I was pretty clear why I did.

The economy was in a tailspin in November and while I knew what to do, I also knew I couldn't control the quickness with which the tide was receding. Like some, my business life spills over into life itself. And into my self esteem, my moods. Even my ethos' foundation seems shaky when things turn really nasty. As an entrepreneur, too many times it has been the business tail that has wagged the dog. I'm smart enough to know it is not a good thing; but I just don't know how to control it.

When I painted the scenario for 2009, I thought at best that I would look back with melancholy thinking it was the year that wasn't, shoulders sagged, knowing I would have right sized the business and fired friends, cut cost, created sales generation programs, focused on innovation, and ultimately owned the failures of the business for this year. All of the negativity would get magnified because clients may not relate to you as a critical business partner when business sucks, and you meet a disproportionate number of executives now looking for jobs where anxiety, scarcity, panic, depression are palpable.

So while battling as best I could to retain some sanity and survive as opposed to thrive, I wanted to create a positive conversation for myself around variables I could control. Health, personal development, and spirituality. I went shopping for an experience that could alter the course of 2009 with potential to change my life. I vetted a bunch of ideas with Leslie (this had to be a family decision) and zeroed in on a desert race. It seemed monumental for someone who had run a half marathon 5 years before as a personal longest. Sprinkle in running in the desert, at high altitude, in searing heat, unaided with 27 pounds on your back to add to the challenge. In return, I probably would get in the best shape of my life via the training, get time to myself to think about the business and my life, listen to books on tape while running and convert them to business ideas, explore a part of the world closed to the public, get conversational capital, and put the puzzle together of how to prepare for this and what to put in your backpack. Later, it grew to be bigger than that and became a great vehicle to raise money for the unemployed. And of course, I got a lot of more out of it than what I put in - and trust me, I put a valiant effort in.

My tent mates were representative of a particular type of demographic here; we were all over 40, one over 50:

3 Brits, seemingly oblivious to the pain, a result of experience.

John, Andy and Dave have quite the pedigree; John who is 50, is a top 10 in the world overall at any ultra race event he shows up at. The three of them have run the famed MDS Marathon Des Sables (250K in the Sahara)http://www.saharamarathon.co.uk/, the Himalaya 100K http://www.himalayan.com/, the Verdon Canyon 100K in France http://www.trailverdon.com/Site_2/Bienvenue.html, and the Amazon Jungle 200K http://www.junglemarathon.com/among among others.

We were able to learn from them as they shared their experiences. They were a good source of advice on how to deal with rest, feet, food, etc. They do it to raise money for the British Army's Help for Heroes program and annually set the goal to stay healthy, get out of their comfort zone and test themselves. Accomplished in business; they are prosperous entrepreneurs; each owning a large business: UK's largest frozen food co (M&M Meat like) (John), large truck transportation co. (Andy), and large glass and window manufacturing co (Dave).

2 Aussie ladies, Berenice and Sharon, also experienced but doing it for different reasons.

They have done the 100K race in Papua New Guinea http://www.kokodaspirit.com/ before.

Berenice owns the Binbilla vineyard http://www.binbillawines.com/ in Australia with her husband. (Getting Binbilla wines shipped to me was another unexpected outcome from entering the race...). With 3 kids, she is here alone to stay sharp and push herself to her limits. She spoke at length about modeling her kids and ensuring they could witness her tackling this race with the training, suffering and completion of the project. Her hope is that see life's rewards come with hard work - I loved her approach in light of the abundance our children have today as I always ask myself the question - will they be hungry - will they carve their own path/projects.

Sharon owns her own corporate wellness business. A physiotherapist by training, she inherited the role of mother hen and medic, and probably focused too much of her time on treating 3 high maintenance Canadians who had never popped blisters before... She helped tape our feet, massage us, etc. We all thought we were warriors before getting there, but us 3 Canadians rapidly realized we were in over our heads. She is separated with 2 kids at home. She feels a little isolated in Australia and shared the bond she felt with everyone - the world is a big but everyone here makes it look like all human beings share the same issues, joys, pains.

Louie and Ernie are very successful entrepreneurs, members of YPO, who did this to challenge themselves. Ernie is a sub 3 hour marathoner and Louie played semi pro soccer.

Demographics of entrants were as follows:

130 participants:

Equal number of 40-49 age group and 20-29 group (25%), overwhelmingly 30-39 (40%), and two handfuls of 50+.

Age from 22 to 57.

About 50% raised money for a charity.

20/80 female/male split.

28 countries represented; an American has won the race more frequently than any other nation; but Canada is a close 2nd!

What else did I see. Many CEOs (over 45 crowd), entrepreneurs, investment bankers/analysts, telco executives. About 10% were in transition, between jobs. Handful had climbed Everest, looking for the next challenge; most had run many marathons, all but me had run ultra marathons, a desert type race, or ironmen's amongst the top 20.

Who else is here and why?

Ludvig, 28, from Sweden who runs Asia infrastructure group for Ericsson who is a triathlete and just ran the Great Wall marathon last month. Raising money for his wife's hearing impairment foundation. Does it to see what is possible.

Ron 27, from Israel, did mandatory army service, completed his MBA at Yale, runs investments in Beijing. Raising money for Medecins sans Frontiere. Does it to see what his limits are.

Chris 22, from Britain, who is a sailing champ, and is seaman on large pleasure yachts serving the stars. Doing it to see what he has inside, to push himself. He will run the Sahara Desert in October.

Giles, Gareth, and Sophie a UK team, who won the team competition. Guys are paratroopers for the British Army and served in Afghanistan. They empathized with the Canadians and our vital role there. Sophie is a physiotherapist. To compete as a team, you needed to have 3 runners, and needed to finish together and never be more than 25 yards away from each other. Most teams (67%) imploded during the Gobi, unable to stay together and deal with a struggling or slower member. Friendships were tested and some broke down. These guys kept it together... They were amazing. But they are cool cucumbers; they have run 5 Marathon des Sables and Sophie just carried a sled for 300K in the Yukon in a race earlier this year. Raising money for War Heroes and doing this annually to test their limits.

Todd and Peter, two awesome CDNs in my age group living in HK. Todd is an executive at British Telecom, while Peter owns his own business. Both raising money and grounding themselves on the joys to be alive (when you go back...).

Cyrille and Valerie from France, they chose to come for their 10th wedding anniversary and left kids at home. She is a Nokia executive, he owns a recruitment firm in Jakarta! To enjoy the tough journey, get away from the business, and appreciate each other and catch up as they ran side by side the whole way.

Almiro Romiro from Guatemala. YPO and looking for a challenge. Runs marathons with his son. Wanted to come up with a scary big goal.

Rob and Katrina Follows. They climbed the 7 summits and are now looking for other challenges to celebrate being alive and raise money for Altruvest. Rob is YPO, my age and Katrina is 35. They are extraordinary people who do extraordinary stuff with their free time. Contact them at Altruvest and they also do speaking engagements where they share their amazing journey.

Len Stanmore was the oldest competitor at 57. He also climbed Everest with the Follows 2 years ago and regaled me with stories (intriguing stuff - any takers?). He ran 150K/week to train here in Toronto. Raised money for Breast Cancer. Len's wife Liz, came as a volunteer to look after racers along with about 10 others; unequivocally one of the most engaging and empathic and supportive person I've met in my life. Volunteers come at their own expense and are here to give you water at hydration stations and give you the needed "at'a boy". She was an oasis for all of us.

Why were people doing it?

Challenge

Personal growth

Clear their heads

Get away from life's trappings and get back to the more primal world Experience and travel - discover a beautiful part of the world Live on the edge Raise money Get in shape and be healthy Camaraderie Global understanding Get time to yourself Reconnect with a spouse Learn about teamwork Competition Purity of getting out of it what you put in Finishing something big Being alive Having a goal and pursuing it Seeing what is possible Build your own capacity to handle adversity The list goes on...

People have asked about friends for life? Don't know.

Life is pretty full as it is. Maintaining the network will likely not happen but I believe I have a place to stay, or drinks at a great location on short notice, in 28 cities around the world! Already my home will be taken up this Summer by Sandra who is coming to Canada for a wedding. The bond you make with the others is there forever, no doubt.

The training

I'd say on average, people walked or ran well in excess of 100K a week as part of their training. But some didn't and just showed up and walked. With the help of whoever would pitch in, I designed a program for myself. I am happy to send it to anyone who has an interest in doing this type of event as preparation is key. I have the program detailed by week, and all the elements that went into my backpack (thanks to Mehmet Danis for saving me the time and telling me what to do).

The most I had ever ran before this was 17 miles. But my trainer Phil designed a program to bring me to "failure" to simulate the wall of a marathon, in 10 minutes. It worked. So there is evidence you do not need to run long to run this (unless you want to win of course).

It was a great journey and it unlocked my athletic performance in other activities I cherish far more than running - skiing, hockey, or tennis for example.

It was expensive in alterations as I went from a size 36 to a size 32 (all good until your pant size is the same as your wife's - LOL). I lost 20 pounds in 6 months. Good things happen when you are lighter on your feet - I have had two full knee ACL and MCL repairs, torn meniscus, and they like the stress free new weight. My shin splints have dissipated, and the feet are returning to normal (it was odd to take the subway to work this week with air Canada slippers on...).

I can't list all the benefits of doing the race and feel free to speak to me if you want to explore the upside of the journey. I can be reached at 416.922.5600x240 or [email protected]

If you feel you got any value from the blogging, and see it within to donate to nabs, then please visit my website at www.gobi4nabs.com and make a small donation to help white collar unemployment - I am trying to get to $40,000. God knows it is tough out there especially with Summer around the corner with its decreased seasonal business activity.

Last but not least, like most of you, I have never written anything before but for PowerPoint's and business reviews and plans. This project allowed me to visit a part of China (put on your bucket list), and to share my experience. I did it to ensure I would remember it forever. It unlocked some sort of hidden creativity which I now know I have.

But the gift I got from getting some of you to participate and interact with me while it was happening was magnificent. I was blind to the impact I had sharing my experience; you may have been blind to yours. Let me just say your well wishes changed my life forever. I will always carry an abundance of well wishes with me that I can share with others.

Best

Stefan

After the 80K long stage, day 6 is designed to allow the pack to catch up.

Some rolled in about 28 hours after the start - around noon that day.

The 20 or so who rolled in before night fall were able to enjoy the benefits of a tent as opposed to being in the desert at night. Tents are good but for the odd snake that will sneak in (yes it happened in ours) and becoming home to fly colonies. So a day of rest before the final short run into Kashi City was the plan.

I made 3 mistakes on the rest day that would cost me on the final leg. First, I related to the long stage as the finish. I emotionally stopped being in the moment and sent neural signals to me body that the race was over. Second, to anchor the "I'm done" illusion, the fross filth was getting to me; and I detaped my whole body - shoulders, chest, back abdomen, shins, heels, foot, toes. It took a couple of hours - unpleasant to rip out the hairy areas... I found a 3 inch deep natural spring and enjoyed the equivalent of a clean bath splashing water on myself.

About 30 minutes later, my body completely shut down. Two toes got immediately infected, all my blisters started leaking again, my chafing areas and nose started bleeding, and both feet and ankles had a dramatic swell up. I went from struggling to having one large appendage on each leg where the line from calf to ankle to foot became one big blob. At the medical tent, I was greeted as Mr. Cankles.

Soon, the cocktail of anti-inflammatories, and antibiotics turned into unbearable stomach pains. All self inflicted by sending physical and emotional signals to my body that the event was done. I hopped to my tent to put my feet up and drain the blood down to my mid section.

All shoes lay outside as they are filled with bacterias, and all roaming flies seem inside, looking for their food. My feet, Louie's, Bez, and Sharon became their permanent nesting trees. Easily 20 flies feeding on each pussing foot, with nothing you could do about it. I have to say by then, for the first time, I was completely miserable.

Rebandaging would shoo them away for 30 minutes, but soon the smell would attract them back.

Although I had the best tentmates, the lack of privacy had now gotten to me. It wasn't fun anymore. Just like that. An amazing emotinal swing from which I never recovered. I don't know if you can relate when for no reason you can pinpoint - you are now your self appointed black cloud - the filth unbearable, tired of dehydrated food, no comfort, being in pain, the mountains not looking so good, dust clouds instead of desert. I asked myself why I was here and wondered if I should just skip tomorrow's last stage and go home. At night, I celebrated the fireworks for racingtheplanet 20th anniversary by putting ear plugs on. My whole tent felt the same way to accelerate the spiral - negative group momentum.

The last Stage started.

Predictably, I ran the longest and slowest 10K ever on two football size feet to an approximate 70 minutes (good enough for last Canadian I think - and about 25 minutes off my training time). The fast times were below 50 minutes, although the top runners routinely can be 25% faster. My head was no longer in the game.

For good measure, I also managed to get lost in the city with Nicola from Argentina which cost us a few minutes. With the wrong mindset, the stench of the exposed garbage got to me early, any uneven terrain and altitude were challenges I couldn't overcome, and uphills looked like mountains. Children running with us were now annoying...

A reminder that choices dictate emotions; clearly I had checked out and robbed myself of a very special moment. It caused me to reflect on where else in my life have I checked out? I came up with a list and hopefully have a clear visual of how my attitude dictates my moods.

Nicola and I crossed the line hand in hand. It was emotional for most but not as much for me to finish and meet that objective. A few pictures with our friends, I then over ate some of the best tasting cheese pizza. As a bonus, and to get to 260K, I had to walk the streets forever to look for a pair of oversized sandals. I knew my feet would never fit my shoes again once let out!

I got to the room, ran an ice cold bath, put my fleece hat on, and lied in it. I stopped shivering early and shrunk a couple of sizes over 90 minutes.

I chose to do this. I chose to be here. With effort, I put myself back in the moment.

I woke up my mom for my first live conversation in 8 days. Then spoke to Leslie and the kids.

I had slipped to 14th overall from 130 entries, losing a spot to Ron from Israel. Of all people, perfect - his family had flown in from Tel Aviv to cheer him. He had issued the challenge prior to the Stage and my meek response was "take it", and he did by 20 minutes.

The hard work paid off in the end - I put myself in a position to control my destiny by going hard early. I had that nice podium moment (I won the 40-49 age group by 3 hours out of 33 entries) under the eyes of the newly erected Mao statue in the new square (which no doubt horrifies the muslim population in Kashi). Many young guys came over to say they didn't know my age and were inspired to know age is a non factor. My racing posse was the 12th to 16th - all the guys I raced with hard were on average 17 years younger. Had I not raced defensively on the long stage, I probably would have come in 12th.

I ended up the top Canadian by 1 hour out of 14 entries, also a gift.

Not having run a marathon, the results are possibly miraculous. Or are they? The average top 25 ran 150K/week for 6 months, has run dozens of marathons, ultra marathons and are materially younger. But I trained hard, paid the price of injuries, and some parts of my life went untended. I applied creativity to make up for the lack of running time. I reinvented work, worked standing and with a pack on my back for 5-6 hours a day. My trainer designed a program to bring my to exhaustion in 10 minutes as opposed to 2 hours to have me learnt to deal with pain. My legs grew stronger and the event is designed such that there are no flat spots to run on - strength is almost as important as speed.

I don't know how it happened; having fought through more adversity than the younger ones turned out to be a big asset. About 40 CEOs did the race, testament to the resilience you need - mind over matter. That, sprinkled with some good positive mental visualization, some luck, good advice before I got here, and overwhelming encouragement during (my secret sauce) was the key. Knowing I was making a difference for Nabs was the sweetener.

Until I allowed my cynical voice to take over, I will cherish the Gobi Desert race as a moment when I've rarely felt so alive and filled with strength and humility. When have I last been left to deal with true physical and mental adversity on my own? Not sure.

A big thing was that I also learnt to enjoy the process. I'm a typical executive who is single mindedly outcomes focused. For the first time I can recall, I learnt to cherish the training journey which has made my life better. I'm healthier, stronger, and filled with an inner strength I know I can summon for other life projects. I also learnt at my expenses to go forward and not play defense, and I expanded my ability to handle the criticisms and judgments I direct at myself, others, and my circomstances. I've never spent so much time with myself and I've made headways in becoming a better friend to myself which will spill out into my life. The last day was an indication I have a lot of work to do there still, but at least, I can hopefully see the patterns earlier and snap out of it quicker. I beat myself that day. We probably all have a comfortable zone where we fear failure and fear success. I hope I can raise the success one.

Thanks again for your care. I have never written anything before besides powerpoints... This has been helpful. If any of this speaks to you; feel free to call me to discuss. The economy is still challenging and managing your physical and emotional state are within the elements you can control.

My next and final blog will describe who shows up at these races and why. The people are truly fascinating.

We ran the Great Wall in some very jagged, spectacular mountainous terrain. Besides my two daughters... the Taj, the pyramids, seeing the wall was a most humbling sight.

We stopped after 3 Km.

We both had a resting heart of about 58 and ran it up to 145 in no time. It was soon time to stop; it just seemed to go on and on (6700kms) and it probably would take us as long to get to the end as it took to build (2000 years). While we wondered how it got built, no one seemed to offer a plausible answer so it is best to make up a good story. So you know, not all of it is maintained; I had to turn around when some sloppy up keeper decided to stop tending to it (I hadn't thought about the logistics of keeping the whole wall neat and tidy) and a forest of weeds and bush looking like our cottage had permanently set home on the steps. I guess the upkeep was seen as prohibitive (the emperors must be saddened at the news from their Heavens of Benevolent Righteous Glorified Perfection (see Blog 3)).

We spent 30 minutes pre Great Wall trip to explain we wanted to explore a part of the wall seldom seen. We weren't disappointed.

While I'm not sure what the touristy Wall sites look like, ours had just some of the basic fare I guess; a choice of either a pristine German engineered gondola, or an old Italian chair lift to get up - walking not allowed.

First, you had to fight your way through a village of merchants with 300 shops selling identical merchandise where we polished up our rusty haggling skills.

The Great Finale was toboganning down on a 1500m long exhilirating ride (by then I had accepted my traveling mate's "off the beaten track" planning miscue). On the way down, we ran afoul and were flagged down and chased away for excessive speeding (all forgiven once they understood the French Canadian background).

Next Blog Sizing up the Competition at the Beijing Airport

Urban running is a great way to see a city. I know of a few people who travel and join recently established city running tours and/or build their travels around famous city marathons. If I ever want to run again after this, I may look into it.

Architectural landmarks, modern buildings, historical monuments, public squares, green zones, tunnels, bridges, underground areas, endless steps to run, and unplanned breaks at intersections to replenish. Avoiding pedestrians and the odd low post (almost knocked myself out of the race by kneeing a low post designed to ward off cars to a pedestrian zone) add texture to city running.

All the main avenues in Beijing and Shanghai have intricate foot bridges or tunnels to facilitate safe crossings. The bridges are frequently architectural wonders with spider like legs leading to all corners. The tunnels are also plentiful; dozens of them and running them is fun with the stairs work, escalators or pedways. Besides the ones allowing safe access to Paris' Arc de Triomphe; I'd never seen them before. Tunnels are another expression of China's consumerism philosophy; the underground billboard bombardment rivals the large scale animated billboards making Times Square look, well, normal. No advertising space above or below ground is left unused but for the wall where Mao's picture oversees Tiananmen Square (not hard to imagine how he feels about China's capitalist approach).

The bridges are long given some avenues have 8-10 lanes at times, and many tunnels are marbled! They are rather necessary as you quickly find out your life hangs by a thread when you cross any road. China's feudal system is one 100 years dead; the new emperors are the drivers. And pedestrians or cyclists are right-less roadkill opportunities. Running seems like the only way to cross a street. And make sure to look both ways; a one way is just a loose guideline. Drivers here are different than the ones I've seen in Italy, India, or even Quebec. Unlike these lawless driving epicenters where most disagreements are initiated with a honk, a cut, a hand gesture, a bump (cow bumping is a sport in India), and a few words, here, you just run, like in Pamplona. There may be a honk if contact seems inevitable, but generally no one seems upset in this dance between bull and runner. No sound. No upset. No need for a settlement with expletives (unless I'm involved).

Next blog from Beijing running the sites On way to Kashi today; last night in a hotel!

I am running for nabs so please consider a pledge to help the unemployed:
www.gobi4nabs.com

Stefan

Unless you run the parks, running here is hazardous as every corner brings into view a new set of buildings that have 600 years of history like the expansive, Forbidden City (now accessible since the lynching of the last emperor in 1949), Tiananmen Square, or The Summer Palace or that are French, Chinese, German, or Japanese architected wonders of glass, metal, plastic, and concrete with geometric expressions that defy gravity, from hotels, to retailers, or entertainment venues. The sights are truly astonishing; albeit more spread out in Beijing than in Shanghai which has a concentrated core where everything has been reclaimed and completely rebuilt.

Beautiful to see, and not surprisingly even more amazing at night with multi colored accent lighting and video installations.

The attention to design detail is nothing short of brilliant; for perspective, each of our hotel's rooms (Hotel G) has a choice of colored bright lights that illuminate the window when you sleep. Each guest chooses its color, every day. Sometimes clients all align on one, mostly they are completely different. The look from the outside and from a distance is surreal; a perfect branding solution that highlights the individualism of the clients.

The retail areas are bar none the most exquisite plazas I've ever seen. If you don't buy, then you must be a communist or have abundance in your life! The new shopping areas provide inspiration as to what the latest in consumer friendly design is while the old causes perspiration. Going to Silk Road where haggling is beyond what I've seen in Morocco, Egypt, or Hong Kong is a dangerous sport as my travel buddy can attest after being whacked on the head many times for pushing the negotiation envelope too far.

As we ran out with our negotiated fake loot, we also snuck in some of the better runs, which include the aptly described Nest, as well as the Egg and the Cube. The Nest (Olympic Stadium) is simply extrordinary and the grounds around it are a green textbook achievement. Next door is the Water Cube (Olympic Pool) which protrudes out of the ground and is best seen at night. But the one that stood out for me was the Egg. We first saw it from miles away not knowing what is was after climbing Jingshan Park, the highest point in Beijing. Jingshan is known as the location where an unhappy emperor hung himself after a bad day (the thought crossed our minds as well as we ran up too fast).

Not knowing what the elliptical shape was, it became another site to run up to. A masterpiece it is; a floating like massive metal and glass egg shaped structure that houses the National Centre for the Performing Arts. Standing seemingly 2O+ stories high, it is destined to rival Sydney's Opera house. The artificial lake around it creates its reflective image yielding a full egg! Wished I would have thought of it!

Too bad we either couldn't get the funding or the ingenuity to create such buildings despite valiant efforts at the ROM and AGO.

Should I have been surprised to see buildings officially referred to as a nest, an egg, or a cube?

Not really as a descriptive language is a great tool to take guessing out of play. Here are some of my favorite palaces, halls, gates, pavilion and gardens which I saw (best to sit down and close your eyes and pretend you are an emperor): Palace of Heavenly Purity, of Preserving Harmony, of Earthly Tranquility, of Happiness and Longevity; and Halls of Benevolence, of Virtuous, of Preserving, of Middle- and one level up - Supreme Harmony; Gardens of Perfection and Brightness; Gate of Heavenly Peace; and lastly Pavilion of Glorifying Righteousness.

If you are exhausted, take a breath and walk in the emperor shoes to put everything in context. Pretend you 1) never left the palace once (true apparently), 2) had the largest army in the world fighting your battles and directing the build of a 6700km long Great Wall on the backs of the wrong place / wrong time peasants; 3) had between 50 and 3000 concubines (not quite Wilt Chamberlain levels but emperors didn't live as long); and 4) had Confucius on your side.

I don't know if emperors could run anything but the Chinese government sure can create the conditions for architects to erec great buildings.

Next blog - Running into a Great Wall

6 days to go before the Gobi

Running in Shanghai is not easy given the air quality and the heat.

Thanks for shaded areas, it can be enjoyable. As it turns out, my favorite tree is the Platane (Plane tree) which I first saw in Provence, bordering the big avenues. French colonials brought thousands of them to Shanghai and they now line the city's streets providing shade 100 years later! On the small streets, they give that tunnelling feeling.

My favorite city park run is Central Park. No visit to NYC without a run, rain or shine. A favorite for many; oasis in city, sheer size, ponds, rock, and the most beautiful skyline especially looking West at all the incredibly beautiful gothic scrapers from the East side of the reservoir.

Running Shanghai's parks showed two beautiful sides of the city.

Most impressive was People's Park which has the Central Park genre.

Besides perfectly manicured lawns, forest, ponds, most striking are the skyscrapers. The french and british colony era buildings are not visible, now the skies are filled with extraordinarily modern chest thumping statements (which are apparently for the most part empty!).

Some buildings right out of space age, some looking like spears, others are an engineering and architectural marvel. I don't recall ever really stopping to take pictures of high rises, let alone fifty or so, each singularly competing for your attention. Vegas meets Chicago, set in a Central Park setting. The park used to be a racetrack which was demolished by the communist party. Instead you now find 4 museums in the park...

My favorite however was Fuxing Park, right next to our hotel. The meticulousness of the parks is beyond most of what I've seen but for some Western european parks. No surprise, the park is a legacy from the French colonization era of the early 1900's.

At Fuxing, the rocks framing the paths have a coral like quality, and the gardens and forest are manicured. The park isn't that big, it can be run looped in 10 minutes, but a labyrinth within offers many different rewarding routes. It has a beautiful lawn as its central square. From this small half size soccer pitch like center, every day Shanghai life is on display to add to the experience; hundreds of kites of all shape are flown as high as 30 stories in that small area, men and women of all ages practice the chinese macarena version of tai chi and sword fighting, and people every where are playing improvised badminton with imaginary nets in the tightest of quarters. Running and dodging.

I ran the park at 430 in the morning in pouring rain in what looked like full day Shanghai smog day light and people were already dancing.

Running in warm rain is soothing; although my hotel mate also running the Gobi disagreed. Sadly, it appears the forecast is torrential rain for the Gobi (who would have thought) and the word from some runners is to buy talc powder to keep blisters somewhat under control. Seems sun stroking won't be an issue...

Next blog will be from Beijing.

Stefan

To help me raise much needed funds for Nabs and get some job searching tips, please visit www.gobi4nabs.com