So I couldn’t eat my porridge like a good boy on the morning of the Long March (68km), it was for some reason hideous and would not stay down. That on top of my Coke antics the previous afternoon left me feeling a little weak and wary of over exerting myself. I decided I would walk at least some of the trail with Lisa, Alex and Chigs. All of whom have injuries which prevent them from running. I thought I would build to running maybe later on in the day or not.

My legs were fine except for a niggling left Achilles, it was my guts I was more concerned about. The pace we set out was slow but this felt very different to the competitive 2 previous days, a different type of fun, far more sociable and you get much more time to actually take in where you are. The problem is that walking seems to have caused much more damage to my legs than running. By the time we arrived at the summit, both legs ankles were hurting. As we had broken the back of the course I left the others and tried to get out the jail of pain I was in. Unfortunately walking only leads to more walking, it is incredibly hard to get the body to start running after walking 35km mostly uphill. So whilst I was able to increase my speed a little, I never broke into a jog once. These Long Marchs are all about getting off the course as quickly as possible. The longer you are out there the higher chance of some type of damage. As far as I am concerned, you should try to run as much as possible for 2 reasons: To get off the course as quickly and the second being that you use different muscle groups walking to running, and you can’t physically run the whole thing. So you will spread the wear and tear across both muscle sets.

I then spent 6 hours walking through a gritty section 6,7 and 8 in the dark on my own in pretty nippy weather. My ankles got progressively worse and it was a bit of a close thing in the end to see if the race would before my ankles did. I made a poor choice and learned something in the process. But my legs are diminished, and I need to figure out a way of getting the 15km (timed) out of the way tomorrow. Suddenly these small hurdles actually seem quite big.

Otherwise, it’s been fine. I’m in a good mood and excited to have a decent lunch tomorrow and then a beer!

Cheers for all the comments,

John

First off, let me start by saying that I love getting the feedback and great notes from everyone, it makes getting back to camp so much more enjoyable. It’s a shame I didn’t see Ben Chandler’s yesterday. Today was an interesting one, they extended the course length to 49 km due to the bad weather yesterday. Given that tomorrow is the long march of 68km, it is going to be a hairy couple of days.

I started well and was in the top 25 for the 1st 2 stages; then we hit a stage called the ridge which was an elevation of 720 metres. I hated it, despite all my hill training and lots of food for the course I could not get any fluid movement going for any period of time. Over this 10 km part of the course about 20 people passed me and suddenly I was 45th! It’s worth noting that you are allowed to go the toilet on the course, (they give you a special bag for toilet paper). However there were so many locals on the course cheering us on and taking photos that it was impossible for me or anyone else to go.

Ego bruised, bladder full and with actually still quite fresh legs I decided to gun the last 20 km to make up some of the places and to visit the amenities back at camp. I got back to about 37 or 38th place and finished the race. I really pushed hard to the point where when I was back at camp I got to our tent and then didn’t have the energy to get up again despite really wanting to go to the mens, until the docs gave me a can of pristine, ice cold coke. So whilst I was the envy of the camp, it was a really stupid of me to have pushed so hard. Having never had a low sugar level before I have no concept of what was happening. All I know is that this was a really hard day.

Everyone is great but carrying some form of injury, this morning from a start of 120 people only 98 remain and that is not counting today. Tim is consistently getting in or below the top 20 despite his shins, Chigs has a bad thigh and Alex has a dud leg which means he will be walking the rest of this course. Everyone is very chipper though, and very much of the mindset of just getting through tomorrow.

Cheers,

John

I was in a foul mood this morning, but also knew that all the humping of rice up the twins had to come into play at some point. Stage 3 is the most technically hard section with a hard climb towards the final section, so if I had any I had advantage amongst the competitors it was going to be here. I had dropped a lot of extra stuff from my bag so that I could have a fair whack at running rather than walking as I did the last 2 days.

I gunned it at the start to get ahead of the pack and held that position even when it started raining. The countryside was stunning today, with snow peaked mountains but muddy like the UK. I was running with a bunch of unfamiliar runners when compared to the previous 2 days. The difference being that these guys and girls only walk on the uphills and run the rest. I ran past a policeman with a horse and asked him in mandarin if I could buy it off him. He looked like he was actually taking me seriously.

The weather turned worse and soon the drizzle became full rain and then soon turned to hail. I stopped in front of some bemused sheep herders as I tried to get my raincoat, gloves and poncho on in the hail. I kept up the pace, and was totally happy to run all day. Unfortunately at the next section they informed me that the course was being closed and that there was only 3 km left. I overtook the leading female runner on the final straight only to be pipped at the post by Tim. In the end I came 21st, which although it was a shorter course is given me a nice boost for tomorrow. I feel a bit more in the game though, and love the fact that I can run at last. There are a lot of walking wounded at the moment, so I guess in a way humping that extra weight has saved my legs at the expense of my back.

Thanks to Mia, Charlie and Fiona for giving me inspiration to keep on trucking.

Anyway onwards and upwards…

Cheers,

John

First off, Thanks for all the kind messages. Keep them coming as every day i feel pretty beaten up and the messages make a big difference. I have even had a couple of Lassy moments.

Well another day done, I was placed 41 day 1 and 47 today, today was 38 km, my timing is slightly behind schedule. I am about to dump a shed load of stuff I probably won’t need as the weight of my bag is stopping me getting my mojo going, its killing my back, otherwise my legs are raring to go, but I haven’t run once yet. Funnily enough Chigs has also decided to drop some weight as well, despite the fact he is actually beating some seasoned runners just by walking. Although I don’t know if he is going get rid of that bottle of L’Egoiste by Issey Miyake he has been carrying around. I asked him what is was for, and all he said was “Networking purposes”.

Everyone is running well, but no one is that happy with their times. Tim is having an absolute stormer and Alex is serving as a good foil but there is always room for improvement. At some point Chigs and I will actually start running.

Tomorrow is technically the hardest day, but this is where our HK training comes into play. So we will see.

Mia: No Camels today and I didn’t get a photo of the snake, we were both too scared. Next time, hey.

Its about to start raining here at the campsite by the river. It would be much more beautiful in the sun. Im off to lose some weight.

Cheers,
John

That was an interesting 1^st day. 49.5Km with the pack at the heaviest. We left at 8 and I got in at 3:30 ish, 8.5 hrs. I walked most of it and still feel broken. However tomorrow is another day and my 11kg pack will be a lot lighter.

Getting here was an adventure in itself, but that will have to wait until I can type better on the weird keyboards they have provided us with. Group moral is pretty good all in all. And is great to mix with new people. Having said that sleeping has been an interesting experience, so last night in a miners hut to get through the potential storm turned into a snore and fart fest.

Mia, I haven’t touched a cactus because you told me, also I saw sheep, cows and camels today. The birds are too fast to catch.

More news later, and thanks so much for the messages.

Cheers,

John

Its been a great adventure thus far with all the training, however still have a days full of work plus the need to fine tune the packing before I get going tomorrow morning. It's fair to say that this will not be a normal week by any of my expectations. One thing for sure, its definitely exciting! although it going to take 2 days to get there. It's going to be great just to arrive on the 1st day. Cheers, John