Gosh what a day! After my usual day three slump, and a good day on day 4, I was not holding out any hopes for yesterday. The idea for the long stage was just to get through it. It would have been nice to match the 14 hours in Atacama, but after very little sleep, only a few bites of breakfast and a 2 hour busride i was feeling pretty rubbish to start. Started out walking the first stage with mick and after we parted ways at the first checkpoint, just tried to keep up a good pace and keep some energy in reserve for the last couple of sections.

Seems the breaking news mentioned the dust storm and the rain - seriously, rain in the long stage is starting to become a trend! the terrain wasn't too bad, but over 75km is never easy. Anyway, at the point that I realised I was on for about 12.5 hours, I was astounded and so picked up the pace a bit, there was no way that I wasn't going to go as hard as I could. So i jogged as much as i could of the last half of the day and in the end came in at 11hr46min and that put me at 8th female and 45th overall that day. Not only that but thanks to the quirk of the whole of china being on beijing time, it was still light when i came in which was just fab.I am so, SO pleased. Was hoping to improve on my atacama time but never thought that i'd end up a top 50 finisher 2 days in a row. So I am happy and content and feel like I have give this race the best i could.

Fergus was feeling pretty crook last night, but he is fine now and typing away beside me so you can read his blog for the details, but he's absolutely fine and the docs are happy with him. He has been strong and fast throughout the whole race and i am in awe of him.

Mick had an awesome race and i am so proud of him. He's so strong both physically and mentally and he's had an absolutely brilliant race for his first go. have a feeling it won't be his last...

So that's it for now. will finish up with a round up in a couple of days once we are back in kashgar and we are not being hurried along to finish.

Huzzah!!

kate

So before I talk about today, a huge thank you to all who have sent emails and blog comments. I can't tell you the boost it gives to get back to camp shattered and tired and filthy and smelly (mmm can't believe not more of you want to do this :-)) and have a good laugh, and occasional cry and feel loved and cared for by everyone all over the world. So I can't answer each one individually but please know they are all treasured and thank you too for playing along at home and contributing to my champagne fund!

So today. Well, started out slowly, after yesterday living up to the usual day 3 slump and knowing today was going to be harder i wasn't planning on going out too fast. The hike up to heavens gate was slow and involved a fair bit of huffing and puffing so I wasn't concerned about placings or times today. Stage 2 was hard - lots of up and down mountains, which tired me out on the way up and scared me witless on the way down. I think at least twice i sat down pretty much paralysed with fear not sure how to proceed next. Stage 3 started out similalry and ended with a long section through a dry river bed. Agony on the feet and baking hot in the sun.

So imagine my surprise when i found out i was placed 55th at the 3rd checkpoint. Not sure how it happened, still thinking they must have made a mistake! Anyway like a horse headed for home, i got through the last stage as quick as I could and ended up coming in at 47th. Am absolutely stoked. I don't think i have ever come in under 50 in any stage in any race so tonight i will sleep happy.

The views and the scenery were spectacular today and really did make all the pain worthwhile. Mick came in about an hour and a half behind me i think and although he found it hard, he's in good spirits. Fergus had another awesome day, he is doing so well and is in good shape. The knee seems to be holding up and I have one blister (very minor) from today so generally feeling pretty good.

Tomorrow is the long day (75km) and we start out with a 2 hour bus ride which doesn't make anyone happy but we are all in the same boat. So there won't be a blog tomorrow but there will be the next day.

Gosh, there's so much more i want to type but as usual many waiting so will leave it there.

Until after the long day!

Cheers

Kate

And now the other stuff.

Ok, it’s not that bad. After yesterday I was feeling pretty hopeful about today, we had been led to believe that today was going to be mostly track, but uphill all the way. Ummm…yeah. Not so much. The track that is, it WAS uphill.

Mick and I stayed together pretty much the whole way  today – occasionally one would move ahead for a while but we seemed to catch the other up and ended crossing the finish line together. No sibling rivalry here… I was just very grateful to see his face today and besides, his legs are so long that he only has to walk at his normal pace to keep up with me jogging J

Anyway, today started out fine, I was going to take it easy and finish in 6 hours. So stage 1 was a mixture of walking and running and was fine. Stage 2 was just difficult. Very rocky terrain, from pebbles up to rocks the size of your head that slipped and slid when you stepped on them and so it was very difficult to get into any kind of rhythm. So that was exhausting and then came stage 3 oh.my.god. The course notes and briefing mentioned tracks and a river bed. What they didn’t mention was the ravines that we had to go up and down – steep shale downhills and steep shale uphils. Ugh. Then the final stage was just a long slow uphill. It was hot, airless at times and just a continuous walk uphill for what ended up being 2 hours. There wasn’t even a slight downhill or even a flat to give the legs a break. Just two hours uphill with what will be the most uninspiring scenery on the whole course. Tedious.

Anyway, so the 6 hours easy became 7 hours of hard work which is a little worrying because tomorrow is going to be very tough. So tonight is all about stretching, eating and taking care of ourselves before tomorrow.

Temperatures on the course have been about 37 degrees apparently although the campsite tonight is freezing already with a very cold wind. It is an absolutely amazing place though (stage 4 being the exception) and neither words or indeed photos can do it justice, we are indeed privileged to be here.

So Mick and I had a tough day - forget struggle town, today we were moving through strugglemegalopolis. But he is strong and positive and at this point laughing out loud at your blog comments and emails so please do keep them coming. He is also giving the locals a good giggle with his pink hat and green zinc lips, and providing the volunteers a topic of conversation as they were all wondering if he was raising awareness of breast cancer. Clearly they were finding it hard to understand that he would just be wearing it because he liked it. I also won’t relay the jokes that started from the breast cancer awareness program he would soon be starting… I am sure your imaginations are fertile enough!

Well that’s it for today, as always people are waiting and I am freezing so going to seek comfort in my sleeping bag.

Huge thanks to you all for your amazing support

Cheers

Kate

Felt much better today so tried to crack on a little in the first stage – it’s easy to forget that 1km across road or trail is very very different to 1km over rocky hills, so the first half of the first stage took me 18 mins… and the second half took 40 mins. Insane.

Second stage was tough – lots and lots of valleys anywhere between 3 and 10 m high, but not dunes you could just run up and down, they were rocky, steep awful things that made your legs shake from adrenaline because of the fear of falling down one. Got through stage two in almost two hours, which was longer than I would have liked but still, the early stages are about conserving energy, not killing yourself everyday. Stage 3 started off nicely, flat riverbed that, rocks aside, gave the legs a bit of a break. We could then see the checkpoint in the far distance on what looked to be a nice green hill.

Instead it was across a b*strd of a hill with crappy rocks that dug into your feet or threatened to break your ankle. And the lovely green? Spindly spiky bushes that tore at your legs as you brushed past. Anyway, once that was over the final stage started on a tarmac road that wound its way uphill for about half an hour before a long descent toward camp. At first this was great, until my body reminded me that running downhill ain’t all that easy either and it was a long hot trot into camp. Happily, just towards the end, I caught up with Mick so we ran the last bit into camp together which was fab.

 So it took me just over 6 hours today which was good, I was hoping for 6 but expecting 8, so im happy. And after finishing about 74th yesterday, mick and I came in at 56 and 57 I think so that was a nice boost that we both managed to keep up a pretty good pace. Both Mick and Fergus still looking strong and happy (always a good sign this early in the race!) and I can’t say enough how much I am loving havng them here.

Thanks for all the cheers, I am loving all your comments and a big thank you especially to Nicole who is sponsoring me 7ml of champagne (I thnk that was a typo I am sure she meant 70) for every blog that successfully uses the word ‘unicorn’ in a sentence. So please do write much and particularly about unicorns as 1. Champagne is rather lacking in my life at this point and I would most like that not to be the case, and 2. I will demand fulfillment of sponsorship in person so I get to share the moment with a wonderful friend and toast to you all for making that happen!

Kez, can’t tell you how much we are looking forward to hearing the news. Everyone in camp knows you’re having a baby so there’ll be much cheering when he finally arrives.

So that’s about it for today, there’s quite a line for the laptops so I’ll leave it there.

Until tomorrow,

Cheers

Kate

I didn't get much sleep last night and had been very nauseous all night (probably a combination of car sickness from the bus ride in yesterday and lack of sleep) . I couldn't eat breakfast so knew that today was going to be a bit slow. Started off ok, we pretty much skipped most of the fisrt stage because the canyon we were supposed to go through was flooded, so the 2nd checkpoint was really the first checkpoint. 

So I jogged about 2/3 of the first stage but had to stop a couple of times to retch, and by the second stage I was stopping every half an hour to, er, empty my stomach. overall i felt ok, but the retching really exhausted me so walked stages 2 and three. I had the pleasure of Mick's company for about half of the second stage but after the second time i was bent double by the side of the road i encouraged him to keep going at his  own pace rather than wait for me. I tried to pick my feet up a couple of times and jog, but it never lasted too long. So today was a bit longer than i was hoping for, but it's only the first day and there's no sense in wiping myself just yet...

But Mick looked great, and is in good spirits, and Fergus had a blinder coming in 5th. I am so proud of them both and we're all enjoying the time together. We are at a village tonight staying in a village house which is nice and cool and has carpets on the floor - a luxury for the two in our tent who didn't bring sleeping mats! It was great running into the village (forced myself to run the last 500m with another competitor) with an entourage of laughing children running beside us. Such fun.

I have eaten now and am keeping water down so am hopeful that tomorrow will be a bit more comfortable and the blog a bit more interesting.

Till then

cheers

kate

Arrived in camp a couple of hours ago, being greatly entertained by the local villagers singing, dancing, playing instruments and soon to be riding horses (not us, the villagers)

Am quite enjoying mick’s excitement and occasional bewilderment at where we are and what we are doing… middle of nowhere, mountains, rivers, synthesizers with JBL speakers, green carpet laid over rocks, people dancing, singing, cheering, soldiers in fatigues with truncheons (in case we get too noisy…?) and the knowledge that tomorrow we start running.

Hoping to sleep well tonight, there’s only 8 in our tent so we have an unprecedented  luxury of space which makes life a little more relaxed and the tent a little less smelly. Haven’t really got a plan for tomorrow, will take it easy as usual on day 1 and save some energy for days 4 and 5 which look like they are going to be the toughest days.

Not much else to report although guessing Mick’s blog may be somewhat more descriptive than mine. Will write again after day one tomorrow, in the meantime please keep sending the emails and blog comments!

Cheers

kate