Hey Folks

What a whirlwind! I am sitting here in the lobby of the Hami Hotel and cannot believe that yesterday I crossed the finish line in the Gobi Desert as the female champion and 6th overall. I am really stoked that my time was 30:49 and only an hour and forty-nine minutes slower than Namibia on a MUCH more challenging course for altitude, terrain and weather. I am so stoked! I cannot believe it. I believe it was the fastest female time on this version of the Gobi March course as well which is extra icing on the cake.

Stage 6 was extremely emotional and a bit painful. In the long march my feet had two huge blisters that developed on the bottom of each footpad. Every step came with a stabbing pain. I thought to myself that if I run or walk the pain is the same so just run for it! I really wanted to finish under 31 hours as well so I wanted to push it to the end as a victory lap.

The course was moody and had a nice cloud cover and sprinkles of rain as we went. We did a loop around the desert with a few steep climbs and the terrain was mostly rock and sand. Every footstep was a step closer to the finish of a very challenging week of running and weather conditions.

My emotions were extremely high this time due to exhaustion physically as well as the pain in my feet, being really hungry, and also dealing with the weather situations, evacuation and losing my sleeping bag and mat. I ran the last stage with only 4 hours of sleep in the past 2 nights. When I crossed the line I collapsed to the ground and thanked the Gobi Desert for such an epic week and started crying in joy and relief. My goals were achieved, the hard work was done, and it was time to rest and celebrate.

It always takes me a while to come down from the rush over here and there is still a whole lot of travel ahead to go 15 hours back in time and back around the globe to my friends and loved ones to celebrate. It will be really important to recover fully this time and also eat up. I am the lightest I have been in years and need to make sure to fuel back up for the Atacama Crossing.

Like any race, I am coming back with more tips for myself of what I want to change in Chile. The biggest and most important is to never wear a pair of shoes twice in these races. They are good for one and then need to retire. The super-hot ground and soles that were used could not take another 100 miles of running very well and my feet suffered the consequences. The shoes that are usually really hard soles can be bent and twisted and the entire bottom is squishy almost like the soles had melted. I also realized that on the super cold nights it is critical to bring a pair of smart wool toe socks so that you can have your shoes off and flip flops on at all times. Small items I will tweak too with more food choices too. I will also possibly keep a pack on my sleeping bag and mat when I am not in the tent now that mine blew away into the abyss in the Gobi Desert during the sand storm. Each race, you learn little bits and tricks form your friends to help advance your game.

To close, here is my speech for the awards banquet that took place last night. It was followed by a super fun karaoke celebration that went until 3am in the morning. The entire crew here became a really tight family and it is so exciting each time to see your loved ones and friends that have become 2nd family here. I cannot wait to see everyone again in 3 months at the Atacama Crossing in Chile. It is my favorite race in the series so far. To see these blog posts moving forward as well as all of my posts from the past 4 races, please visit my journal on my website here.

So my husband lance sent me this quote on day 1 by Francis of Assisi

HEY FOLKS!

Hey folks!

Hey folks!

Another day zero is upon us. Athlete meeting, shake out run, and now finishing up on work emails before I hop off the grid with the crew to camp 1. Camp one begins up in the mountain region of the Tian Shan mountain range. I am really excited about this part. Although it will be cold, and it could rain, I am prepared for it and cant wait for the technical running and some hilly terrain in altitude.

It is really fun as a returning compeitor to see all of my friends out here. It is like a family reunion every time. Old friends that for some you feel like their sister.

I am so blessed to be out here and accomplish this epic feat to raise awareness for the LymeLight Foundation. I cant tell you how much being out there and fighting through the elemetns matches what the Lyme patients that have to fight through daily in treatment protocols and to try to just get out of bed. It is the fastest growing infectious disease in the world and it is not getting enough attention out there among the masses. It has been reported in 49 states and 6 continents and is a serious issue out there. I hope that my feat will help raise more awarness and help to provide grants for children and young adults that are desperate for the medical care that they need. To check out my auxiliary fundraising page click here

I cant thank my friends, family, and sponsors enough for helping to make this journey possible. On my shake out run just now, I recalled many memories of running with friends, Loki, Meredith, track work with my new coach Eric Orton and Scott riding his bike along side while I pushed through a hot and humid 10 mile run. Thank you to DripDrop, Salomon Running, Zeal Optics, CEP Compression, VOKE TAB, AVEX Outdoor, Exepdtition Foods, Honey Stinger, Stoked Roasters and Beet Performer.

Reflecting back on training for the past 6 weeks, I took a solid recovery and then built right back up in volume. I ran two races during this past 6 week break from Namibia and placed 2nd female in both half marathons which was a confidence booster consideing I am in ultra shape and still rocking a 1:31 half. Mileage was good topping at 80 miles a week and eating good food. I also worked a ton on really exciting opportunities for Stoked Roasters and we moved for the 4th time in 6 months! in our current hometown of Jackson Hole.

T-minus 1.5 hours until we hop on the busses to the start. It will be a 3 hour drive out to camp 1. I can't wait to get settled and begin the race tomorrow. There is so much anxiety that builds until the first gun goes off to start. And then you settle in and begin your rituals for success.

Cheers folks and enjoy the jourey. I will keep in touch with you out there daily.

With love and light,

Jax

Hey folks. I am officially on the blog grid for the Gobi March.

To start, I am on a quest this year to become the first female in the world to complete the Grand Slam Plus. In the entire time the 4 Deserts race series has been taking place, only 3 men have accomplished this epic feat. I am running in honor of raising funds and awarenes for Lyme Disease through the LymeLight Foundation. Learn more here! The first race was in Sri Lanka where I placed 2nd female. The second race was in Namibia and I was the female champion! I am hoping to accomplish a repeat here in Gobi =)

Before getting to the starting line, there is what I refer to as the "other Ultra Marathon". Many stages and legs of travel and preparation to move your body across the globe with all of your gear to make the adventure even begin.

For this stage of the series, I am traveling for a total of 63 hours. This began yesterday with a 4.5 hour drive from Jackson Hole to Park City, UT. I ran many errands there and finished up many work tasks and had a wonderful dinner at my favorite restaurant in Park City called Handle with my friend Sierra Quitiquit.

The journey resumed this morning with a 3am wake up call to catch a 6am flight to Dallas. From there I am now on a plane to Beijing. The travel will continue with a last flight to Urumqui and then a 3.5 hour high speed train back to Hami where the host hotel is. It is tiring to type.

As you travel, you just hope that your luggage is traveling safely on each belly of each plane and that there will not be any flight cancellations, delays or weather issues. It is stressful to say the least. Especially with this round and all of my food being in luggage. In this case with customs, all of my food is still in packaging and traveling along underneath.

In Namibia, many racers lost their luggage and so this is a stressful memory on my conscious. You just have to have a positive outlook and relax and let the universe do it's thing.

As much as I can, I try to immediately transition to the time zone I will race in. In this case it is 13 hours ahead of paciic time. That is just wild! So you try the best that you can. I end up working a lot, napping, snacking and watching a lot of movies. This round, I will also enjoy reading my coach Eric Orton's (From Born To Run) book that he wrote called The Cool Impossible. Check it out. Especially if you are just getting into running.

Time to get back to work. I cannot wait to share this journey with you all for race #3 of 5 this year. To visit my blog posts from the past two races and also from Chile last year, click here!

Cheers!