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Gobi March Blogs 2010

Alexander Gordon

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Gobi March (2010) blog posts from Alexander Gordon

01 July 2010 02:50 am (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time: Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London

So day 4 is finished and we have entered the oven. Today we had to get bused 1 1/2 hours to the start line for a 6 am start and this didn't work out too well for me. I didn't manage to get much sleep last night as it was too hot and so I only managed to get about 2 hours. On top of this my breakfast didn't want to settle in my stomach for some reason and it took till checkpoint 2 before it started to feel good again. So all considered it wasn't a good start to the day. The first stage was quite easy with 13.5km of gravel road to follow along to the first checkpoint, but my legs just were not wanting to fully warm up for some reason. Not too sure if the ice cold river or if I pushed it too much the day before. The second section had about 5km of running before hitting a massive sand hill that kept going up for quite a while until checkpoint 2 finally arrived. By this point I was starting to feel a bit better again and the heat was still not too bad. The last section of stage 3 was a maze of winding paths which seemed to be never ending and the heat was starting to get quite high, but I managed to get into camp before the heat got too bad with a time of about 5 hours 24 minutes.
So I am feeling quite relaxed, fueling up for tomorrow and stretching out so that my legs will actually function properly tomorrow.

Comments: Total (12) comments

Posted On: 04 Jul 2010 10:52 am

Hola, Well done at finishing the race. Have a good flight home and we will maybe see you soon. Dad, Andrea & wee Connor xxx

Posted On: 04 Jul 2010 10:30 am

Hi Sandy, well done son you did it once again, I am proud of you for all your achievements it is tough going and as we can see deserts are not all sand are they, well have a nice rest now and a beer, Haste ye back home again and have a good journey Take Care lots of love Granny xxx

Posted On: 04 Jul 2010 05:15 am

Well done Sandy , Great achievement hope legs are holding up ok .Must be very proud of yourself. Have enjoyed following your progress, will look out for your next one .I,m sure Granny will let us know when that is . Congratulations once again,

Posted On: 03 Jul 2010 06:32 am

Ur doing great! Whats round ur legs in photo? Looks like straw. Happy finish mate.

Posted On: 03 Jul 2010 06:12 am

Big Big congratulations, updates say everyone has completed stage 6. No results yet, but you have done it. Huge achiement with your 4 weeks training! These races are not for the faint hearted, you are courageous, brave and maybe a bit nuts!! Can't wait to speak to you, enjoy a real bed and food now!! Thoughts with boy in hospital, hope he is fine. Lots of love, a very proud mum x

Posted On: 02 Jul 2010 07:56 pm

Hola 27 oors....ah doot ye went off too quick rite enuf the other day. At least you finished and are in one piece...easy street tomorrow in comparison. Well done...great effort Dad, Andrea & wee Connor xxx

Posted On: 02 Jul 2010 09:12 am

In camp Sandy, well done. Looks like the long one was just that for you, but you made it. well done, rest well, can stop worrying for now !! mumx

Posted On: 02 Jul 2010 12:03 am

Just so you know...there's a really cool pix of you running down a road with locals driving by. It's a keeper for sure.

Posted On: 01 Jul 2010 08:39 pm

Hola You seem to be doin ok. Maybe you did push it a bit early doors yesterday....i'm sure the rest last nite will have served you well. Will check out the results before we go to bed in a couple of hours 2 see if you have completed stage 5. Good luck. Dad, Andrea & wee Connor

Posted On: 01 Jul 2010 08:03 pm

Hi Sandy, still waiting for the next results, but hey, you are not to far away from the finish line, you take it canny son and you will get there in the end you have done well so far, fingers crossed for you to finish well, Take care son, maybe see you soon. Bye Lots of Love Granny xxx

Posted On: 01 Jul 2010 05:00 pm

Still a good time for stage 4 Sandy, waiting on your results for stage 5 only top few on the web site so far. Hope long one not to bad for you, this day always seems a long one for me, waiting to see if you are safely in camp!! You are doing tremendous sandy, only one day left to run, then decent snacks!! Mum x

Posted On: 01 Jul 2010 04:59 pm

Still a good time for stage 4 Sandy, waiting on your results for stage 5 only top few on the web site so far. Hope long one not to bad for you, this day always seems a long on for me, waiting to see if you are safely in camp!! You are donig tremendous sandy, only one day left to run, then decent snacks!! Mum x

29 June 2010 09:45 am (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time: Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London

So yesterdays plan of starting to slow down went completely out the window, but there was good reason for this. A few large dark clouds arrived at camp last night and the rain started with a few spots and then around midnight a steady drizzle went on for part of the night. This morning it was dry but the clouds were still sitting overhead and with us starting an hour earlier the temperature was quite a bit cooler and so i decided to make the most of it.
The first section was probably the most difficult as it was 10km along the riverbed which was covered with various size rocks and this made it hard not to twist your ankle which i nearly did about 3 or 4 times. The second section was a nice gravel road which allowed me to run most of it and it even rained part of the way along this section. The final section started off with numerous dirt dunes which were a slight pain but not as bad as sand dunes. Then coming out of the dunes we had an small water point where they said it was 5km to the finish, but this was actually 7km and every seems to be complaining about this and this is the main reason i don't wear a watch or gps on these events. At this point there were 3 people about 500m behind me so i felt like i needed to keep my place since i had managed to hold it since before the first checkpoint.
So overall i came in 21st place and had a time of around 3 hours 47 minutes and apart from the nearly rolled ankles my leg and feet are holding upo great and i don't have any problems so far.
Camp here is quite good as we are in a small village and are staying in various houses. Since i was in so early i have had a good afternoon relaxing and cooling off in the stream. Got to go and have dinner and sort everything out as we have a 1 /12 hour bus ride to the start and we leave at 4am.
Tomorrow i will be slowing down so that i can save some gas in the tank for the long day.

Comments: Total (5) comments

Posted On: 30 Jun 2010 01:35 am

G,Day Sandy Great going ,your using your head as well as your legs good thinking .All the best have fun

Posted On: 29 Jun 2010 08:24 pm

Hola You're doin well so far.....hope it continues and your leg holds up. Sure it will be fine. All the best for the next stage. Dad, Andrea & wee Connor xxx

Posted On: 29 Jun 2010 07:50 pm

Hi Sandy you are doing just great this time and your injuries are not holding you back. Things must be going good for you, I see your Aussie Rellies are looking in and watching your progress. I haven't managed to get a photo yet but I will keep looking, Take care son Lots and lots of love Granny XXX

Posted On: 29 Jun 2010 06:47 pm

doing great Sandy, remember and slow down and keep some reserves for your long day, but hey you've done that distance before. Hopefully the weather will not get to hot, well you can but hope. Glad feet, leg are holding out and causing no probs. Thinking of you every day. keep well. mum x

Posted On: 29 Jun 2010 05:49 pm

So glad your feet and leg are holding up.You're doing awesome!

28 June 2010 10:20 am (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time: Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London

Day 2 is finished and it went quite well. The first section started like the end of day 1 and we went stright into a large number of steep hills that we had to go up and down for about 14km until we got to the first checkpoint. After that it was a slightly easier 8km to the second checkpoint along a gravel road and down through a large riverbed and back along the other side of the riverbed.and along to checkpoint 2. After that it was a rather easy 7km with a large river to cross which was a nice cool down for the feet and then up a hill into camp. Overall i was 25th with a time of 3hours 37 minutes.
 
My leg still seems to be fine and my feet are also holding up quite well for now. Just going to start easing off for the next 2 days so that i am fresh for the long day in 3 days time.

Comments: Total (2) comments

Posted On: 29 Jun 2010 04:03 pm

Some great pictures of you Sandy and on one of the videos - You are a star !! Hope you are behaving hear there are a few with time penalties for doing things they shouldn't Lots of love x

Posted On: 29 Jun 2010 07:09 am

Doing great Sandy, As you say keep energy for the long day, but i know with your determination you will be fine, one check point at a time that day, just don't think about the Km's. Keep up the great work. mum x

27 June 2010 08:58 am (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time: Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London

So a few amendments from yesterdays blog. The lengthening of day 5 to 100km is so days 3 and 4 can be shortened apparently. The last day is going to be 22km of sand dunes, so if the 100km does break you the sand dunes will.
 
Anyway moving onto today the course was said to be undulating for the first 2 sections, which were 9km and 8km and then the final section was going to be 15km and described as hilly. Now the first 2 sections were quite and I took them at what I thought was quite a slow pace. At this point someone asked what place he was in and I thought he said something like 46th, but this couldn't of been right. Then right after checkpoint 2 we entered what some people will call the hell zone. It started with a really steep climb which gave us a view of endless hills spanning in most directions, which wasn't the best sight I could of asked for. But I managed to power my way through pretty much all of the hills without too much bother and kept an ok pace going throughout and managed to get into camp in just over 5 hours and to my surprise I was in 26th place, so my previous guess of around 40th was well off.
 
My legs seem quite good and there doesn't seem to be any stiffness at all and my stress fracture that was on my right leg seems to be holding out for now so I shall just have to wait and see how that holds our.
 
Tomorrow should be another short day of about 30 something km and hopefully less hills, so an easier day all round if you can call it that.

Comments: Total (3) comments

Posted On: 27 Jun 2010 10:31 pm

Hiya Sandy All seems to be going to plan for you. Suppose it will be ok for your leg so long as the terrain doesnt get too rough and hard. Good luck for tomorrow. Dad, Andrea & wee Connor xxx

Posted On: 27 Jun 2010 05:41 pm

Well done Sandy, you have done real well in the first stage, here's to the next stage, just keep going steady and don't overdo it in the early stages, Take Care son Lots of love Granny XX

Posted On: 27 Jun 2010 04:59 pm

Well done for stage 1, you done really well. Just keep taking it easy. keep some reserves for stage 5/6 . Hope leg holds out ok. Thinking of you always, take care. mum x

26 June 2010 08:41 am (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time: Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London

We have arrived at camp 1 and will begin racing tomorrow moring. Getting to Urumqi was rather uneventful and went according to plan and we arrive there at around midnight last night. Camp is located in a nice grassy wooded area and the heat hasn`t been too bad soo far, but i am expecting it will get alot hotter in the next few days. The journey to camp was a bit eventful as the buses kept getting stuck and struggling with the road as they seem to have had large holes dug into them, wich i am guessing is repairs after the flash floods last week.
 
The pack weight we officially marked as 7kg, but weighing it with the bathroom scales in the hotel put it at more like 6.75kg. Its slightly heavier than Atacama, but i have packed some extra food as i was caught out last time with the injury. I have also had to add a few items to help prepare for the possibility of heavy rain, which in the desert where it is expected to get to 50 degress is an odd thing but the Gobi seems like the place where unexpected weather can happen.
 
It also seems like they are going to be extending the long day to 100km so tat they can shorten the final day to 10km. So we are looking forward to that.
 

Comments: Total (5) comments

Posted On: 28 Jun 2010 02:15 am

Guday Mate, I would have trouble at 100k a week. Good Luck. Hi Sandy, Well done will follow your progress. Take care lv Aunty Ann Aussie land

Posted On: 27 Jun 2010 03:50 pm

Great effort and keep it up out there. I'm sure you don't have to worry about the uneventfulness, plenti of time and k's ahead :) Oh, and in case ze Germans want to have a party at the campsite, England dropped out (1:4).

Posted On: 27 Jun 2010 09:50 am

Hi Sandy - just seen your time posted, great time Sandy, well done, seems the rolling hills wern't quite so rolling !! so brilliant effort. Rest well and good luck for tomorrow. Lots of love mum x

Posted On: 26 Jun 2010 09:39 pm

Hola 10.38 pm here, so doubt you will see this till tomorrow. Be a pleasant change to have an uneventful trip i expect. Good luck with the race and I hope that your ankle bears up. Take care Dad, Andrea and wee Connor xxx

Posted On: 26 Jun 2010 08:20 pm

Hey - great you got there with out any natural disasters occurring !! Take it easy to start with and see how it goes - 100k day - no problem to you. Good luck, hope the weater is kind to you, take care xx

24 June 2010 08:07 am (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time: Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London

So i will be flying off towards China tonight and in great fashion left my packing till last night and was up till about midnight sorting through everything. So far everything is looking as good as can be expected and my pack should be coming in at about 6.75kg - 7kg without water. I have opted to bring along a bit extra food and so my pack is slightly heavier than normal but i might trim it down slightly when i arrive in Urumqi.

As for the actual race i am unsure as to how i am going to cope as i have only been back into training for the past 4 weeks after being out of action with a stress fracture to my leg for 3 months. This was made worse by the Atacama desert race, but i didn't know i had a stress fracture at the time when i started. So i am just going to have to take it as it comes for this one, but i am pretty sure a finish is in order since i managed to hobble the last 125km of the Atacama.

My next post will either be just before race start or after day 1

Comments: Total (1) comments

Posted On: 24 Jun 2010 04:19 pm

Good luck Sandy, i'm sure you will finish no problems, you are made of very courageous stuff. Will be thinking of you all the way.