Logged another long stage into the books.  I had a fantastic day happily finishing at 3:30 am and coming in 21st overall!  To shortly recap the day:  Stage one was full of water crossings and quite fun weaving in and out through tall grasses, over small embankments into ice cold water.  Stage two we ran through a village where the people lined the street to watch all the crazy runners with bacpacks on.  At one point a group of four little boys joined me to run however they wanted to sprint.  Stages 3, 4 and 5 were actually very long and quite uneventful providing much time for introspective thinking, of which I did much.  I wish my blog today would be as great as the profound one that ran through my head then.  Stage 6 ran us through the salt flats. Thangk goodness they were not even close to what we experienced in the Atacama. After sitting for about 10  minutes at the checkpoint I decided to forge on to checkpoint 8 on my own as that would just give me one more to complete.  A valuable lesson learned on this stage, do not go it alone if is about to get dark.  As the sun set and it became rather dark I discovered that no glow sticks had been placed to guide me in to checkpoint 8.  A little afraid I had to slow way down to move my headlamp from tree to tree in the hopes of locating the pink flags.  Only one wrong turn taking me out of my way about 10 minutes occurred.  I was never so happy to see the checkpoint that I sat there to wait for anyone to help guide me through the sand dunes leading to camp.  Fortunately 4 guys came through and let me tag along. Honestly, I am not sure that I would have arrived to camp in such good condition without them.
 
I am rather tired today and awaiting our final days run tomorrow to the finish line.  When I have time to absorb all of this I will post a final Gobi Desert blog.  Thank you everyone for all of you blog comments and emails, they absolutely helped to keep me going.
 

Completed stage 4 and had a relatively good day.  We started at 3 am this morning so that we could be on the buses by 4:00.  The actual stage started about an hour and half ride away taking us down into the Turpan Basin.  We began running around 6:05 and for me the first two check points were fantastic. I have been able to run quite a lot more than I did in the Atacama.  As I say that though getting to checkpoint 3 (the finish line) necessitated my walking quite q bit more.  On this part we went up and down sand dunes, into canyons where it definately was single track.  We ran in this environment for about 5 miles.  It was rather hot and as I am a bit closterphobic I felt like the air was being sucked right out of me.  Coming down towards the finish was great sand running.  At one point I looked up to the top of the cavern ledge to see someone on a camel waving.  As I waved back I knew that I was in close proximity of being able to rest my weary bones.
 
This camp site is so unusual but fantastic.  It is a recreation of an ancient village that was suppose to be an amusement park that never made.  Can not imagine why...there does not seem to be a villag or town anywhere.  Our sleeping quarters are on the marbel floors of the museum.  I just hope that nothing comes alive in the middle of the night.  It is truly magical though and such a wonderful site to see as you run in.
 
Tomorrow is the long day, 60 some miles, so my blog will not be posted until sometime Friday.  Send all that positive energy!

Ok, I can finally say it...I had a fantastic day.  The weather was cool as it had rained during the night.  Going through the river crossings, there were around six, proved to be fun.  In some points the current was so strong I luckily was able to join hands with 3 others to get across before being swept away.  I took it very cautiously to checkpoint 1 as the terrain was in a riverbed with lots of rocks.  Did not want a repeat of yesterday.  Heading into checkpoint 2 we went up some great climbs. Some single track with more hard decents.  I was able to run alot more today in various sections which felt extremely good.  The legs really wanted to move so when the terrain permitted it I let go!
 
The last section was long but relatively easy.  A big part was down hill however, I needed to watch my footing.  When I spotted the camp situated in the village of Peaches I was feeling strong as well as estatic!  I made it in in somewhere aroun 5 hours for the 22 miles. 
 
This camp is very unique as the local villagers have given up their homes to house us.  The little children were so excited to receive one of our bracelets but were a little hesitant to come near me.  I was able to see myself in a mirror and now can imagine why.  They probably thought I had some disease because one little boy actually took a look at me and turned around screeming.  The good news though is that I am feeling strong and ready for what tomorrow has to offer...one thing I know for sure it will be HOT!
 
Nutrition is exactly the same as the previous 2 days and going as planned.  Looking forward to writing about tomorrows adventures!

Hello everyone. Day 2 was a very interesting & beautiful day here in the Gobi.  We started out again today at 9:00 am with sunny blue skys.  Stage 1 took us up and down some very steep hills again down into beautiful valleys.  I must say the wild heather is such an overwhelming but beautiful smell.  I was making great time, feeling very strong.  Just before going up another steep hill as I ran through the rock gully I took a very graceful but hard fall.  My glasses took the brunt of it along with my right hand.  A little embarrassed and dazed I pulled myself up to find a bloody nose and happily just a few scrapes.  I am only putting this into my blog incase it made it into any updates and to let everyone know that I am fine.  The only thing hurt is my pride as I was doing so extremely well.  Another example to stay in the moment and not to get too caught up with myself...humility works!!!
 
Stage 2 and 3 I took at an easier pace as completing all of these races is my main goal.  The bonus was that I was able to take in the exceptional beauty of this far off land.  It is not the desert that I would have expected.  We ran through two villages with the little ones out watching, such a great feeling.
 
Now for the nutrition.  Yesterday I did not get what I had correctly down.  So todays nutrition was the same as yesterdays:
 
1 cup coffee
1 bottle UCAN
3 bottles UCAN during the run
3 bottles water with half vile of RightStuff on run
Noodles with vegetables and peanuts for dinner
 

Day one complete! Once again the race was filled with surprises> Wewoke up, had our briefings and started at 9:00 am. During the briefing we were told that there would be no climbing and the stages moderate.  So off we went feeling excited running through stage in a pretty good time of 1 hr 15 min.  Stage 2 started going a bit uphill and the altitude glimbing.but I still finished in a respectable time.  Going into the last stage 3 we were met with a humungus straight up hill climb and the last 9 miles were to be a beasty surprise.  Not only did we experience more rises in altitude but straight uphill desents and very trecherous decents.  I had the pleasure of falling twice happily on my rear end so my backpack eased the pain.  I came into the finish line holding my sleeping bag in hand as it had fallen out of my open pack...maybe it was a message from up above to lay down for a while.
 
Brian and Thomas both came in smiling and very happy to have finished their first day here in the desert.  I am sure they both will be posting blogs adding their own color to their first experience on this amazing adventure.  We all had a moment at the start line remembering Rich Craig.  I know he was with us here in spirit giving us that much needed encouragement to continue on.  He was sorely missed.
 
Nutrition right on.  UCAN for breakfast, 2 bottles on the run and 2 bottles water as well.  Todays mileage 20 miles!  Off to bed will write again tomorrow.

Made it to the first camp after about a 2 hour bus ride. Our driver did quite an  exceptional job navigating through some very harowing turns. Everything came to a stop at one point as the bus ahead wasn't quite sure if making the turn was attainable.  No worries though, all the men & one woman after deliberating decided that he could make it!  So one we went until our bus driver almost refused to go any furthe.  Words were exchanged, his agitation mounted ... the bus continued on to the applause of everyone.  We were welcomed to the Gobi wonderful music from the local people and what a great start to what I hope is an exciting 7 days