I have made it through the Gobi desert to the finishing line running happy and mentally strong. It has been a fantastic week, the scenery absolutely stunning, unforgettable memories, sincere comradeship in the camps and moments that are going to stay with me for life. The position in the race is not at all important, but I know some of you want to know, I ended up in 38 position overall and nr 6 in my age group out of 110 starting competitors. Fredrik ended up in an amazing 11 th position. We have battled with a backpack with all our gear and food through 250 km in temperatures between -3 and 38 degrees, climbed up 28 km into thin air in one day, we had storm winds, heavy rain and even snow, sometimes very hot with high temperatures up to 35 degrees. I had a knee injury the first day, making it very difficult to run, one of my toes got infected, got diarrhea during the 72 km day and it goes on and on.......so the question is WHY ? The easy answer to that question is that I have had lower back surgery three times after falling of a horse. My orthopedic surgeon told me I probably would have back problems for the rest of my life, but I remember literally reading Time Magazine in my hospital bed about this Racing The Planet competitions, and at that very moment I decided to start to train in order try to get to the starting line in one of these competitions, I didn't care if I would finish, to get there with a chance of finishing was my goal. I didn't want to be stigmatized as a patient with chronic back problems, so I committed myself to start to train. So I began training, and I remember it was very hard and sometimes painful. In 2009 I travelled to Namibia and raced, and now I finished the Gobi in China. The amazing thing is that I don't have any more lower back problems at all, I consider myself very fortunate, but I needed to put in everything I had in me. I fully realize however as a physician that sometimes these active recoveries are not possible for all people and for all injuries. The more complicated answer to "why"'is difficult to answer in short, but for me is about challenging myself to new situations and making a commitment, I had moments of despair many times but not once did I think of giving up and leaving the race. When I despaired I did not think ahead I was just there in the moment trying to solve the situation at that very moment. The focusing itself is a "flow feeling" hard to describe, the sense of staying with your commitment as long as possible is just overwhelming. The joy I felt running over the finishing line I cannot explain, it comes really from deep within myself. It is amazing what we can accomplish when we commit ourselves to a mission of some sort. It isn't really important what the commitment holds or contains, is the commitment itself and staying with it that is rewarding and nourishing for the soul. It can be changing your life from little things to larger changes, anything from supporting an organization, loose a few kilos, recycling your garbage, starting meditation or whatever. To accomplish something that you set your mind on is a fantastic feeling. I am not claiming to be one of those "self improvement" people and "know how's" but make a commitment to anything you have a chance to accomplish and that you feel is important for you, and stick with it, the feeling is fantastic! (hope I didn't get to emotional). Thanks for all the comments I got, I could read them from the cyber tent but not comment on them. They kept me going! Your friend Claude

So finally I got my knees wrapped up all kinds of bandage. Anyway I promised to get back to you on why we do this. If you ask everyone in this race, you will probably get as many answers as you have runners. For me is about commitment and focusing, it is a wonder

Another day, I finished the long day, but the toughest day I ever have experienced. It was 70 km, uphill for the first 35 km and then downhill, and at the end uphill for 11 km. Maximum elevation was 2800 m, the air was so thin especially on the last climb, never been so tired in my life, but when getting up it was so beautiful which made up for the enormous exertion. However it was really cold, probably down to minus degrees. I came in to camp at 11.30 at night, so it took me 13,5 hours! But it took some of the competitors almost 24 hours, they really impress me, being able to keep their focus and not giving up, in short a great achievement. My knee is holding up, but barely very painful going downhill making it impossible to run after a climb, but I am strong uphill. Fredrik is again doing a fantastic day, just amazing.

So during this race, I actually look for cow or sheep pooh, because it is very soft to put your feet in and very gentle on my bad knee, but impossible to find, zig sagging finding pooh, is ridiculous, but it does adds some perspective to life doesn’t it?

Since I got in kind of early (after 12 hours!?) today is a resting day, in a camp located at 2000 m by the a fantastic lake, the sun is shining, the wind is a bit cold, but the location absolutely stunning. It is perfect to lick your wounds and get to know everybody. I spoke to the former Olympic runner, he is going to win this race, he is telling me that running is his life, he runs 9000 km a year! For the last 15 years he said he has completed 4,5 laps around the globe. You would expect him to be a nerd with nothing to talk about that running, but has a lot of things to talk about but running.

I have now completed 236 km out of 250, so I will make it! Didn’t think so when I injured myself the first day, but I decided to break down the race to checkpoint to checkpoint, not thinking very much far ahead. Just as in life, step by step…..When I have finished I will write about why I did this from a philosophical point of view, so for you who still have time and patience to follow this blog, please hang on.
Kram
Claude

Today we did 49 km, totalling 160 km, so far. The landscape was extremely beautiful and also very tough. I saw wild horses, at least 100 of them. The mountain was just gorgeous but also very difficult to climb, and obviously hard for me to get down, especially with my bad knee. Also there were several river crossing, which meant wet feet and shoes. The weather was nice up with temperatures up to 30 degrees, actually yesterday when the temperature was down to -3, no wonder why I got cold in shorts and only a running shirt. The highest elevation point today was 1800 meters, tomorrow we are going up to 2300 m, and the distance is almost 70 km, puh…….

Let’s talk about food, I brought frozen dried food for breakfast and dinner, and it is absolutely disgusting. You would think that I would be very hungry, but I am not actually. But it is absolutely crucial to eat the mandatory 2000 calories. I have about 2200 per day, meaning that we burn a lot more than we eat, I think we burn at least 6000 per day, my starting weight was 63 kg, so if I finish the race, it will be interestin to see where I land…..But then again maybe the 6 Alvedon I use during the race contains some calories! I will never touch dried food again, so if anyone considers to invite me over for dinner, you might want to do it when I get home. Remember I am a vegetarian, but lobster and oysters will do fine anytime. Need to go to get my feet tendered to, will continue with another with a more philosophical aspect of all this. Talk to you soon!

I just got my knees plastered up, hoping that I will finish tomorrows stage of almost 70 km. Today my knee got a little better for the last 15 km, surprisingly I came in in 34 place. Fredrik was in the top 12!! I really I don’t care much about the position, I just want to make it through. Including today we have covered 160 km, still a “few” to go. Spirit is still high in the camp and everyone is very friendly in spite of all the problems everyone has. The greatest thing I experienced today was going through a Chinese Mongolian village, when I arrived 10 children approached me, extremely happy and wanted to do “high five”, I have their happy faces on film. Afterwards I felt such joy being able to return the high five, the joy I felt was so sincere and I considered myself so fortunate in life being a part of that. I thought about this for a long time and all of a sudden I was approaching camp and todays stage was over, I didn’t have much pain during this “mental state”. This sounds maybe like a cliché but experiencing things out of the ordinary is a strong motivation in my life, of course it doesn’t have to be in exotic places like China. Today’s memory from and the feeling afterwards has made an imprint for as long as I live…..

Claude

Mission completed for today! Today the landscape was more beautiful than yesterday, however we encountered extreme weather conditions. The elevation was 1600 m and raining, I was underdressed from the start, but it felt quite warm. However after 10 km, the temperature must have dropped to about 12 degrees, not more, shortly afterwards it started hailing (=haglar) for an hour or so. I only had my shorts on and my running shirt. I got into a situation risking severe hypothermia. I put on everything I had on, ate my bars and finally I got warm, then the sun came out in a grassy plain and the temperature rose to almost 30 degrees, just incredible how quickly it changes. The staff cut the race short today, since there was an ongoing snowstorm (!!) up in the mountain where we would supposed to conclude the last 16 km. All the equipment is now dried in the sun and tomorrow is another day. People are dropping out of the race, even the top runners are getting injured, the terrain is sometimes very hazardous, I am still holding up and happy for each day. I have pain in the knee, which is making it very difficult to run with, especially downhill, but my backpack is getting lighter for each day……… People competing are generally very nice, always helping each other out, it is the same experience I had from Namibia, very inspiring. Tomorrows distance is about 50 km and the fifth day is 70 km on 3000 m elevation. Today I washed my face for the first time, it felt fantastic. A nice guy from France, his name is Olivier, he said to me that he actually doesn’t smell so bad, I just looked at him and that was the end of that conversation…. Have to go, heavy rains coming in. Talk to you later and hugs to everybody. Forgot, not easy to read comments while I am here, will try tomorrow. Claude

Another 40 km completed. Today was around 25 degrees, mostly sunny. The landscape today was surprisingly boring; mostly grassland with loose rocks, steady uphill most of the way and we did not see any exotic animals, yesterday we saw wild horses, jak and Fredrik saw a wolf (!), but today nothing. The most exotic thing was in the middle of nowhere there was a Chinese police officer, just standing in the desert with no vehicle around. When I passed him he was dead serious and made a military salute, it felt really surrealistic, I felt that I needed to respond but I was reflecting how to do it. My first thought was to do the salute back, but then I thought that would be disgraceful to him, and it didn’t feel natural to me considering what I think about the military. Then I considered just waving saying “hi buddy”, but that he would never understand. So I ended up doing a quick deep “Japanese bow”. But the fact that it was rapid and deep with a 10 kg backpack I almost fell over hitting my head on the desert floor, at least I got the captain to release a small twinkle of the mouth, which I thought was going to be his only smile today, will never forget this……However todays stage was considered hard, since it was continuously uphill. Our friend from Norway who ended up second yesterday pulled out today amongst a few others. Still in the lead is the Spanish guy who up to 2013 ran for the national Spanish team, it is really impressive to see him run with the backpack, besides he is really a nice guy (he is in our tent). Fredrik did another great day, for me I ended up in the middle somewhere, I had difficulty running with ease today. My knee is hurting and starting to get swollen, I don’t know about tomorrow, will see how it looks tomorrow and consult with the doctors before the start. I will definitely pull out of the race if the pain gets worse, I will start off walking fast or run really slowly. I will not be prestigious finishing the race, this I can promise. As for Fredrik he is just looking great, I recommend you to follow his blog if I pull out from tomorrows race, which is around 40 km. Kram and lets stay in touch!

First stage completed! It was just beautiful, sunny and around 30 degrees. By the way, the night was clear with a beautiful crystal clear sky. It is just amazing to realize why it is called “the milky way”. Anyway Fredrik and I started off running, and it felt really good up to 20 km to the water station, 400 m afterwards I realized that I forgot my water bottle at the station so I had to run back uphill! Then I wanted to catch up with Fredrik so I ran downhill which I shouldn’t have done, on the way down I injured my knee so unfortunately I  couldn’t run anymore, I had to walk a lot, Fredrik kept on running, he did a fantastic stage 1, I don’t know what position I ended up in. Went to the medical tent, Fredrik is also an orthopedic surgeon and maybe my problem is a ruptured Baker cyst, or the “menisk”. I just have to wait and see about tomorrow, hope I can start the stage 2 which is 40 km, today was almost 50 k. Anyway there are great people here and just a fantastic experience being in the Gobi!

Finally at the starting point, they had to change the starting point due to bad weather with rain and storm coming in during the night. So tonight we are sleeping in minor huts previously used by miners in the Gobi. No windows, old wooden door and concrete floor, we are at least 10 people in this 15 square feet room. Anyway, it feels great being here with 110 competitors from 42 nations! We are fully packed with food, my backpack with all the food and equipment is exactly 10 kg, Fredrik backpack is surprisingly heavy, 9,5 kg. The temperature will reach 30 degrees during the day and will drop to almost 0 at night, amazing time difference. Anyway, I am getting a bit of butterflies in my “belly”, I don’t want to break or lose anything, and definitely not interested in any more surgery. Tonight, I will watch the stars for the first time in the Gobi, should be fantastic, however the sun sets at 22.00, maybe sleep will then come easily. The first stage tomorrow is 48 km. I am happy because I feel almost recovered from the last days of being sick with vomiting. Thank you all for supporting this idea (maybe you are not…). The tension is high in the camp, lot of nervous racers around, especially the Mexican and Spanish guys and single woman in our “hut”. My only concern is to get through the race with no injuries, so wish me luck! Puss ouch kram

Nu ar vi pa plats i Bole efter en timmes flygresa fran Urumqi, en kanon frukost pa Sheraton, valde bort "spicy horse intestines" eller "pickled chicken feet". Jag kunde inte ens overtyga Fredrik att ata kryddiga hast inalvor eller kycklingfotter. Hur som helst, pulsen gar sakta upp, sarskilt nu nar man traffar de andra tavlande, ett mish-mash av nationaliteter. Tyvarr sa har magen gjort uppror efter gardagens middag, hoppas det hela lagger sig, just nu jobbigt.....Starten gar pa sondag, i morgon skall utrustningen gas igenom och vagas, tydligen skall man ocksa traffa medical team, tror jag och Fredrik far halla lag profil.

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