Training this week improved to a couple awesome sessions including a trek out to the one safe, well all relative, area to run in the Mountains...It really did feel awesome to get out...managed to hit the hour mark but it was tough!!!! 45 minutes straight up in the high altitude......went easy on my guard team...they got to follow me in my 4runner with their AK47's....pretty sureal actually....not too sure the military helicopters patroling the area really understood what it was they were witnessing but they didn't drop down for a visit so training was not aborted...so in the end worth every minute of it...including the burning lungs which led to a major case of what I think was altitude sickness the next day....others think it might have been a combination of the vodka shots at dinner but because this is "training" site I will leave that for another story...but in all seriouness...training did improve this week, painfully managed serveral very dull sessions on the treadmill and this week I might even try to get a 15k in at the Kandahar airfield......but now currently sitting in my Bahrain hotel room hoping I will motivate myself to get to the sorry gym tomorrow morning and do something.....

Well as I figured my last day in Dubai was not spent training but dealing with major crisis back at the office….but I was pool side so can not complain to much….so I figured that I would start on the 17^th but that was not the case…hit Kabul and then straight to Kandahar….well again straight into the fire literally but that is another story….So only 3 days after original start date have I done anything technically considered training….I did drive out yesterday to one of the most dangerous locations in Afghanistan with a guard force of 28 armed Afghan’s to one of my client’s sites…I made sure that I did a lot of core work as we dodged bad guys and ieds…but again it was not real training…

So today, Feb 19^th I finally got down to businesses and did one of the most boring workouts you could possibly imagine… I can not leave my compound without an army of guards so only essential movement and going to the gym is not in that category…I also could technically run a 100 metre loop in my yard except that it is not culturally apropos for me to run in front of the Afghan staff…so down South I am restricted when not on the military base to running on the spot….so not sure how I managed but ran on the spot in my room focusing on a bullet hole in my window from when the compound was attacked last year…again wish I was joking but at least I was not here at the time…..so 1 hour on the spot, 500 situps, 500 arm reps and a lot of mental work…..

So back up to Kabul on Saturday and will hopefully get a trek up one of the mountains…depends on the snow levels, my guards hate the snow………..this may all seem pretty messed up but it is the reality of training in a war zone……

After having bowed out of last year's Vietnam race to move to Afghanistan I finally decided over the holidays that despite all the challenges with training in Afghanistan I was determined to do a race this year...so I registered for Gobi....As of yesterday I was still undecided....sipping drinks on the Kenyan coast as I wind my great Safari adventure realizing with just over 4 months left to go I still had not really started my training or quit the smoking (an side affect of Afghanistan) but hey if I can dodge Taliban and IEDs in Kandahar how worse can the Gobi be....

So I am now officially going to embark on one of the most challanging training regimes one can imagine...not necessarily physically but certainly logistically and of course the security issue...I can not run on the streets or in the beautiful surrounding mountains...we have the issues of kidnapping and IED threats, we also have the air quality which is simply SHITE...actually 30% fecal matter and remainder a mixture of petrol and burning debris....so the majority of my training will be indoors at the Serena hotel where I have to say I am blessed with a wonderful steam room...despite it being blown up last year it has been rebuilt with additional security...I will also have access to several US Military bases so that will be a good change especially the 10k loop in Kandahar....

So as I sit here enjoying my last few hours on the Kenyan Coast before I hop on a plane to my satellite office in Kandahar I am thinking why add the additional stress of training for a race in ...the answer as always....why should it be easy....