Running 73km is one thing but running 73km across unshaded white hot surfaces in a team of 5 through temperatures hovering around 42 degrees Celsias is something else. Blogging away right now it's 118F in the sun.

I'd be surprised if the Racing The Planet Atacama website isn't just bristling with graphic descriptions of mind-warping and perspective-shifting alien landscapes, so let's skip past that for now. Day 5 was all about Team Born to run being served a big plate of nasty and chowing down until the eating was done. When we first began preparing for Chile, there was a question as to whether Matt, 21, with minimal running experience would hold up to ultra with such short and intense preparation. Asked and answered, Matt rocked, and rocked hard. Officially 'in the zone' from about 25km in, he was on a mission all day. Sydney Striders should be considering him for the ultra debut of the year.

So in the zone was Matt that after about 45km Jess ran out the front to keep him on track. With pink flags spaced anywhere from 20 to 100 metres apart, iPod-plugged Matty D locked in his groove and ran directly from one to the next, or past them. Dude is a machine, but navigation was suffering from heat and restricted calorie intake. Jess jumped in, keeping the team on track, running from front to back and back to front throughout the day, seemingly at almost no effort.

I, however, found a hole to nearly fall deeply into - the metaphorical ultra hole. While Ron and Greg towed and pushed each other on their determined and successful 700m run, 100m walk strategy, and everyone else surged or pushed, I just got beasted by the heat and relentless exposure. My body was mostly fine, but tumbling into a long run spiral on a relatively short course in the middle of the day was disorienting in itself. Towed out the back, waving the others on whenever they looked back I felt like Gollum but without the charm. Just as time wounds all heels it heals all wounds, and things eventually came good - or at least good enough.

Running through a low blood sugar, we caught up to Friends For Life, the team that beat us on all of the short days. There was some excited faffing about whether to run into the checkpoint after them or with them or ahead of them but it all came to nothing as some of us loudly opted for just running and letting whatever happens happen. Turned out we could run through the Valley of the Moon just a bit faster than Frank and his crew could walk, and that was enough to finally bag a category win for the day. Matt's first ultra, Ron charging on cheery and diesel-like, Greg really stepping up and copping the deep burn of the hardest day and our first sense this week as runners of properly competing in any real race-driven kind of way, with Jess never taking a step sideways - every ultra ends a bit emotionally but this was a proper sense of completion.

Followed by a welcome meal and a devastating lightning storm that stopped the race for the sake of runner safety - glad we finished in daylight and didn't have to go through the rigmarole that many other runners experienced, being bussed off course.

The camp on this rest day before tomorrow's big finale, ending in cerveza and pizza, is black comedy. Jetsetting adventure racers hobble about like a zombie circus and inhale the last of their dehydrated meals. Blisters, hilarious sunburn/tan marks and heat rash from heavy gaiters abound. As a team of 5 with 0 blisters and no hobbling to speak of, there have been a lot of questions asked about our running shoes. Hoka OneOne's giant footprint will hopefully be growing in South America and elsewhere after this one. Americans, South Africans, Brits, Europeans and Asian friends have all been intrigued by the Stinson Evo. Feeling fresh to run again after going for a cliff climb this morning, I can't blame them  :)

Thanks to everyone for messages of support. It will be exciting to finally see photos and videos and get them up at www.borntorun.com.au and Facebook and elsewhere. Now for the last of our carbs, another potentially lethal lightning storm, a last sleep in the desert, and an 11km race to beer and pizza. Let's go!!

WOO HOO!!!! Finally at the point where we can eat a double sack of dehydrated lasagna and get our grin on because tomorrow’s The Long Day!! Can not wait to see how the team pushes through because the middle 30km of the 73 on offer will surely be in baking heat across some ugly spectacular terrain. Awesome!!

From a type 1 diabetic point of view today was a bit of a trampoline. My insulin sensitivity seems to be way up from the combination of heat, pack weight, and consecutive days. Either way, blood sugar went super high then bottomed right out on course today. Nothing that I haven’t dealt with before while running but certainly had an interesting time sorting it out on the go while thinking about my carb budget for tomorrow – the day Jess and myself and probably Ron have been utterly hanging out for, being more of the ultra than adventure racing ilk. Either way, added some variety to the experience of running across a broken-glass-crunchy salt plain for 2 or 3 hours in baking sun constantly not quite getting any closer to a shimmering green heat haze on the mid-horizon.

Washed it all away with a jump into the deep trench lagoon here at Camp 4 on arrival. Luvverly!! Also met Frank from Friends For Life, one of the teams that’s ahead of us on time. Asked if they wouldn’t mind changing their name to Berlin Death Machine so we’d feel better about running behind them. Turns out that FFL is the name of a club they’ve been in for about 5 years and in that time they’ve put on races to raise awareness about HIV in South Africa as well as donating chunks of cash to support orphanages spontaneously occurring in poor and remote communities. . . so we’re ok about them not changing their name now  J

Got word from Meghan Hicks (Hi Meghan – so cool to hear from you and hope your Sahara training is going well) finished the 350mile Iditarod Trail Invitational. Knew he would because he’s Too Dumb To Quit ;) but such good news to get word because anything can go wrong in the Yukon.

So www.borntorun.com.au may still not be up, Greg’s still getting thrown into the administrative tumbledryer trying to sort out his passport, Matt’s perhaps a little nervous considering tomorrow’s going to be his longest run yet by 30km but he’s also strong and clearheaded for it, Ron’s philosophical and in good form, Jess just wants to get running long and I’m inclined to agree. Tomorrow should be interesting. Forecast remains: carnage.

With this being a complete adventure in itself but also a smaller part of an ambitious year, thoughts are already turning to Gobi, but that’s a conversation for another day. This one is a Long Day from being done but hopefully we’ll be in San Pedro Saturday night in high spirits having a cerveza with Adam, Claire, Hashimoto, Robert, and the rest of the crew who have now made it to the right side of halfway.

Day 3 and it finally stepped up a gear. Today, truly a precursor to carnage!! First 2 days definitely had challenges to offer and spectacular scenery of the highest order to run and stumble through. But today, people started to break. It's nothing you wish for or hope to see, but the fact that it's already happening with the long day's sunrise still 34 hours away both gives meaning to the achievement of Racers still in it with both feet and creates anticipation of some truly testing times for all.

As has been the case throughout, great volunteers, great support, great company from other runners on the course - Hiro, Canadian Brett and Steve, didn't see Saturo until later today with one of his sons seemingly out from anterior tendonitis, Daniel from Oz toughing through cascading injuries that he's managing with determination. The terrin today was a real character. Apparently temperatures reached the mid-30s but the heat is so dry it's hard to tell. By that time we had already worked our way doggedly across about 20km of salt-encrusted unpredictably rubble-strewn and breakable salt flats. Mary Gadams' husband Alistair described it as being like a field of crispy broccoli. Not entirely wrong, but more like a field of crispy broccoli with slippery clay lurking deep underneath.

We hit an amazing stretchof sany desert in the shadow of the Andes, a leafless bonsai forest so dry that no tree stood higher than our knees but I am sure that many of these entities were hundreds of years old. Hitting the final stretch we were required to pick up additional water for the final 11km. We ran across a rock field where the scaley slabs of stone that peppered the land all around us seemed to have been carved entirely by the wind, to form razor thin edges that reached for our ankles and shins and that would have been disastrous to fall on. The final reach for the day's finih took us across ridges of deep and shifting sand - loads of fun to run down, far less immediate joy to run up.

But again the team pulled through, and like everyone else we are facing the looming challenge of the long day with raised expectations and a sense of impending pain. How we meet that will not just be the measure of our commitment to the team and the nascent Born to Run foundation, but to the entire 4 Deserts Challenge of the next 8 months and ultimately ourselves. Everyone's going to hurt, anyone could buckle.

Game on.

Finally got running today! After months of anticipation, running with loaded packs, late nights ordering bulk foods, gels, bars, mandatory kit, and clothing to suit an environment likely to be anywhere between freezing and 40 degrees C we got to kick up some desert dirt. Team Born to Run is an assortment of unlikely elements that are yet to fully meld but already work together well. Matt Donovan’s the least experienced as far as running goes but is just nailing it whenever we head out together. 

A crossfit instructor with a genuine interest in nutritional theories and bodywork, he has trained by running 2-3 hour blocks wearing a 20kg weight vest. That on its own means nothing, but the guy’s both a quiet hard worker and leader by example. When he gets through this year he stands to be the youngest 4 Deserts Grand Slammer yet. The long day might challenge him with the brutal Pure South Shotover Moonlight Mountain Marathon in New Zealand being his biggest hitout so far, but Matt loves a challenge. His dad’s a dreamer with a vision bigger than his sweat gland. Since this whole journey began for the rest of us just a few months ago, Greg keeps pulling out the big surprises, both in terms of what he brings to the table and his own efforts. Also training hard, he ran just a bit outside himself today. Not a fan of half measures, backing up day after day will present Greg with a different challenge altogether. A dynamic father and son pairing, they’ll likely swap the lead more than a few times over the coming days.

Ron Schwebel directs a 12-hour race back in Sydney and at age 60 comes to the 4 Deserts with prospects of becoming the oldest Slammer so far. If he keeps playing team like he did today, he’ll not only get himself through but he’ll make the struggle to achieve this ambitious feat of endurance easier for the rest of us too. He loves his distances, time targets, and Garmin, but more than that I think he loves the possibilities of what we’re doing and he’s eager to make it happen. Deliberately left til last though first in my thoughts, Jess Baker is primed to knock this entire year of Racing The Planet out of the park. Even as the thin air and the first slope and overloaded backpacks kicked in, her face was beaming in the breaking light of day this morning, also so happy to finally get her run on. The strongest runner in our group, but bound like all of us by the 25-metre team rule, at least a couple of us would love to see her get the chance to Race The Planet solo and dominate like we know she could.

More specifically, today rocked. Open rocky plains, baked in sun and devoid of even the smallest vegetation were the name of the game, as were sweeping mountain vistas, red, empty riverbeds, and a sense that the week ahead will really try to stare us down before letting us pass. Reaching camp in a time of 4:15 for just over 30km, we ATE and DRANK – activities newly endowed with a near religious fascination. After exploring a nearby network of highly mineralized river gullies – again totally bone dry and crack-surfaced – we returned to camp where a sudden wind storm destroyed 2 shelters. Meanwhile, rain clouds darkened the horizon, obscuring the peaks of 6,000-metre volcanoes with foreboding grey haze while wind continued to blast us in our patch of isolated sunlight. Eerie.

Tomorrow we run through the Valley of Death. Yes, for real. Can’t wait!!

Hoping that www.borntorun.com.au will be up online soon. Some total waste of time is going on coordinating with the nominated service provider it seems. Our Facebook page – Team Born To Run – is up at least for anybody wanting to leave messages. And we’re all grateful for the support of Hoka OneOne Australia and US. Not just the company I happily represent in Australia, they’ve got behind what we’re doing as Team Born to Run with Stinson Evo and Bondi B running shoes proving their worth over every angle, surface, and type of terrain we have yet encountered. Not just saying that, it’s a fact. Evo are on track to be the trail running shoe of 2012. We’ll see how the team’s legs and feet hold up over the next 220km  J

E me through Racing The Planet and follow Matt, Jess, Greg, and Ron’s blogs over the week too! See y’all for now.

And into the Valley of Death!!!