The last 2 days (stage 4 & 5) were hell .... hard and very hot.
 
On day/stage 3, we followed for the first 7 km a wide river bed and crossed the river about 6 times. Did not like that as I had to take my shoes and socks off every time in order not to have wet shoes and risking to get more blisters. After that we had a long climb over a pass, and then a long descent, temperatures hit 45 degrees at the end between the last checkpoint and the camp which was killing me on the last kms.
 
For stage 4, we had to get up at 3am and take a bus ride (change in route due to rain and floodings) to our start point. This day started with over 10 km of very high dunes (sand mountains, soft sand, each over 100m high) followed by smaller dunes, lots of sand (no hard underground). Climbing and running down soft sand dunes is fun if you do not have to do it with a backpack, in heat and for 10km. It rained a little in the morning, which seemed good, however it results in higher humidity at over 45 degrees again. This day was VERY hard and there were lots of drop outs, IV`s, the Med Tent looked like a warfield. I had to make a rest at the check points, hydrate up and eat (sometimes force myself to eat, not much hunger due to heat) before venturing out into the heat again. I drink about 3-4 liters per leg (average 10km between check points) and eat a salt tablet about all 30 min. This was a very hard day, came in late but still in the mid field. We were below sea level all day, camp at -120m.
 
Stage 5 was the one I was worried about, 80.8km non stop. The day started with sand, scrubs, dunes and then flattened out into gravel roads. This day we reached the lowest location at 160m below sea level. It was very hard and I was in pain from the first 10 km (blisters all over again). I had to stop at check point 3 as I could not bear the heat which reached 50 degrees!!!! So stopped there (hydrating, relaxing, sleeping) from 3pm to 6:30pm when the temperature started to drop a little. When i hit the road again, it was still 45 degrees at this time ... seen many people drop out, shivering, dehidrated, orientation less, etc ... I run/walked the rest of the night form check point to check point and arrived at the camp around 5:30am. I was in pain, my knees and ancles hurt like never before, my feet are raw, my muscles hurt, the blisters I cannot even feel anymore .... could not sllep when I got here .... too much pain.
 
We are now chilling in the camp for the rest of the day before the last short stage of 11 km to the finish tomorrow. It is 12/noon now and there are still people out on stage 5 after 28 hours and the heat is building up again. I will go back to my tent and chill now.
 
But in all, beside all the strains and pains: Great experience, great people, wonderful nature ....
 
BTW, hate some of the food I have with me by now.... cannot stand the lemon electrolyte anymore, hate the expedition food breakfast (would be happy with expedition food dinners for breakfast, e.g. Chicken Tikka) and am absolutely tired of the power bars. But the chips and soup in a mug are fantastic to have here.

Hi all
 
I completed stage 2 today, mostly walking with my 10 kg backpack plus water.
 
I did better yesterday, but got a few blisters and chafing ... so rather take it slower as there are 5 more days to go. My legs are okay, but the chafing beteen the legs burns badly. I have 4 blisters on my feet, one of them 2 cm diameter and the other is about 4 cm long ... hurts but I taped it up as good as I could.
 
The first day was very hard, hot and VERY hilly, we started at 1500m, went through the mountains up to over 2500m, there were many up and downs at temperatures up to 35 degrees, resulting in me drinking about 10 litres of water.
 
Last night was very cold (6 degrees) and there was so much fog (sometimes less than 30m view) this morning so that we had to delay the start by 4 hours. And it was raining a little today, the last thing I expected, had to experiment with plastic bags to keep my sleeping bag and clothes dry.
 
Tomorrow is going to be 45 km through rivers (do not like the idea to get wet feet with my blisters and all the plaster on it), leaving the mountains and then slowly descendig towards the Dunes and the Turpan Basin. Hope my feets are holding up. ;o)
 
Lots of interesting people here and we have a good mix in our tent (9 competitors), we claim it is the funniest one.
 
Wish me luck, Oli

Hi, This is my first blog post. It is now 4 months to go till I start the Gobi March 2011. And typically for me, I am behind schedule. I have by far not trained as much as I should (at least I have an excuse as I sprained my ankle already twice this year, which did set me back) and still need to lose about 10 kg. Also on the organisational there is still lot to do, booking my flights, getting my visa for China, getting a good backpack, suitable clothing, expedition food (which I tested and like), placing the country patch on the running gear, ordering all the little things from the mandatory equipment list etc.... But still most important is training... run run run, getting many more miles under my feet. I am currently travelling a lot for work, which does not help with my trainings plan. I consider doing the 'Jurassic Coastal Challenge' in South England (Dorset) in 4 weeks from now, this would be a great preparation. This is a 3 days / 3 trail marathons, but could be pretty cold. I have many questions about the race, such as how to charge my iPod, but my 2 biggest questions are; 1. As nutrition is the competitors responsibility, how many food packs, power bars and other food should I take along for 6 days? 2. Should I bother with hiking poles or leave them out entirely? I must admit, the 80 - 90 km stretch within 36 hours through a desert is keeping me worried .... So, let's see how I get on with my training and weight loss program. Cheers, Oli