Long day is done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I am shattered......... I have now walked thru the Turpan Basin so that known of you have to. Trust me when I say that a postcard will suffice. Mentally I just broke it down into 2 hk trails (50 km which is doable).We started off thru river crossings with lovely cool refreshing streams which very quickly convert to muddy sandy shoes (photo's to follow). The feet felt fine at first checkpoint so I justgrabbed the water and kept on trucking. Thru stage 2 was the local streets with all the kids running out to say hi and offer watermelon. Then I have to say it all blurs (read other blogs for elevation and distances) into one long stomp. Kilometres of rocky broken ground.......then became a road thru the salt plains ......which most resemble acid pools. We were extremely lucky with the weather and day was overcast til 5pm when the sun came out and wind died down. Then each checkpoint just had people resting with their feet up, some vomiting, some on IV drips, some just looking dazed and confused as the sun took out their batterypack. I pulled out the ipod for the first time on a lone stretch and it really helped kick me along. Beyonce rocked it along, Counting Crows "Mr Jones" and good ole Katrina and the Waves. I sang along happily with some poor guy behind me listening to me singing my heart out. We helped each other along for the next few checkpoints. I tried to get some food down at stage 7 but the heat just made it a struggle. Half a packet of hot noodles was about it. By stage 7 there was 5 of us and we were determined to see it thru to the end. I think I was sleepwalking at around 1am but got thru that stage. By feet were feeling pretty good, definitely some new blisters in the shoes and some hot spots buet didn't feel too bad. Then we hit the final 5km and it was all sand dunes. Up & down, again & again & again. I'd love to say I stayed strong but it just went on forever and was very tough. 5km of sand dunes killed my feet as the sand filled the shoes and decided to walk in socks. We had a great troop of 5 and we finally got in around 6am with all of us crossing the line together. I think the photo's will show me looking slightly emotional.
 
A boiling day in the camp at the sand dunes. Felt sick most of the day and struggled to eat and drink all day. It was 40 degrees at 4pm in the afternoon and the blisters & muscles are sore & tired. Able to get down 3 bites of a meal tonight so hopefully that will see me thru tomorrow.
 
Tomorrow shortened down to 10km as we basically have a walking wounded camp....

Not much sleep last night.9 people in a hut trying to go to bed at 9pm with the sun setting at 10pm is not a recipe for success. Combined with family who have been turfed out of their hut sleeping just outside adds to the fun.
 
Day 4 is over and i escaped relatively intact. Few hot spots and a small blister on left foot. Super tough day - scorching weather and climbing sand dunes should be outlawed. To all those people who said i was crazy - i finally understand what you are talking about. Apologies to my mother coz i swore like a little aussie trooper today. Everytime i crested a dune to be confronted with yet more rolling dunes I might have said a few naughty words. Absolutely stunning scener and the photos i took did not do it justice. I made ok time and was extremely happy to come into camp in 6 hours 30 min. A tough day for all & a few have not made it thru the dunes. Medic tent is working overtime. No official word on temp but competitor consensus thinks 40 degrees.
 
Even tho it is tomorrow morning i cannot even contemplate 100km. Its going to be a very long slow hot day

An earlier start today at 8am to try and beat the sun. Luckily for us, it was an overcast day in the Gobi. Can you believe it?!?!?! First 11km had 6 river crossings and was along a river bed. In case you are unaware, this means rocky, uneven ground which is prime material for ankle breakers. I rolled a few times but was able to keep my balance. Just needed to focus on every step and keep watching the ground. Not good for anyone with any blisters. Changed socks at the checkpoint and kept on trucking. Stage 2 was along a dirt track and with a few slopes and hills.  Kinda looked like life on Mars. Absolutely barren, no trees or greenery and just mile after mile of track. The overcast weather continued with a slight wind. Wind was against us but it kept the temp down. Was feelin ok and the quicker you go - the sooner you get to camp - so I moved out of 1st gear and clicked into 2nd gear (my first version of 2nd gear) and started the Gobi shuffle. This is really only just above a walk and is basically the most economical way of shuffling (for the aussie's - think cliffie young - minus the gum boots and adding the gobi) . I counted flag markers, I  picked off a few people in front and just wanted to get it done while the weather lasted. Stage 3 was rocky sand dunes, imagine sand dunes covered in rocks and as you go up and down - you slides with the aforementioned rocks and sand finding their way pretty much everywhere. As you reach the top of a sand dune, you just look out to miles of sand dunes. You look for the hot pink markers (showing you the course) and vainly hope that camp is always just around the corner. Made ok time til a water checkpoint and was then told it was 5km to camp. Again, they lie!!! coz that 5km went on forever!!!! Rocks & sand rolling round in the shoes but had to keep going. Amazing oasis in the middle of a sandy canyon but still no camp!!! After 7km I saw the flags and had that little burst of energy and crossed in a breathtaking shuffle.
 
Camp today is in a village and I am ushered past the goat pens into home for the night. It looks like we have turfed out families for the night as we are staying in a locals hut. Pure luxury but we checked the fridge and no cokes! The days have their own routine. Tent buddies all do a hug and high five (thanks guys - they finish hours ahead of me) and then you half collapse, unpack and talk about the day and have a great giggle. One of the guys is the obi wan (Code Name: Obi Wan) of adventure racing so races like this are jut childs play to him and we all listen to tales of races in Vietnam, the Amazon, worms crawling under the skina and really cool stuff. We also have the resident superstar (Code Name: Media Star) as the film crew follow him around and gain his insights and wisdom. Very funny with us heckling in the background. We have a born and bred singaporean (Code Name: Singa) who broke out the windbreaker at one point on Stage 2 and is praying for heat (we beat him to death when he dares to utter this) Makes  the day pretty bearable actually. The village has an ice cold running stream and which at any other time you could not pay me enough to go in........... but today I immersed myself to try and get rid of that all pervading sweaty smell and cool down. Bliss!
 
Today should be a cracking day as we head out at 4am for a bus trip and race start at 6am. A longer day at 36km.......
 
Thanks to all for all the comments and emails. They are great to read and really do help in keeping up spirits and just breaking up the routine of packing and unpacking and picking the evening meal (spaghetti tonight). Gotta run, 6.15 and time for dinner (woo woo such a party animal!)
 

Day 2 is done!!! Last night was absolutely freezing so it was an early night for all and our little tent of  9 got cozy wit everyone huddling together and rolling over in unison. For all you people who camp - why???? It was a long cold freezing night on very hard, hard ground. Camping makes the trek across the Gobi seem sane. As mentioned yesterday, i really did eat my way thru as much and possible and passed out the rest of the food to competitors. What the hell was i thinking buying Tom Yum Goon soup noodles for breakfast???? So i started my day with a lighter pack and had a lovely day (i really do mean that). Only 29 km and the 'difficult' section was first. Nowhere near as tough as yesterday. A lot of rolling hills and along thru a riverbed canyon. At points I even broke into a gobi shuffle. Felt a million times better than yesterday and got into a nice zone. The last 15 km was spent in unison with my Urumqi roomie. As she is a kiwi living in London we have loads in common and have called a truce on Aussie/Kiwi disagreements and are having great fun taking the mickey out of those colonialists as they drop out of the World Cup. The scenery is absolutely stunning with huge majestic mountain ridges lookingdown into sweeping plains. We finished the day with a short walk thru ariver crossing and it was absolute bliss to feel the cool water swirling round our ankles. Then a trek up a canyon to be greeted with the finale drumming. A lot of the day we had a cool breeze cooling us down but every now and again it disappeared and gave us a taste of things to come. Have just spent the last 3 hours resting and relaxing with my tent buddies. We have a guy who is attempting all 4 deserts this year and is 56yrs old so he is our obi wan and dispensing words of wisdom. We have a spanish guy who was a top 5 contender and he snapped his knee early on yesterday so he is gutted but vainly sitting thru our war stories as we recount our days efforts. All the guys tell me the race only really starts tomorrow & to make sure to conserve energy for the long day. The course as been changed & the long day will 99 km to really make it spicy. I cannot even contemplate that at this stage and am just breaking it down into the daily stages. I currently have no blisters (a miracle for my princess feet) so am hopeful that I can maintain that for a while longer. Right I am off to cook myself some dinner (just add water) and am going out on a limb with mexican rice with chicken. This is such a great holiday - highlights are unpacking the pack yet again, deciding what to have for dinner and when to dine. Who wants to join me for the next one?????

I did actually make it to Urumqi - I contemplated taking a flight to the Maldives or Thailand but figured I would get found out when i come back the same weight and with all toenails. Getting to camp was pretty interesting in itself. We had to stop along the way to have a cossack dance, karaoke song (what is a trip to China without some karaoke??) and a speech from the Mayor of Urumqi. While not quite being given keys to the city i believe we were greeted as VIP guests as we spread the message of Urumqi tourism.Our bus driver driver was pretty unimpressed with the damage being done to his bus (cue the scene for a bit of argy bargy with race oragnisers, raised voices, and a bit of fist shaking) and at one stage we thought we might have to get out and either push the bus or walk to camp. I met my 8 tent buddies and for all those people who think I am crazy...... I am meeting loads of people who all put me to shame and def give me something to aspire to. Sat night got down to 5 degrees so it was an early and rather cold night for all. NEWS FLASH - Day 1 is done and dusted !!!! I wish I could tell you that i blitzed it but  quite frankly I;m just happy to have it behind me. We kicked off at 9.30 and was told that it would be an easy day. I'm putting this out there from Day 1 - they lie!! The last 15km was pretty tough was steep ascents and descents. At one point i decided to go down on my ass (that would be when i fell on said ass) and it was a pretty efficient way of doing it. Lots of rock slides and toes being jammed into the front of the shoes (but toenails still intact) and very tough on the quads and ankles. The scenery is absolutely stunning with mountain ridges all around and sun capped mountains in the distance. Very hot during the day but so far a nice cool breezr from those snow capped mountains. I stuck to my game plan of just walking and still found it pretty tough. I started the day with a backpack of approx 10kg and will now go and eat 5kg of that. The pack only seemed to get heavier during the day so some severe culling (or binging) must now be done. Tomorrow is a relatively light day of only 29 km so fingers crossed it's even easier than today's 'light' day.Off to dinner now - tonight i'm dining out and chili mac with beed is on the menu. Wish you were here!!!

Great friend just put me in my place & said - "Do you think the organisers just emailed all the people in your tent and they are sharing with an 'INTERESTING'  aussie girl and asked if they would be ok with that!!?!?

So yesterday the organisers contacted me and said that they had put me in a tent with a really interesting bunch of people but I would be the only female and was that ok? They could put me in another tent but maybe the group wouldn’t be as interesting.

 

I emailed friends and past competitors to check whether they thought that “interesting” was a code word for weird. The replies came back varying between “what makes you think you are normal?” and anyone who evens contemplates this has to be weird.

 

Nuf said really…..

Did my first hike in a longgggg time yesterday and got a wake up call. Did stages 6,7,8 of the Maclehose trail in HK yesterday and I have to say that the hills/ mountain opened up a can of whup ass on me.

In the end, the time was ok but the actual hike wasn't too enjoyable due to my hill fitness or lack thereof.

Better diet, less wodka & more hills for this little duck.......

Will get this blog sorted out in a few more days. Distinctly lacking in pizzaz at the moment but baby steps huh....