results of the prior days. As the day progressed the team ran strong and hard and the early pace did not slip too far. Each check point was picked off in a very methodical way. Ron the numbers man had himself and dad running 400 m, walk 100m. “8 more sets and we’ve got this stage done”. It was pretty funny to see. My stratergy: ipod on shuffle, head down, “no one talk to me”. It seemed to work pretty good.

There was a long straight section at about the 8 hour mark. In the far distance there was a dence bunch of runners.

Dad – “it’s the German’s”

Matt – “how do you know”

Dad – “I know”

They were little more than dots on the horizon but sure enough an we edged closer and closer over the next hour or so the matching grey lycra gave away their identity and team born to run were psyched. There was two more check points to go and about 14 km when we decided to make the pass exactly on the 9 hour mark. The Race was on. This was the first time in 5 days of running that team born to run had led the teams. The German team “Friends for Life” had taken out the teams on the prior 4 days.

It was now a heated foot race to the finish. Roger was just pulled himself out of a diabetic low of 3.4, dad was hurting and my energy was low due to lack of food… my down fall. But the team held their ground and charged on, resisting a burst from the Germans on one of the down hills towards the finish. Since passing the leading team at 9 hours and finishing in 10 hours and 30 mins, team born to run put 10 mins on “Friends for Life”.

The team finished strong and performed beyond all expectation. Dad broke down in tears at the finish line, captured by the one man camera man/producer/editor/champion James “hot knees”.

There was an buzz from the team after the long run but I was absolutely rooting and had a shake a fell unconscious pretty quickly. The pain in my feet and knees and hips would not let up no matter what position I was in. Hours later the storm on the horizon passed over bringing heavy rain and lightning and soaking the tent and making it hard to sleep. Not great for recovery. Not great for the other competitors who were still out on the coarse either. Racing the Planet Decided to pull all other runners from the race and sent them out again this morning to finish what they did not finish before the storm.  

That’s about it from me. Its about midday on the rest day and my suffering bad from lack of food. Unfortunately I ate almost everything exept for one dinner to save pack weight for the long day.

Tomorrow is an 11 run to the finish line. I have saved a caffeine gel and a coffee to charge home on. I’m anticipating a very quick finish for team born to run!

Thanks everyone again for all the comments! I’m Waiting every day to get on a computer and read them so thank you.

Hello again everyone at home. I've been reading all the comments you have left and its really goodto have some type of contact with the outside world.. thankyou!

Day 4 was again jut shy of 40 km and broken up into 4 parts. the day started great with a slight and steady incline through dunes and rocky flats. After checkpoint 1 there was a very long flat, hard packed downhill that went for maybe 12 km were we could hit some pretty good speeds for a good stretch of time (minus dad's stomach episodes). I think we were pushing him a little too hard but it was special to see the effort and exhurtion put in by dad to hold pace.

After the long down hill that literally stretched past the horizon, we hit the salt flats. Unfortunatly all accounts and descriptions we had got so far were accurate... they sucked. Imagine trying to traverse razor sharp and hard corel, with the heat beating down and glare shining up in your face. These lasted about 14 km between ck 2 and 3. in parts we were lucky enough to follow a compressed path from runners of prior years, other times we were no so lucky. Total time for Team born to Run was 6 hours and 8 mins Seeing us place about 40th in the feild.

Personally, the body seems to be getting stronger and stronger. again no injuries, no niggles, no blisters, feet sore. Compared to a lot of others out here i'm having an absolute party!!

Starting to think about the long day tomorrow now. The distance is tipped to be 73.4 km which will see us running into the proper heat of the day. Ive been bugeting my food and electolites to hopfully be able to power through. I'm putting $50 on tomorring being absolute carnage for a lot of competitors... hopfully not team born to run!

The biggest treat of the day was arriving at camp to find a huge sink whole filled with beautiful cold water... yes i have already gone for a swim, and washed my cloths and feel pretty good.

Again Mum and Emma and Laura and Mitch Cam and post to FB the link of how people can follow us and get them to leave comments. Thanks for your support!

Day three just ate dirt! it was the longest of the stages so far and dubbed the hardest leg of the race. Distance was about 41 km which took us through soft salt flats which often would claim your shoe, sand dunes and gorge crossings. The team came in in 6 hours 45 mins. The oldies were linding it pretty though going and were working very hard for the kilometers. I was feeling pretty ordinary early on with fatigue and bashed up feet which were tended to at the first check point at 10 km. I was saving my race fuel for the later half of the stage and started to feel better when i put that down. coming into camp today I felt pretty shattered and after a little but of food crashed for about 2.5 hrs.

Unfortunatly the day claimed Adam; an absolute champian bloke from England who came to run the race with his ex wife. Although he pulled out he was a real inspiration to see him get as far as he did considering where he came from.

Right now its about 8 30 and im about to hit the sac. The sandman dosent have to do a thing out here, the sand is literaly everywhere. Feeling pretty phyched about tomorrow and am looking forward to the long march..kinda.

Keep a look out to my blog from day 2.. i didnt post it properly but im told they will post it up.

Lots of love to everyone at home. 

Hello again everyone at home again. Another day down with no injuries, no blisters and still in what im going to call moderate spirits. The team did 5 hours flat and again we were working together well even if our pace was a little bit slower.The day started following a creek for about 1.5 km meaningthe rest of theday would be spent in wet feet. This would prove to be a massive issue for a lot of runners.

Coming into the second checkpoint the coarse went down a sand down with about a 100m elevation drop... about the height of sydney harbour to the bottom of the bridge. Once at the bottom we entered "the valey of death". Apart for being the most amazing thing i have seen in chile so far, it offered some shad to run in and a cool breese, more like a breath of fresh air than a death sentance.

The rest of the run got hardeer and harder as the legs got stiff and energy started to deteriorate in the hot sun and soft ground.

Apart from the race all else is well. The camp is great and there is a good comeradery between all the competitors and volunteers. I'm starting to really think carfully about all my food and an questioning if i will have enough to get through the week. Its looking like i might be going hungry after the long day... lucky its just a rest day!

I;m not too sure how many people are actully reading this but if you do please leave a comment because we can read them.

To Mum: can you please let emma and cam and lau and mitch know how view the blogs and also get them to post the links on FB or something.

To Emma: Thinking of you heaps and i know you would be jealous of my exciting adventure. Can't say anything too public exept i love you xox!!

To Cam: We were running through this sandy river bed thing today and found a local lady and her donky under the only tree in about 10 km. So i found a donky but no dog yet. who knows what i might find.

Thanks for all the love an support. Keep it coming!

First a big hello from everyone following from home. If your reading this it means I have survived day one. Better than that i am feeling quite well having cruized through the first 33km of day one. no blisters, injuries or little niggles from me has me in pretty high spirits.

The coarse was altered due to rain shaving a couple of kms from the total from the days running. The team managed to iron out a few equipment problems early and posted a pretty good time of 4 hours and 10 mins. My first 2 hours of running today was a pretty harsh lesson in bowel management. Breakfast might have to be re-thought to avoid loosing it out the back.

The coarse itself was absolutly stunning. At one stage we were running through a small canyon with a nice brease and a sureal mountain range as the backdrop. Hot knees was present to catch some of the action and everyone is in for a treat when the footage is cut together.

The weather was again pretty harsh. at camp this afternoon we spent about an hour securing the tents from blowing away. not exactly what you want to be doing when trying to recover.

The rest of the team is holding up pretty good and tomorrow should be another strong day. Thinking of everyone at home and i know your thinking of us. Keep the love coming!