We write this blog, having spent the day in 52 C of heat in the shade!  This was supposed to be the recovery day however; the intense heat has prevented any of us from getting any sleep.  Yesterday was the long day, which showed some great performances by Speed and Moss. Both completed the leg in under 24hrs, and now try to muster the energy for the final leg.  The punishing day on the dunes took it's toll on Vain, who failed to recover in time and did not complete the course.
 
We are now all focusing on the final leg and the after race party.  Sorry for the brief blog, but I am now getting sun burnt through the tent!  Thanks for all your blogs and e-mails.
 
Colin has just had a second wind and has mustered the energy to type.  Imagine being on the hottest holiday you have ever been on and then take away the pool, hotel and anything to drink which isn't hot water and there you have our recovery camp.  Truely horrible. I spent the last 23+ hours completing the 50 mile leg (which for those of you that know is a little bit by Ex LONG REACH but in the desert and on your own) and  now need to ready myself for the final one tomorrow.  My body isn't in bad nick actually.  Feet are okay considering but I know I have not eaten enough.  I am trying to force some down but the heat makes it very difficult.  Anyway I'll scoff enough in the morning to get me round and then it is back to the hotel for some pizza (apparently). 
 
I have only really felt like dropping out of this once and that was during stage 4.  I was on my chinstrap.  We had travelled the 25 miles to camp and then the twist - there was a 2 mile detour around a fence (which I could have jumped in about 2 seconds).  I tried to talk Andrew into going over it but we decided that we should "do as we ought".  I was in a very dark place but fortunately Speedy worked hard to get me to the finish.  That was by far the hardest day so far and was probably the reason why so many people have failed to complete the course.
 
If you ever get any bright ideas about running one of these then take my advice - don't bother.  I was interviewed straight after I finished today and I was asked if I enjoyed the scenary along the route and if I would like to come back next year.  I told him that I didn't notice the scenary as I was blowing out and nobody should ever vounteer to run one of these.  I told him I was taking up golf as it is easier.  Not sure if it'll make the final cut!
 
Next time yu hear from us we will have finished the race x
 
Louise - I love you and will speak to you soon.  Have you bought yourself anything for your birthday?

First of all thank you to everyone that has sent us messages.  It does make a massive difference to our morale - mostly positive but some negative! (Bass - no need to write again unless you plan on making me feel good instead of angry). Saying that the others liked it! Oh and you had better be joking about the job.
 
So today we ran (I guess the more vigalent of those amongst you will realise that we didn't run much and walked a lot) 27 miles.  The start of the race included 3 river crossings and because we are trying to protect our feet we took our shoes and socks off at each of them. That was when the Zimbabwean (he has a broken foot) limped passed us.  Okay so today was not our finest hour but we managed to get home in just shy of 9 hours. Given that the first 7 km was in a canyon and the second leg was 10km uphill we were not that unhappy with our performance. At 1600hrs the temperature was 45 degrees and the wind had dropped considerably so we were really feeling it then. Oh and there is no shame in being beaten by the ladies.  There are some seriously fast people here running some seriously fast times in rediculous conditions.
 
My (Colin) chat continues to motivate the others despite what all the bloggers say and they wake me up at night demanding to hear my many stories.  Actually that's crap cos the bloody Koreans still think they are in a snoring competition and not a running one! 
 
So looking forward to tomorrow.  We hit the dunes in the morning for 6 miles and then continue to complete a 26 mile stage over sand and gravel in blistering heat.  But that is not before getting up at 3 am and catching a bus at 4 am to be driven (for 3 hours) to the Taipan Basin.  Personally I am very excited but the hotter weather and sand seem to be getting people down.
 
Glad to hear that Burma Company ran 6 miles for PT (I hope it was run backwards, with weight and uphill) if not then why not?  Glad the charity ball went well.  I hope that the 9 Pl guests and OCdts all behaved themselves!  No need to mention the DS as I am sure the CSgts and the CSM were all over it.
 
Anyway we think we may not have put ourselves in a position to win this one but are still determined not to let our sponsors down and complete this thing.  Fingers crossed for tomorrow and looking forward to reading some more witty banter.
 
Team Sandhurst.

After another great nights sleep, only waking up 4 times to do the 200m dash on the edge of a cliff in the fog to find the toilet (most people would probably refer to the toilet as a hole) Team Sandhurst were ready for stage 2.  Unfortunately stage 2 was not ready for us.  The organisers delayed the start as the markers were not visible in the fog and they could not let us run in the hills for safety reasons. Shame!  So the stage was cut short and just as we started the heavens opened (just in case you were wondering we didn't pack for the rain and it reminded us of running in the UK). 
 
The shortened leg still provided an opportunity to shave a few minutes off the leaders as we powered our way around the course in 2 and a half hours. We had planned on taking our shoes off for the river crossing, 4 kms away from the finish.  However, having overtaken the team leaders and showing our ultra competetive side we just waded through the knee deep raging floods.  We are now sat by the camp fire, trying to dry all our kit in preparation for tomorrows 27mile race.
 
Thought of the day:  Mild chaffing around the sensitive areas can be avoided by generous amounts of vaseline.  Unfortunately we are running low!!
 
As an after thought, could someone please check the race standings and let us know where we stand as unfortunately we do not have the up to date results but we know they are on the website.
 
Many thanks and here is to a chaff free Tuesday.
 
Team Sandhurst.

Well the race finally got under way and I am not sure that the 160 competetors were ready for this one. Stage 1 was 21.5 miles and was described by the organisers as "easy".  A guy sharing our tent has done a few of these before and he said that was the hardest leg he had ever run. The organisers thought the elite atheletes would complete this leg in about 3 hours but they were more than an hour off the pace. If you are reading this then you have probably got eyes on the results which should show Team Sandhurst completing this leg in about 7 hours and 15 mins.  It was an epic!  We are a little concerned about what tomorrow holds as that is described as moderate to difficult and is longer than today's leg. As I sit here writing this there are still competetors finishing (and we have been back for at least 3 and a half hours). A mixture of jet lag, a lack of sleep (we are sharing our tent with a team from South Korea and these boys snore like there is no tomorrow!), the heat and altitude meant that we were not as quick as we would have liked.  Obviously we talked a good game before hand about not going too quickly in the beginning and about it being a marathon and not a sprint but the competetivness took over and we ran the first 2 legs in a good time.  The difficult 3rd leg was waiting for us and our early pace took its toll.
It is not all doom and gloom however, as we are only 20 mins or so behind the leading team and we are confident that by sticking to our game plan we can catch up that time tomorrow.
James and Andrew are tucked up in bed getting some rest ready for tomorrow and I am not far away from joining them. Thnk you very much for the messages and please keep them coming if nothing else just to let us know that this is being read. If today is anything to go by we will be needing some morale when we get back tomorrow so please keep it humerous. 
For all those people that are worried about James carrying the heaviest pack we have an update.  He has been through that and thrown away everything that cannot be eaten, worn or used to wipe his bum with. If he borrowed anything from you for this event then it is more than likely in the bin. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.
 
Team Sandhurst

Team Sandhurst has already broken records! TJames had the heaviest daysack! weighing in at 15.5 kg.  However; after eating 5 puddings each this evening, we are now down to racing weight! Crazy coach driver got us to the destination, and now we are primed for the first stage. The first stage is a 21.5 mile leg which should settle us into the race comfortably!  There are a lot of people here taking this very seriously and many are out to win.  We just plan on finishing this in one piece.
 
Apparently, the temp got up to 60C last year, so fortunately I've packed my thong to keep cool over the stages. You have to feel for the South Korean lady who is sharing tent Tiger with Team Sandhurst, watching us vaseline up in the mornings is not going to be pretty.
 
We have only been here a short time and already our stinking chat is getting boring for the others. So if you have a few seconds then please send us a message through racingtheplanet.com.  We get to read these twice a day and I'm guessing when the going gets tough we will rely on these for some morale.
 
It is now 2000hrs (we are 7 hours ahead of UK time) and we are going to get some sleep before the start.  We will look to update the blog every evening so please let people know where it is.  Fingers crossed.
 
Team Sandhurst.

Okay so we are not in China yet but thought we should write something to get this blog up and running. The training has been done and the bags have been packed. We now have 2 hours before we make our way to the airport to catch our flight to China. We are able to update the blog 6 times during the race so will plan to update after each leg. However, the start of the race is 3 days away yet so I am sure there will be plenty to add before we even get there (especially with our admin!). I wonder what we have forgotten to pack! Anyway please fell free to comment on the blog as Andrew, James and I will be reading these after each leg and we may need them to help us through.