Sitting here in my hotel room with Susan a day after the end of the race. Yesterday was a little overwhelming and emotional. We had been told on Friday night that the final stage would be reduced from 22km to 10km as there were too many 'walking wounded" in the camp to complete the final sand dune stage in the 4-5 hours the organisers would need in order for us to then get buses back to Urumqi for the celebration dinner last night. An apt description was that we all looked like zombies from Michael Jackson's Thriller video emerging from our tents for the Friday evening briefing! Anyway, on Saturday morning we had even better news that we would be bused to the nearby village of Shan Shan and there would be NO dunes involved in the final day's proceedings. Welcome relief as those dunes are steep and go on forever! The final 5km celebration run was of no consequence but just to get to the finish line and get the big medal around your neck. Nevertheless, those of us able to run (and a lot couldn't!) gave it a good dash and before I knew it the finish line, complete with local horns and drums was there. An amazing feeling to be sure. Lots of hugs and congratulations from any competitor you came across whether you had got to know them or not. Wonderful camaraderie. A few spouses and friends had turned up and I recognised Mary-Beth Macnamara, an old CLSA colleague from Hong Kong, who was waiting for husband Andy. We were chatting away when suddenly a van pulled up and Susan sprinted out in her bright orange Plastered 8 t-shirt that I would recognise anywhere. I had been expecting to see her in Urumqi so it was just overwhelming to see her there. A lot of tears and hugs, with the Racing The Planet photographers lapping it all up. Unbeknown to me she and five other spouses had taken a van from Urumqi at 5.30am to get to the finish line 270km away. Ten hours there and back just to see me finish. What more could you ask of a loving spouse? After an hour of watching the remaining competitors finish, some food and cold beer, we headed back to Urumqi, a five hour slog. Not the most ideal way to finish the race to be sure. The celebrations in the evening were overshadowed by the announcement that Nicholas Kruse, the Shanghai-based competitor who had collapsed on Day 4, had died earlier in the day in a hospital in Urumqi. Just terrible and a wake-up call to the organisation and all adventure-racers that there are obvious risks that need to be managed better in these events. We do these events for the risk and adventure, but not to die. My thoughts are with Nick's family and loved ones. The start of the race last week seems an age ago. A week on, I am 5kg lighter and enriched from a once in a lifetime experience. Susan coming to meet me at the finish was so special. Apparently I told her that I would never do another of these but found myself later in the evening discussing with fellow tent-mates Olivier and Alain, which event we might meet up next year...

Sitting here in the desert cybertent recovering from the "long day". It's 53C in the sun. You, in the outside world, will probably have more accurate data of results (they're not too good at getting info and up to date results out to the competitors here) but I came in around 12th in 14:47 for 99km. I got in at 11:47pm last nigt after wandering alone for two and a half hours in the last 6km leg of the sand dunes getting increasingly concerned that I would ever find the camp. Scary. When I finally crossed the finish line it was more with relief rather than any sense of accomplishment! It's 12.30pm the next day and there are still another 30-40 competitors out on the course. They will be really suffering...
 
Rewinding a bit to the end of Stage 4. I wrote my last blog around 3pm that day having come in just before midday. Temperatures were climbing and those walking in the gullies were struggling. News then came in that a number of people were having real difficulty. One of the Shanghai expat group, Nick, had collapsed and doctors there couldn't find a pulse. They had to get a camel to bring him out and rush him to a hospital. I last heard he is still in a coma. Interested to know how things are being reported on the web. The sense amongst the competitors is that the race organisers have been more reactive than proactive to these emergencies during this race. Angus, my tent mate finally walked in after 13 hours out there looking totally spent...and this was before the "long day".
 
The Long Day kicked off @ 8am with the first 10km taking us down a river, with multiple crossings just to get our feet nice and wet for blisters. We then hit vineyards and small villages. Who knows what the locals must have thought of us?! Fortunately, we had some good cloud cover so it was more humid than hot and my 5 minutes running, 3 minutes walking strategy was working well.
 
By 30km we were into the depression where the landscape became unearthly with nothing but scrub, salt flats, and brine pools as far as the eye could see. Fortunately the cloud cover was still holding but the hot wind was draining. Each checkpoint was about 10km apart and I was now drinking about 2.5 litres each time. At 45km, we hit the lowest part of the depression at -100m, the second lowest part of the earth after the Dead Sea. I was now in unknown territory having never run further than this. The next 20km were a real struggle but I managed to keep up my 5 on and 3 off and take up a few more positions.
 
By checkpoint 6, 65km, however, both my legs started to seize up and I slowed to a crawl. The next leg to checkpoint 7 was another 13km but fortunately I had made it back to the vineyards and could wet my head in some of the deliciously cold water channels. The next 20km was just a slow slog but I was helped out by the locals who offered me delicious local melon and tomatoes.
 
I got to the final checkpoint around 9pm, 11 hours into the race and 6km to go. Then the fun started. The local kids had taken many of the flags in the vineyards so I was wandering around for half an hour before I got on the right track and headed into the sand dunes. By now it was totally dark and I was by myself. After clearing four or five big dunes with only a few flags standing to guide me, I suddenly realised that I could get totally lost in this place. At one point I was convinced that I was going in a circle. Almost two hours later I finally made it to camp relieved and exhausted. I had my best night's sleep to date this week :).
 
22km in the sand dunes tomorrow and it's all over. Looking forward to seeing Susan in Urumqi and a long soak in the bath...

The whole tone of the race changed today as temperatures have soared and we are now in the Turpan Depression proper.

 

We were all up at 3am to be bussed to a new start location within the grape vineyards that Turpan is famous for. As temperatures were due to rise we started at 6am and headed out for 13km along a dirt track. Apart from some electricity pylons stretching into the distance there was no sign of human life in any direction. After the first checkpoint, however, the desert proper began. I had been doing 5 mins running and 3 mins walking but with solid ground I picked up the pace a little and came into CP2 at 23km around 19th.

 

With 11km to the end, the course moved into a maze of gullies that went on and on. If you took a wrong turn here (you follow pink flags every 25-50m) you'd be lost forever! Fortunately the sun was still low enough that the gullies were in shade but for the walkers later on in the day they would baked in there. (As I write a poor soul has just come into the finish in a very bad way throwing up and de-hydrated). The red sand is very fine and the gaiters I use over my shoes don't really work so I still have to empty out my shoes every 20-30 minutes. After an hour and a half wandering through the gullies the finish line finally appeared within a Disneyesque "Uigher Ghost Town" which we are taking over for the night. A massive rock and sand cliff looms above called the Flaming Mountain. Spectacular.

 

 In spite of vowing to take it easy today, I managed to come in 16th for the 36km leg in 4:45 and I believe I am currently around 18th overall. Not bad! Some of us early finishers managed to go down to the river 500m further down the valley and have a good soak and clean my sand-caked shoes. Mysteriously, however, the police turned up and made the river out of bounds to runners. Typical Chinese paranoia.

 

I am very nervous for the "long day" tomorrow as the temperature in the sun currently at 2.15pm is around 52C. There's no way you can run in that! A lot of people have required medical attention today and a couple of runners collapsed in the gulley an hour ago. We start @ 7am tomorrow. My game plan is to run until it gets hot and then walk and then start up again in the cool of the night. If I can average around 5kph then I should finish in around 20 hours. We have all of Friday off to recover. My pack is down to around 5kg and my body is holding up well apart from a couple of toe blisters so it will be mind over matter...

 

Anyone reading this who hasn't donated to my ShelterBox fundraising, please take time to go to my website to donate. Thanks in advance!

http://www.justgiving.com/ambstevenson

Time is flying and we are already half way through the race, at least in terms of time. Distance wise, however, 90km done, 160km to go!
 
I had another good day helped along by cool overcast weather, wind to our backs and some desert rain. The first leg of stage 3 took us 11km down the riverbed we crossed yesterday. My breakfast of freeze-dried apple with custard must have had some rocket fuel in it as I felt fantastic in spite of another night's poor sleep. All my aches and pains from yesterday disappeared. We had been warned there would be six river crossings so the first tactical decision was whether to change socks after the first leg. In spite of very uneven rocks I managed to make good time and got to the first check point within an hour and decided to press on with wet socks as my feet felt fine. The fact that our backpacks are now down to 6-7kg also makes a huge difference.
 
We then climbed up onto a massive rocky plateau with red sandy mountains in the background, our first view of what I expected the Gobi Desert to look like. I teamed up with Nick from Hong Kong and we pushed the pace on flat ground for the next 11km check point. We had some rain and the wind to our backs, perfect running conditions.
 
It was all over too quickly before we hit gravel and sand dunes for the next 5-6 km, a foretaste of what is to come for the next couple of days. Hard going. At the road crossing we were told it was another 5km downhill to the finish. I saw Ryan from Singapore (thanks for saving my slipper in the river Ryan) about 500m ahead and decided to kick and try and catch him. I overtook him within three km and relaxed expecting the finish line to come at the next corner but it never seemed to come... 7km later the finish line finally came and happy to find that I was 15th! 33km in 3:26, very happy with that!
 
Today's camp is a change from normal as we are lodging in a local village, Peach Village. As we were first to our billet, Alain and I managed to bag the best room for our tent (of eight) including a sofa and comfortable raised dais for sleeping. Perhaps tonight I will finally get a good night's sleep?
 
I just heard there is a river beyond the village so will go for a swim and a wash. Chicken Tikka on the menu tonight...
 
Tomorrow we have a very early start to get to the Flaming Mountains tomorrow. Apparently it is the most beautiful campsite location of the week.  I am going to take it very easy tomorrow in preparation for the 100km day on Thursday.
 
PS Joss, Judy says hi!
 
 

After a dreadful night's sleep in a very cold tent, today was a much better day. In spite of wearing everything in my bag and four pairs of socks I was still cold! Taking a pee at 3am with a full moon above dramatic mountains, however, was almost worth getting up!
 
Today's stage was a reverse of yesterday's - 15km up and down in the hills followed by another 14km along a river bed and a spectacular valley. Whereas yesterday's downhill slopes were treacherous scree slopes that required extra caution, you could actually run down today's downhills and make up some time. After the hills it was a straight hike along a very rocky dry riverbed connecting to a dirt track on the other side of the valley giving you an opportunity to get into a rythmn and pick up the pace a little.
 
Finished the day in around 3:30 hours and came in a creditable 23rd. Body so far intact and the pain in the butt from yesterday has now moved to my right shin. I managed to get a small blood blister underneath my fourth right toenail which was neatly "drilled" by the medical team to relieve the pressure. Need to keep an eye on that so it doesn't get any worse...
 
33km to look forward to tomorrow. The 100km leg (99km actually) on Thursday, however, still looms large...

Last night was really cold, around 5C, so none of us in our tent slept very well and most of us were up around 6.30 getting our packs sorted for the 9.30 start. There is only one time zone in all of China so in Beijing it currently gets light around 4am but as we are so far west it's still dark at 6. A bit weird!
 
The race briefing before the start told us that today's initial stage would be easy. They lied! After an easy 15km on a wide valley floor the route suddenly took us 15km of very steep rolling hills that never seemed to end and we had to climb 600m. Around 25km I felt pretty grim with my right bum really sore, a new injury for me! The scenery, however, is absolutely spectacular with dramatic mountain ranges at 360 degrees so it's no problem to stop and take it all in. I finally made it to Camp 2, Kazakh Pasture,  in just over five hours and was very surprised to find that I came in at 28th out of 165! I knew this a tough race but now I know how tough because I have to do it all over again tomorrow...
 
Going down the steep scree slopes was hard on the toes but so far so good with no blisters though I daresay I'll lose another couple of toenalls by the end of the week.
 
I'm sitting in the open sided cyber tent looking out of the most amazing mountain scenery. Kind of surreal. Managed to have a 90 minute kip this afternoon and feeling a lot better. Tonight Chicken Korma and rice on the menu.Going to be colder tonight given we are higher up so I will be wearing everything I have in my pack! Tomorrow we head lower into the Turpan Depression so should start to warm up.

After a tedious 24 hours waiting around in Urumqi we finally got the bus out of town in mid afternoon. The bus ride in itself was an adventure as the roads got progressively worse as we approached the camp. We had to get off the bus three times to help the driver navigate narrow bridges and steep detours.
 
We arrived at Camp 1 around 8.30 situated in a picturesque copse looking out over the Tian Shan mountains. The countryside so far is surprisingly lush and green, the desert is further down the valley. With the start line set up behind me as I write I am itching to get going tomorrow morning. Stage 1 tomorrow is the only big climb of the week with 620m net ascent over 29km.
 
We have just received our course booklet and the rumours of Stage 5 being a monster is true - 99km! The other rumour that the final stage would be reduced from 19km to 9km, however, are false so at least the first four days will all be sub marathon distances.

The Gobi March this year coincides with our leaving China after living in Beijing for four years. When I signed up for the event all those months ago, it never occurred to me that packing out our house three days before leaving for the Gobi March might add an additional level of stress to preparations! Apart from the recurrent nightmare that the packers were going to take off with some of my kit in spite of being safely locked away in a wardrobe, we are now through that ordeal and I am now sitting on the floor in a empty living room in an empty house an hour away from my flight to Urumqi. I see on the "breaking news" that the long march on day 5 is going to be extended to 100km!! They can't do that can they?? Thanks to a surge in generous donations in recent days, I am now close to my Stg4,900 target for ShelterBox. Thanks again to everyone for their support and keep those donations coming!

A bit late to the blogging party but ready and hopefully able for the big event in a couple of weeks. Training has not been text book as Beijing's winter stretched all the way into early May and calf injuries in April forced me to do many hours of "water running" (running on the spot in the deep end). Mind numbing does not adequately describe it, but it does the job of keeping up aerobic fitness. May saw me pack in a couple of 100km weeks and I finished off last week with a 45km yomp with full pack in Beijing's finest pollution and 36C heat to give me some confidence I can get through the race. At least the air will be clean out there! The 90km leg in potentially 50C, however, still fills me with trepidation. Tapering from here on in... I had a great conversation with friend Mitch Stocks yesterday, a Gobi 09 finisher. He couldn't stress enough getting your socks and shoes sorted out to avoid blisters. He used the Injinji running fingers with Glide. I'm going with the same plus an outer Teko sock. So far no blisters since I started using them two months ago. Last year there was a "foot clinic" before the race started. Assuming we have something similar in Urumqi, he highly recommends attendance. Unlike last year, I gather we may have a lot of sand to navigate this time round so make sure your gaiters are working ok. As for nutrition, he advises variety during the run to keep things interesting. His favourite pick-you-up was macadamia nuts, probably the most calorie dense nut you can find. I will be sticking with Hammer Ultra Endurance powder plus trail mix bars and crushed crisps which got me through a couple of Ironmans ok. Looking forward to meeting fellow competitors on 25 June in Urumqi Mark