Day 5, 46.5 miles, 17.5 hours, total distance to date 151 miles (or 330,000 painful steps) in 5 days and one hour. This was the big one, we were warned when starting that there were sections of the course that no easy rescue was possible and with no shade, it was all about survival,

Day 4, 28.5 miles, total to date 100+.. No one said it would be easy, after all it is an endurance race and each day it gets

Day 3,

Day 2, 28miles, PAIN-PAIN-PAIN,,,, The word has new meaning to me, It all started at 5am after a restless night I decided to try and sit up in my sleeping bag, nothing worked, all joints were ceased and incredibly painful, The good news was this took my mind off my ripped up feet. Before I knew it I was trying to put my 27ib back pack on my aching shoulders and walk to the start line, The whistle blew and off we went, 160 cranky runners charging down a canyon towards a river bed in the early morning cold, The pretty English girl who I managed to follow for a few miles yesterday asked me to follow her and help her through the river crossings then she took off like a rabbit and I did not see her for the rest of the race. There were 30+ river crossings through a canyon pass and the water was freezing, the good news was this numbed me from the waist down so temporary relief until the chill set in to the rest of the body, that was surprisingly fun as the pace was good and I managed to pass a lot of competitors in that section, The day got progressively more painful and I constantly questioned why anyone would be foolish enough to take part in such an event but I kept remembering this was to create awareness and raise money for cancer research, so I marched on. The views Were spectacular all day but every time I looked up to view it I kicked a rock and came out with some choice words echoing through the canyons. It was a very difficult day today, it took me over 8hrs to navigate up mountains, down steep sand hills across the most awful crusty fields of soft sand with a hard top layer that with every step you sunk through it and into the sand, I honestly did not think I was going to finish today but pushed on in the soaring heat of the hostile desert. Tomorrow it all starts again, so until then, SUPPORT MY CAUSE Cancer research worldwide, see previous blog for info.

I AM SENDING THIS BLOG FROM A CYBERNET TENT, IT DOES NOT HAVE INTERNET, EVERY NIGHT THE BLOGS ARE SENT BY SATALITE, SO EXCUSE SPELLINGS AS I AM LIMITED TO 15 MIN USE.

So, after 8 months of training and 27 hours of travel we got to San Pedro Chile (with 163 Athletes from 37 countries) which is literally in the middle of the desert.

From there we were taking by bus even deeper into the Atacama desert. Camp was very basic, 10 of us from all over the world slotted like fish fingers on a rocky floor. Now i'm not a camper, the last time I camped I was 11yrs old and it was in my back garden, and I am pretty sure Mum made us abandum the tent at 10pm, so this was a big shock to the system. By 8pm the temp dropped to -1 and left no alternative other than go to bed and try and keep warm with every piece of clothing, hats, gloves, jacket I had with me. Surprisingly i slept on and off but was ready to get up by 5am when the camp fire was restarted. It was a very cold start to the race, So I had no choice but to take off as fast as i could and try and warm up. Somewhere in the hustle I lost Andy. I got caught up with a fast group and followed a very pretty girl for miles who happend to be one of the fastest racers, after losing her i trotted on by myself for hours and managed to finish the first day 34^th