Finished in thunder and lightning and 70 of the competitors had to get picked up and taken back out this morning, many yet to arrive.

139 km done, 11 to go - rest day today, just want to get it finished.  Had some lovely blisters this morning, just chilling out now until the morning and then there is a partay tomorrow night, then flying back on sunday.

See you soon,

Cheers,

Stu

Thanks for all your comments they are very kind and great to read!

Dad - has Mum read any of them yet?

Browner/Astle - Travel plans for the hockey?

Stage 4 done, in the bag.  Tough day, stage 1 went well and was placed around 70th, being a competitive idiot i decided to pretty much skip check point 1 and stop so I could gain 10 places. ten minutes later i was pretty much in tears as my shoes were full of sand, absolute agony with every step.  Gozza then caught me up thankfully as i was losing the plot and on the verge of throwing in the towel. Unfotunately our very own Mo Farah has picked up a foot injury and is limping along.  We made it to check point two and re dressed our feet beofre taking on 14km of salt flats.  It took us a while with the injuries and terrain but we made it to check point 3.  the final stage was only 3.5km and we literally lost the plot.  A bit too much sun resulted in us belting out `Jerusalem` (in fine voice i might add), the Turkish man infront of us could not believe what he was seeing.  We then pretended we were seb coe and roger bannister in our approach to the finish line and over took him 200 metres from the finish.  Getting caught up in the moment I turned round and gave him the wave good bye.  He then literally sprinted his heart out in pursuit.  Thank fully we managed to beat him by a metre but we almost had egg on our faces.

The Ipod served me well today, `you`ll never walk alone` was an inspiration on the salt flats.

There will be no blog tomorrow, we have a 75km day ahead of us.  you can split it over two days but if we get through it tomorrow we get friday off so we are planning to go through the night, should take between 16 and 24 hours.  Once that is complete we will basically be there as on the last day it is 11km and if i am at the start point i will crawl if i have too.  Big rest now for tomorrow, it will be hell, the foot is still absolute agony, the painkillers dont really help that much but we have come this far so might as well get the job done.

Thanks for all the support, i havnt got your comments to blog 3 apart from Gooses as i am not sure what time they are downloaded.  cant wait to read them on the day off if all goes to plan.

Cheers,

Stu

Dad - did you get my email as well? i havnt received a reply so may be a problem at this end.

Mum - one of our new american friends is talking us into another race, will get this one out of the way first before deciding.

Jess - MVP again? this is getting ridiculous, did you win? xxx

All the Arseal fans - so close, Pedro misses another excellent evenings' entertainment at the Emirates.

Rick Noblin - get down the range, we are due a hit when i am back.

Willis - that is so weird, we were doing the bussey side step on stage 3 today, honestky we actually were.

Liz - cant wait for it!

Stu

The good news is stage 3 is complete, the bad news is i did it all with what feels like a broken big toe.  the doctor tells me it`s a tendon or joint problem where the toe meets the foot, it`s a bit like someone hitting your toe with a hammer every step.  I spent a good half an hour at one of the checkpoints today though and it is covered in quite a bit of tape which has helped so will do the same tomorrow.  today was possibly the hardest thing i have ever done, not even tina turner singing `steamy windows` on the ipod could get me motivated, david gray then came on, and that was the sign i needed to turn off the ipod, so back in the bag it went.

despite the injury i was making good time and then it got extra hot, a few people pulled out according to the whispers around camp.  myself and an ex US marine set off together just with the aim to finish.  20 minutes in he took a turn for the worse and was being sick so it took us about 3 and a half hours to complete the last section and now we are back in the camp.  he`s got his feet up and looking forward to tomorrow.  thanks to that today took about 8 and a half hours, and i have dropped down the pecking order, but to be honest i don`t care, just want to finish and get the toe fixed.

just need to get tomorrow out of the way and then it`s the long day.  Gozza has picked up a niggle so we may be plodding on together for the rest of the campaign.  Elsewhere, the food markets are really starting to trade around camp.  it is a sellers market, one energy gel can be exchanged for a chocolate bar and a freeze dried meal, lets hope the FSA dont catch on, i`m gelled up to my nuts.

Thanks again for all your comments, they really do help, one guy nearly pulled out last night but read his comments from friends and family and decided to stay in.  he is still out on the course now 10 hours after we started so they really do have a positive effect.

Chicken Korma tonight - spag bol for breakfast was disgusting.

see below:

Family - thanks for all the support, auntie kate i cant believe nobody offered their seat for you, then again i suppose you were on a midland mainline service.

auntie ruth - fankyou (bridges)

Jess/ Dad- have you received my emails not sure if they go through?

Christian/Riley - harzit?

Chadd/Goose - how was the dinner party?

Cliff/Butt/Madley - good luck in the bath half at the weekend, clif is the injury ok?

Dad/Riley/Rick - Match report please

Mum - have you read any of the blogs yet?

Dad/riley/rick/armour - diaby wouldnt make it to the first checkpoint on stage 1

Well, after the shock of yesterday i have got my head around the fact that it is going to be a tough week, so am back to my usual self.  Today was (as described at breakfast by the aussies) a little ripper in preparation for tomorrow.  Pedro and Gozza stormed off keen to put some daylight between them and the leader in the club house, this lasted about 30 metres and normal service resumed.  Gozza has really taken this on so far and was positioned around 30th yesterday.  he has dropped back a bit today to the 40`s but i have every confidence he will resume normal service tomorrow.  I have climbed 6 places today to 79th although I think I will be giving them back early doors tomorrow.  everyone has said they have found today tough and tomorrow is meant to seperate the wheat from the chaffe (running pun for those not in the know).  Salt flats await us I am told but am hoping to get these out of the way early on  when it is cooler, as soon as it strikes 11 it is a different ball game all together with the heat.

I think (hope) that once tomorrow is out of the way I can tackle day four and from then on, despite 70 odd km on day 5 i will be in a good place mentally.

The scenery is awesome and is worth the pain, today we did a few river crossings and i nearly came a cropper taking on an action snap.  The highlight was running down a sand dune of about 500 feet (imagine an easy red run on the ski slopes), full throttle hurtling passed a belgian and a frenchman, only to be pipped by a korean at the bottom. 

the only negative and thing on my mind is my feet.  the river crossing has had it`s way with me as i now have the start of what is known as `trench foot`.  have a look on google if your interested. i am going to get them taped up like no tomorrow and have a change of sock for tomorrow.  should all be fine, it comes with the challenge.  for any budding trail/ultra runners out there, dont buy the rough country gaiters, they are terrible and have already broken. A bit of DIY on those later after some chicken tikka masala, forgot my poppadoms unfortunately.

That`s it for today really, thank you so much for all your comments they really are something to look forward to and good motivation to get the run done.   have met some really good people, some are a few sandwiches short but there you go.

i should go away more often, this weekends sport has been unbelievable, what are the fixtures this weekend?

Cheers,

Stu

Stage 1 is complete in just under 5 hours and the whole thing is far harder than I ever thought it would be.  After only 4 hours sleep thanks to the snoring swiss man in my tent I was ready to go.   The first hour is not too bad as the sun isnt actually fully risen.  After that though, it is nothing short of horrendous.  Last night we were talking about signing up for another one next year.  I will not be doing so.

The terrain  is pretty tough and uneven, and the altitude is quite tough to cope with.  However, we have run to the highest point of the race I am told so it is all down hill from here on, with the odd steep climb thrown in.  I am currently in about 80 somethingth position but to be honest I dont care where I finish, just as long as I do finish.

despite the somewhat negative tone of the above it is absolutely amazing and i am reallly glad to be doing the race, some of the runners are absolute nutters, others are just similar to me and looking to finish.

I am off to bandage my feet now for tomorrow as i already have one horrendous blister on my little toe.  Off for a chinese later as tonights ration pack meal is sweet and sour chicken.

I think once tomorrow is out of the way I will be OK and get through the next couple, it is just so much harder than I ever thought it would be.

Few questions for anyone who is reading.  How did the mufflers get on?  did united beat spurs? did the saints win?

hope everyone is ok and enjoying their sunday, have fun in the office tomorrow.

Cheers,

Stu