First of all I just want say thank you all so so so much for writing to me, everyone. I got so many messages, many funny ones and I loved every one of them. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. Seems like I have to complete it and do the BBQ!

Day 5 LONG MARCH
Another super cold night at the camp, could not sleep, but everyone was up packed and ready for the toughest day of all. There was a sense of anticipation and determination in the air, you cn smell it, you can taste it. A fellow competitor said to me he just found what was the feeling we get when we all ultra runners gathered together, it was the fire in each of our eyes that draws us together, the comradary we all feel. That morning I saw that in each persons eyes, it was electric.

Race starts and off we go. Pack felt light, the chafing on my has stopped bleeding and the lighter pack helped. My ankle took a pounding yesterday and my knees started to hurt but I managed to finish 36 yesterday! Many more dropped out. I have to was worried about the distance, the long climb, and te long hours, with a weiry heart I took my first step and all of these feelings vanished.

The day start hot, proper desert heat. We started late too, at 10 am. It was a tough start, low on energy and I thought since my target was 18 hours for today I will walk the whole stage. Hope to finish before 4am, since it is going to get really really cold at night. But as soon as I took the first step, I was running! That’s the plan out the window. Being low on energy I tought its going to be a long day, and I turned a coner and there was the first check point 10km in!!!! I flew! That gave me energy, took some painkillers from the doc, refill my bottles and off I go.

Then started the climb, it’s a very small gradient but steep enough to stop you from running. Imagine this for 3-4 hours and no flat or down hill bit to give you a break, you get into this numb meditative state and just keept pushing and pushing. The great thing was we were at the stunning canion, beautiful, with a stream running next to the trail and because it was so hot I was dip my hat in the water to cool my head and arms down. And so many animals too, wild horses that roams free high up in the mountains, sheeps, mountain goats, cows, camel…….. you name it! Just when I tough this constant up hill would never end, then came the big mama, this hill….. wait this mountain climb. It was so high and steep nothing I have climbed before especially at high altitude. I when up and it was just tough. I pride myself to have never stopped and sit at any of the stage, never took my pack off to rest 8 hours of running each day, but that hill killed me. I found a rock and I took my pack off and sat to enjoy the view. Sometime we go about our business each, put our head down and push forward, rarely do we stop, look back where we have came frm and be grateful. Whilst I was taking photos I noted these high altitude flowers, cute little things, so walked around for the prettiest ones and plug them for Sam, put them in my note book, and carried on. Finally when ingot to the top, 2880, many people were suffering from altitude sickness, but the good thing was it was down hill all the way from there. But downhill was not good for my ankle and knee and it was hours of down hill. There was a beautiful moment when my watch beeped ad it said 200km!! that the furthest I have ever ran in my short 2 year running career. And what a place to do it in, at that , was this endless snow capped mountains, alpine trees, streams…… I stopped to take lots of photos and a photo of my watch that says 200 and you know how I celebrated?? I had a poo!!! Was so good hahaha you can say I left my mark at 200km. wht comeon running down hill gives you a funny stomach. Oh forgot to tell you, I saw 4 seasons in the space of a few hours! It started hot, the cold, the really cold wind, then rain, the hale, then big hale ouch, then snow at the top, then hot again.

Sorry guys this is after long march so today its rest day so I have so much time to write.

Fastforward to CP6, it was another nasty loooong uphill and it was around 8pm and its still light. Got to the check point and the medic said its 16km left!!! I nearly hugged him and I was 41st. and I saw from afar the Spanish team and I wonder if I can pass them and get 39 place so I set off with vengeance. Slowly I caught up to them and evemtually passed them. Then since I can’t see anyone infront I started to race against the sunset, I was to get back to camp before it gets dark but I missed it by 1 hour so I had to run the rest of the downhill in the dark. My target was 18hr, I finished in 13 hours 52 minutes!!! Through put the race I kept asking, how am I still pushing and still running, where did I find the strength??? I really have no idea, something to figure out in my next rsce.

Right, time to get some food, talk to more amazing people and learn about their amazing live journies.

What an amazing day, the best day so far but the toughest by far. Sorry guys I have to keep this one short cause I came in late and I a, starving

Day4
Great morning, its wonderful what a great night sleep does to you. I had no blisters, still had all my toe nails. Now at the emd of my day I have many little blisters and looks like I will loose 1 toe nail, which is much better than expected since my goal was not to loose more than 3 nails. Sleeping when it is still light, waking up in cold dark morning is getting better. I am so glad I brought eye mask and ear plugs. The girl next to me from another tent brought facial mask!!! Such a great idea! Honey, when I get come please book me a massage and spa treatment.

The race was brutal brutal brutal, but it was the best day and the happiest day (partly because my pack is lighter and I finally had a poo!!! Hahah) today was tough simce the race got cut short yesterday sine the part of the mountain we were heading to was SNOWING! So they added the km to today, it’s a 50km today. So many crazy hills tht made HK hills look like nothing, OOOOOMMMMGGGG. It was tough. Many river crossings too. The views are breath taking, easily the best day. On the plains I was running and then this touching song came on I had a little weep behind my sun glasses, not becaue of the pain of the difficulty, but just an emotional momement and 5 secomds of that I was laughing out loud and flying, literally fkying. Running into town after that was another beautiful moment, all the kids cam out. I gave them all my sweets and took pictures of them and they ran with me. Little girls and boys showing me how fast they can run, and I took so much videos and photos of them. They ran like a whole km with me. The smiles and how welcoming they are.

Guys I have to go, I need to retape my feet for tomorrow and I still have not ate!!!!! Something really funny happed last night but I cant tell ou guys here, tell you when I a, home

Tomorrow is 70km and 3 TIMEs the elevation, 2440m!!!!!! stary positive!!!!!

Thank you Sam, Agnes, Alick, Bernie, Olivia, Dan and David for writing to me, I really appreciate it. Thinking of doing a BBQ when I get back to show you all the photos and you guys are all definitely invited!!! Yup guys are amazing. Thanks Alick for posting my photo to Facebook, that is my signature jump which I do in most exotic place I go and this places tops the list. Now the camera man (who is an amazing ultra runner) now ask me to do my jump every time he sees me!! Which is why I wore those bright green compression so you guys can find me in the photos easier!

Well let’s start with DAY 2night
Not sure I have written it already but there was a beautiful moment when I was back at camp, went to the amazing medical tent to have a look at my Achilles which was a little tight and the doc brought me to the icy river next to the camp site and told me to use the cold water that came from the snow mountains to ice it and also my cramped this and the boy you should see the view of folds and folds od mountaind, trees, endless green land. Breath taking. the evening temperature dropped and started to rain, really rain. Getting use to camp life, but it’s the end of day 2, 2 days of hard running and EVERYTHING and EVERYONE is starting to smell!!!! I still smell like roses of course……. Which is a complete lie hahaha

DAY 3
Woke up and found myself shivering like mad, it must be below 0, and I found to my shock my part of the tent was flooded and my bum has been in icy rain water all night!!! Everything got wet, which made and extremely cold day miserable. One thing I learn from running, force yourself to manage your state, emotional state that is. So I was jumping around and singing but my stomach just could not eat anything…….. but on a cold and miserable day, a hot chocolate By the fire is gooooold!

Race start, funny now a 3rd day cold start people are not running off the start line, people yawned and walked off the start line hahaha today is a super hilly day, 39km of it and boy was today a day to remember. The heavy rain made it a slippery muddy mess with sharp climb. I loved it, thanks to all the hill climb training in HK. So I was blasting through the pack. Was doing really well, catching up with the top 20 guys then no breakfast hit me and I slowed. Then it got really windy, icy cold wind from the rushed down from the snow capped mountain. It was so so cold. Then it started to really rain, I was soaked to head to toe, which made it even colder. No that was not it, the mountains had one more surprise for us, it started to hale, HALE! Oh come on. But I started to laugh, these are the moments that makes an ordinary day special and memorable. My right ankle starting to hurt but I pushed on, but lost a lot of time taking off my pack to put my jacket on, the off my pack to take off my jacket off, off on off on…….. grrrr. Then was a check point 2 the sun came out and just in time too cause the view, omg the view. Will show you guys photos when I get back. Then at check point a few people dropped out due to the extreme weather and then I was told that the race has been cut short with only 3km to go, I can see the camp in the distance and it was a site for the sore eyes!!!! I was wet from head to toe. I pushed the last 3km and came into camp 39. I could have been 34 or 35 if I didn’t take my time and keep taking off my pack but happy to be within the told 40 again.

Now early back at camp and I am hungry, cause I did not expect to be back so early so I have to wait for my dinner ration. The camp is beautiful, we are staying in Yuks tonight which are these great big Mongolian white tents. So we will be warm, dry and should get a good nights rest. And the sun is fully out now and I have a chance to dry all my cloths and most importantly my wet sleeping bag. So funny, all the beautiful YUKs are covered with competitors wet gear so they can dry them haha

My right ankle have tendentious, I hope the swelling will die down but have to keep it elevated.

Right I AMD going sunbathing now, hope that will make me smell better hahaha

Keep the messages coming guys, thanks

Thank you Samantha, Agnes, Alick, Liza, thank you for writing to me. This is one thing I look forward to each day, a connection to home.

DAY 2
Phew, what a day. Packing and unpacking each day was exciting the first day but now it is getting a little old. Last night was staying in a prper tent and it was actually very nice. Met lots of wonderful people at camp, I suppose when you finish your race at 2 or 3 you have time to rest and talk to people.

Today was a 40km, relatively flat so people thought it was going to be an easy day but boy were people wrong. 7 people dropped out. What they didn’t say was that there were some really slow and loose rock sections that drains you physically and mentally. That’s it, today was a test of mental strength of the competitors. Then the rest was running on these vast, endless grass plains. Its all slight uphill today, and you can see competitors miles away and its hard cause you know you still have miles and miles to go. Very tiring day, especially with a gruelling 50km yesterday so people are recovering. The weather was cloudy today which ws much better than yesterday which was really sunny and ho, got up to 37c. the last 20km today my tent mate, a Japanese guy, who came in yesterday after me, passed me. Well lets just say I was no having any of that. So I pushed and pushed, and pushed some more. In the ended not only smoked him by about 15 minutes I even beat another tent mate who beat me by 1hr yesterday who has done 7 of these races !!!! Third fastest in my tent yesterday and today 2nd!!! I ca,e 51 yesterday out of 120 and today 37!! Injury free today, no cramps, knees are good, but my shoulders are killing me from carrying the pack. Good thing is the more food I eat the lighter the pack gets.

Camp here is getting cold. Each camp site will go higher and higher so it wil get increasingly colder. I hope my gear will hold. And not it is raining too, but my park of the tent was not leaking, cant say the same for the others but we were creative in solving the problem.

Tomorrow is going to be a tough day, lots of steps and steep hill climbs, 40kms of it, lots more will drop out and it will not be me!!!

Right it is getting cold, going to join the guys at the fire.

With all the excitement at the camp, I couldn’t sleep at all!!! So for the second day of hardly any sleep. It was a beautiful moment in the morning when we were all packed very early in the morning and brushing my teeth with this stunning view with the sun peaking over the mountain, now I remember why I am here. Breakfast of beef curry rice was hard, but I had to force it down to get the calaries for the day.

The start line was electric, everyone was looking to get out there. We were told that the 80km on the last day had to be cut short since it will be snowing so the first day was extended. I was glad that the last day ‘long march’ cut short but that means the first day is much longer, which is when the pack is at its heaviest with the whole weeks worth of supply!!!! Today was a long 50km with 12kg on my back but my first 20km was fast. The views are stunning, really wish you guys can be here to see it. Then shit hits the fan……. I started to cramp!!!! So for the rest of the day was I run as hard as I dare, cramp, ouch, then I slow down, wait for the cramp to die down then run as hard as I could until I cramp again……. Finish strong in 8 hours. The crews at the check points were all super energetic and helpful which really helped, and at one of the check points refilled my water bottles and just as I was about to leave she asked ‘hey we have been trying to figure out what was the name of the last Indiana jones movie???” I was like why “why do you ask me now, that’s going to be all I think about in the next 4 hours and its going drive me nuts!!!!! Hahaha its something like something crystal skull….

At around lunch time ws the toughest, I was hungry and the cramp was at its worst and then I pulled out my fun size snikers and OMGGG it tasted sooooooooo good!!!! It was so good that I started taking tiny tiny bites so the tiny snikers will last hahahaha so cheap. I was really worried about my heavy pack before the race starts but I am glad I brought so much food cause I ate ALL of it!

Thank you baby fr your written note for day one, I only read it at the end og the day but I was so touched, especially at the end og a loooong day. I got your email through the 4 desert site, all your sweet encouraging words were much needed. Thank you.

Sis, thank you for writing on my blog and send me such a loving email. Each word gave me extra energy for tomorrow. Thank you!!!

Keep them coming guys, you write it, I will read it. Something to look forward to at the end of a hard day

A special thanks to Agnes who got me to the start line and fully prepared me for the race!

Now finally here at base camp. The pass few days have been stressing about how heavy my bag is going to be but now that I am here all is forgotten.  Be here, enjoy the moment and get ready for the start for tomorrow.  Tonight we will be staying in houses instead of tents because last night the camp was flooded by heavy rain and high winds.  Tent mates are very nice people, all 7 of them, looking forward to spend the week with them.  There are some scarily good people, all have amazing stories to share, much to learn.

I am healthy and ready to go!!

Just want to write my first blog to say hi to all the fellow runners at the Gobi March 2014. I look forward to running next to you all, learning from you and hearing about your life stories. Time is what we will have plenty of. And to my Family and friends, thank you for reading my Blogs and do send me encouraging comments and emails. Every word you send would be an encouragement and will be much needed and appreciated!!!!