Dear all,

This is it !!!!!!! YYYIII HHHHAAAAAA !!! We have completed 50 km on day 4 and 65km in one go on day 5 and 6 ! 235km under our belt !!!
I hugged everyone around me when I crossed the line !!!
Needless to say this was not done without pain, but it was well worth it. And I am proud to have finished well for my fund raise for Love Without Boundaries. All these kids LWB will be able to help were in my mind, especially when the route was tough. So THANK YOU to all the donors again , you are awesome !

This part of Xinjiang is so different from the south near Kashgar. A mixture of Mongolia, Patagonia, New Zealand and South American ‘altiplano’. A succession of mountains with icy summits, dry hills with bushes, lovely streams with fresh green willows. Very beautiful and remote. Simply HUGE. You feel sooo small .

EACH stage of the course had its own challenges , elevation, incline, temperature... Like everyone else I had my highs and lows, but kept on smiling. My knee is getting better, while my ankles are now very swollen. I have ugly “cankles” (calf and ankle fused). It should disappear in a few days.

Quite a lot of military and police present along the course compare to our previous races. I presume this is linked with what has recently happened in Urumqi, it would not look good to have a hundred foreigners as a target… so I did not complain . they were cheerfully screaming “Jia you” (literally “add oil”, equivalent to our “Allez!”, “Come on!”).

When I reached the last camp, it was 4:30am, Cyrille , Masami&Alex were already in their sleeping bags trying to warm up. I was shaking so hard. Never felt cold like this. I could not move one piece of my body. Cyrille and Masami had to literally “sandwich” me so I could stop shivering. Eventually it got better and exhaustion did the rest. I slept like a bear. Nice surprise this morning, the camp is at 2000m near an impressive and cold lake. A pleasure for our ankles !


Today we all take it easy, the last walkers came in by noon. We enjoy the sun, the view, the friendship, and all our little body miseries ;)
We have another 15k or so tmrw. And then after a last celebration, reality will kick back in. J we are actually happy to go back home and see the kids.

THANK YOU for all your kind messages along the way, it is always pleasurable to feel connected after these long days in total nature.

Cheers,
valerie

Dear all,

Waou !!!! I made it !!!! another 50k under my belt. The distance was longer to compensate for the short course yesterday.
Lots and lots of up and down hills.
Again I was accompanied by Adriana, and that certainly helped. We motivated each other.

Tomorrow is the ‘official’ long run , 65 k, but I feel like I have completed 2 already ... we will see what mental can do J I have finished 2 with this attitude so I would be disappointed if I do not find the mind strength.

With the medication, I feel ‘high’ most of the time for the first 2 hours JJJ a pretty pleasurable experience he he !

Cyrille is in the medical tent, he was tired and a bit dehydrated. I hope he will feel good after a good night sleep.
Masami and Alex are strong as ever. Masami has a chance to place very well, which is fantastic. A body of strength this one J
But to me the real iron lady is Mika, who despite medical issues and a fragile ankle, overtook us RUNNING (!) at the last stage of today’s course !!!!

Beautiful landscape today, a copy paste of Mongolia. Everything is gigantic in China and this is no exception.

Sorry, short email today, I still need to eat, warm up and rest before tmrw !

I hope all is well on your side. Talk to you on Friday after the long march . Think of us !

Cheers,
valerie

Dear all,

Shorter day today, “only” 25 km due to bad weather conditions … if you could see the sky above the mountains we were supposed to go through , it is dark black. Heavy storm in preparation. Though I know it is not “for free”, and the missing distance will be added somewhere eventually, I am thankful for this surprise J

But let me start from the beginning. We somehow managed to have a great night sleep, despite the cold, I was wearing EVERYTHING I had in my bag !

We had the unfortunate surprise to wake up in … water. It rained most of the night and our tent was obviously not waterproof. Cyrille and I were the most impacted. I was not in a good mood. Anyway I finally made use of my towel. And the afternoon sun today did the rest.
We started the course under a drizzle, which eventually became a heavy rain and finally hail !!! could not believe it. Some participants who were freezing and were not pleased by the experience chose to quit.
It was very very cold indeed (and yet bearable with full gear on…our hands turned red and blue) and the terrain was difficult which did not help my already slow progression. My tendinitis is killing me whenever I go down. And there were many ups and downs. Tylenol and ibuprofene do help, but it means me feeling “high” most of the time. Not a bad thing I guess. JJJ
I am pushing so hard on my poles I may wear off the straps. I completed my day with the same partner which was good. Walked with a Korean guy also with a great and sharp sense of humour. Lots of laughter despite the pain. Our target is simply to finish the race. A race which I find tougher than our 2 previous ones. I had no injury before.
After 12k we were told that the route wld be shorten, too much snow and cold in the mountain.
That gave us the opportunity to take our time and finish slowly so we do not damage our little medical issues further.
And also it gave us a chance to enjoy the scenery . Beautiful landscape today, very similar to Mongolia, with mountains, and snow in the background, sheep on green hills in front.
Masami & Alex and Cyrille had a good steady walk. They continue to go strong. Which is great.
We are all starving, craving for any food. We got the left over from another French runner and it felt like Xmas !

Relaxing time at the camp, we will be sleeping in ‘yurts’ tonight. 20 participants per yurt, should be cozy … I am the snoring ‘pain’ among us four…let’s see if there are any other contestants J…

I have no idea what to expect for tmrw, except another tougher and loooong day. I really wish to finish. And I pray the weather will be dryer ! never saw so much rain in China …

Mmm just finished my message and heavy rain is pouring down, our yurt is the furthest one ,… argh. I guess I am going to stay in the cybertent for a little while. #^#%#%$#%#$@#@ !!!!!!

I hope you are all well. Many kisses to our kids. I miss them.

Cheers,
Valerie

Dear all,

It was supposed to be an easy day (and honestly I think it was), but it was a long journey for me.

Thank you Pierre, you did miracles for my back, no pain at all there so far. And the chinese patches are working well.

Yet despite long disciplined stretching, my hamstring are as tight as wood !!! so I had to have my right knee strapped and of course I ended up compensating with my other leg, and now have a tendinitis…yiiii haaaa …
So, not so great. Thank God, I have my poles !!! I found a fun partner to complete the last 11 km with, it makes the effort so much more bearable. And it gives you the chance to meet interesting characters.
And together we made it. Just BEFORE the rain J an additional 39k under our belt. I don’t know if I will have the chance to continue with her though, her blisters are terrible and she was literally biting her tongue during the few kms while I was trying my best to joke, and talk silly. At least I do not have this problem to deal with…touch wood.
I ‘just’ do not know if I will be even able to stand up………..argh….

Alex & Masami and Cyrille did fantastically most of the route, Cyrille however sprained his ankle toward the end. There were just too many stones ! Evil for our ankles…
We were all a bit disappointed with the landscape, certainly not as impressive as the route we did in 2009 near Kashgar. Hopefully the future days will be more surprising.
It is raining tonight so we are a little miserable, and FREEZIIIIIING COLD !!! L
Tomorrow is supposed to be a difficult day. I hope a good night sleep and a few ibuprofene will do the trick ……..wish us luck !
ET pour la familia, essayez de trouver le bouton ‘send’ ….. J
Cheers,
Valerie

Dear all,

50 km later… still standing, though not in the greatest shape. I am very satisfied with this day as I finally managed to run part of it !!! Despite the heavy load of the first stage (9.5kg with water).
The scenery was beautiful until the last 15km which was a little boring in terms of landscape. We walked /ran /hiked through valleys full of unusual stone formations.
I first walked to warm up , then ran for 6 km with another runner, it is so much easier , you motivate each other. Then I was lucky to complete most of the race with Alex. The 3rd stage was bad, steep. And slowed us down BIG time. All in all we finished in less than 10h.
Cyrille finished with Masami in 8h30. They ran most of the course. These guys are just tooooo strong. ;)
My shin is sore, the back of my right knee is not great, had to ice it and wrap it. Ibuprofene is on for tonight, and hopefully thing will feel better tmrw which is supposed to be “ only”a 39km route…………
The camp is nice, floor a bit stony though , another one of those “nights”.
And yet despite the pain / soreness we re all smile.
… Off to stretching.
Wishing you all well !

Cheers,
Valerie
Ps: can someone check my fund raise webpage and tell me of we have managed to reach 3000 USD ?… this would be a mood booster I promise
Ps 2: Domi, j’espere que tt va bien de votre cote, plein de bisous aux enfants. Pas la peine de leur rappeler que leurs parents sont un peu fous, ils le savent deja JJJ

Dear all, we have finally reached Bole after a fairly long trip.

All is well, and FUN is certainly on the program. Some interesting and pleasant personalities around.The weather is uncertain and the organizers had to change site for day 1 camp. A good decision as we ‘d rather stay dry for another night !So here we are after an hour on the bus, in what seems like a stone block factory…in the middle of nowhere of course…..we will be sleeping in the workers’ houses. Cubes of bricks and cement… Very basic… an opportunity to “test”  Chinese toilets, countryside style ;) …………….. We are in the “monkey” tent (and you know I do not believe in coincidence), with Masami, Alex and 6 other Korean racers. Laughter guaranteed.The wind is refreshing , the sky is blue and the air is sooooo good ! very eager to start.Tomorrow promises to be tough though, almost 50 km to complete with full load on our backs to discover the mysterious stone valley ……Mmmmm … let’s see …Please have a little thought for us ;))))

Cheers

Hello, We are only 40 days away from the start