Stage 5

I

Today was supposed to be slightly shorter day.. 10 kms of crusty salt flats put pay to that.. for the brief moment that I looked up this country is beautiful, rugged and amazing to be here. A truly special place. We ran through and over canyons, huge sand dunes and those salt flats.. my trainers have been shredded. But by this stage of the race, you start to work out what its all about. Yes you race against others at what ever level you are, but that

Mountains, rivers, salt flats and sand dunes

Never under estimate the enemy..

It just never occurred to me.. Altitude sickness. We arrived at camp at approx. 5pm Saturday night, a remote location towards the top of a canyon. Big campfire to chat around underneath the Southern Cross. High spirits in camp and all excited about the mornings race. I hadn't slept well the night before so thought I would get an early night and feeling a little under the weather so I could sleep it off. About midnight, woke up with a strong headache and feeling very unwell.. Altitude sickness. Through the night was sick several times and was cold, really cold but too tired to put more cloths on. Eventually may tent mate Janine realised I was ill and gave me a big cuddle.. purely for body heat obviously ! people started moving by 5.30 getting ready for the race but felt dreadful, finally getting up just before 7pm, still cold, couldn

Wow it's a long way to the Atacama Desert, a flight to Madrid 12 hours to Santiago a further 2 hours flight to Calama and then a bus ride to San Pedro de Atacama. The bus ride from the airport is like a journey across Mars, flat rocky surfaces, salt flats with huge mountain ranges of volcanos. We arrive in San Pedro on the edge of the town. Clint

Butterflies defiantly kicking in now, all the training has been done, with a flurry this weekend including a 1/2 marathon on Saturday and the Hever Castle Triathlon on Sunday.. fingers crossed my knee will recover from over extending it on the bike. A few last minute panic buys of snacks etc, loads of pringles that I plan to crush into a small bag and eat with a spoon during the course of the week and some beef jerky. Oh and a new pair of trainers.. after months of running in the same pair pain and blister free, I think they have expanded a bit and are giving me trouble so had