The camp was on 2,000m altitude and it was a windy night. We were shivering in the tent..George says "OH no, cold!" Mika " You are from New York. How come you cannot hold this?" George, "this is F--king colder than New York". Yes I had down-jacket and sleeping bag (for -4 degrees), sleeping bag cover, 2 hokaron, wooly hat, and poured hot water in the water bottle and put under the feet... Still freezing. The last morning came. Today we have wave starts for the last 14km. Yes Jon, it is around the lake. Under 70th competitors start at 8:30am, 15th to 69th competitors start at 9:30am and top 15th guys start at 10am. I was 66th and one of the slowest in the middle wave, will try not to be the last finisher. The course today was almost flat by the lake, the ground was grass or dirt and sometimes there are holes - I fell in one of them. Within 1 hour already the leader of the race Jose caught me. He is the ex Olympian from Spain for 10,000m and marathon. Very friendly and gives encouragement to everybody. "Come on, keep it up". Another 3 runners from 10am wave passed me and our Sato san came. "I will wait for you at the finish line". He finished in 5th place and also won "sportsman ship award" he always helps competitors, not only Japanese but also everyone. If somebody has lost baggage before starts, he was the first one who gave away things and food and if somebody needs salt tablet, he rushes to pick up his one and passes them. Always waiting for competitors to arrive the finish line and carries water bottles and bags to their tents for every countries competitors. He really deserves this award and I am glad organizers was watching him. While I was running and walking in this last stage, I couldn't stop thinking about one guy - Winston Koh.. We were in Nepal 2011 race and ran the last stage together and crossed the finish line together. He was even worse descender than I am and slow in downhill. I was not in a shape at all cos of food poisoning and walked the whole stages. He also was not interested in running and walked the whole way and took countless photos. So we often saw in the trails and moved together. He loved and enjoyed walking the beautiful terrains in Nepal. He signed up for another RTP race, Iceland 2013 and persuaded me to do it as well. Ok let's go! We were excited to do the RTP race together again however both of us couldn't make it. As I mentioned in earlier blog, I had a bike accident followed by breast cancer last year and had to cancel the race. And he passed away from a diving accident. Strangely he died on the day I had an accident. I couldn't stop thinking he may have saved my life. He was a late 40's professor loved by everybody. He had a beautiful daughter and a wife. He loved traveling and adventures. The last time I spoke to him was I already came back to Japan, he came to Mt Fuji race the year before. He said he couldn't get a bear bell in Singapore which was a mandatory item for the race. "Sure, I will get them for you". I sent 5 bear bells for him and his team to the hotel near Mt Fuji. Couldn't believe it was the last conversation we did. I wished Winston had been there and walking with me in this beautiful terrain in Gobi desert. He would have loved it. Or he may have been already here and watching and walking with me. Sound of the drum is approaching and finish line is almost there. I saw everyone's face was there, raising a fist, waving, clapping, cheering and meeting me at the finish line. Couldn't see everybody's face because of tears.. it was a long long way to get here but eventually got here. I crossed the finish line by myself with a wide grin to ears with a bit of tears. What is waiting for us? Beer! And fried rice, bread and water melon. Proper food! We were all so proud of ourselves and started drinking and eating. Taking photos with all competitors who had been fighting together in the same battles. Took a shower after 1week and felt good. My hair was like homeless people's and I had to wear a hat all the time towards the end. The skin was very rough although I tried to wash my face every day(maybe water was too little). To be honest the shower water in the hotel was not strong enough (120 competitors using water at the same time) and maybe I was not clean enough. I don't think one shower is enough for 1 week of accumulated sweat and dirt. (My neighbor sports club friend says when I take a first bath in the club after coming back from Gobi, please make sure to wash my body carefully and completely. I would say the same..) Toilet is flushed from today! Wow! You can use toilet tissue as much as you want. Also impressively toilet is private. You don't have to see anybody's doing and you don't have to show yours. Now I am looking forward to wash-let toilet in a Japan. What a dream life. My foot is swollen like a grapefruit. It's not only sprained ankle but also too much fatigue. Face is swollen than usual too. Anything we eat is delicious - some competitors went to KFC near the hotel before the post race dinner although they had just eaten fried rice. Couldn't wait for 3 hours to start the party or just missed the junk food and meat. We keep eating and drinking. Spending in the desert for a week is the best way to enjoy food. We may have lost weight in the desert but the usual weight comes back soon and maybe will gain more soon. Murakami san didn't drink alcohols for a week almost for the first time in his life but at the finish line he already drank 5 big bottles and kept drinking since. He will catch up soon while he wasn't drinking. Spending time in the desert is a great way to appreciate your normal life how much you have been happy as long as you watch the rebound later on. I enjoyed facial spa and foot massage in Urumqi. Facial spa was beautiful. As for a foot massage there are too many blisters, injuries and pains on my feet and I asked the lady masseur not to press too many places or started screaming when she accidentally touched so she started laughing and it didn't work well. I would do this race again? I am surprised so many people are doing 4 deserts races in a calendar year or some of them already signed up to do another desert. I understand it is a phenomenal race and you could experience things you have never experienced in your life, you could see scenery you have never seen in your life, and organizers, doctors (I visited medical tent every day and all doctors were so nice, sweet and efficient), volunteers and competitors are just wonderful. But....250km of struggle again in the desert with 10kg backpack in my age..... Hmmm I feel full now. I cannot think about any race at the moment. Will take a rest and my toe nails grow first. Thank you very much for following me on the whole race, my dearest friends. I couldn't have kept going without your all help and encouragements. Lastly but not least I really appreciated for your huge support on my fund raising. I am pleased to inform you all that amount has been donated to Breast Cancer Campaign already and still accept the donation till 09/07/2014. Please visit below. http://www.justgiving.com/Mika-Kume2 Cheers Mika Meeks

I feel bad as I announced Sachiko san’s underwear is dirty in my blog. I couldn’t stop thinking about it while I was walking yesterday. Please do not tell anybody especially to Sachiko san (she doesn’t speak English) or maybe I will just confess to her, I think she will forgive me, and what I meant to say was she was still young that was why her undearwear got dirty… Sorry maybe I should shut the f&%k up now.

Yesterday I didn’t wash my face and teeth after coming back to the camp at 2:30am. Too cold and too tired and there was no water in the tent. Maybe just one day is ok… or now I am aging more. Good news are my sweet girlfriends offered a facial treatment. Thanks, Mel and Kaoru!

Tent..yes, tent mates. Our tent number 3, we have 5 Japanese, 1 American, 1 British and 1 Indonesian couple (Singapore residents), 1 Chinese. Everybody is nice and friendly, we have nice chatting and joking in the tent always. Whoever come back to the tent first, put your stuff and occupy the space, the space is enough for one sleeping bag. It will be your sweet home tonight. So you are very close to your neighbours. You may feel your neighbour’s breath on your cheek. Apparently British and Indonesian couple are in one sleeping bag. How romantic.

I had a tough night last night…. this gentleman next to me, snored like an aeroplane, sneezed shockingly loud (reminds me one of our staffs in my office), and coughed like the end of the world, and he punched me once in the middle of the night. I don’t think he remembered but he said, ”Sorry” at least. Otherwise he is very sweet and nice. So how could I complain.

Toilet.. this is one thing you never get used to. But I think I am getting better. They dig a hole and put 2 wooden plates on 2 sides (luckily not to far). You need to do a proper squat which means the line between your knee, quads and hip must be parallel to the ground. If it is too low or too high, you are getting problems.

Food,…of course you are getting fed up with frozen dry food. We were talking what we wanted to eat as soon as you were back home. All Japanese competitors said “Sushi (even if it’s on the turning belt)”, American competitor said, “3 big hamburgers”, Korean competitor said, “Korean BBQ “. Singaporean competitor said, “Hainanese chicken rice”. As for me honestly what I want to eat now is the whole fresh tomato, and fresh mango.

The results of Stage 5 came up now and I am in 65th out of 114. I am very happy especially yesterday’s long march is the best result. Only one stage to go and tomorrow is only 14km which is nothing. Look forward to it. Now I am getting hungry again and let’s have the last dinner in the desert, frozen dry food again (chicken tikka, sounds not too bad?).

Cheers
Mika meeks

Thank you very much for your all comments, Deeks, Sally, Jon, Chiba san, Chika chan, Jacqui, Joey, Bob, Mel, Keren, Aziz, Motoe san, Steve, Kaoru, Mary, Donna, Gerry and Micky. Thanks very much for your emails, Neil, Pauline, Sunagawa san.

All your messages makes me cry and literally I am in tears in the cyber tent and I am wiping it with a dirty scarf.

Stage 5, long stage of 69km. 2,440m elevation gain and 1,034m of elevation loss. The highest altitude is 2,800m. My doctor from face injury in Tokyo warned me “Do not run in 3,000m altitude because of the infection risk of the titanium mesh in your face”. 200m shorter to 3,000m and as long as I do no run, it should be OK.

I took care of 3 losing toe nails and taped. The doctor taped my still swollen ankle tightly. I took tamoxifen (breast cancer’s medication – actually this makes me tired more, but of course I am not aloud stop taking this for 4 more years every day). I took 1000mg of anti inframatory. Had cereal, protein powder, miso soup for breakfast and ready to go.

First 8km is flat, going through muddy fields. I tried to run, run, stumbling, walk, run, lost balance, walk….and run… at check point 1, I was in 60th. Doing well. However, Achilles tendon pain attacked me soon after that. Ahh..shame, it is very painful. This is the same foot as sprained ankle. Because of being sprained, I didn’t notice the pain of Achilles tendon till now but this pain is always there whenever I run longer distance. I stopped, walked slowly, stopped….oh my god, still more than 60km to go and there are huge uphills and downhills. How I can survive that? The words “pull out” came up in my mind once. Many people were passing me while I was walking slowly. By the time I reached to CP2, I was in 80th. I sat down and thought, by the way this taping for ankle today is very tight…maybe too tight. We were told today there is no doctor in CP2. I un-taped and got it loosen. Oh yes this is much more comfortable. The pain of Achilles tendon seems to be gone away.

I felt strong again. Let’s keep moving. Even if they are small steps, you keep moving little by little, eventually you will reach the finish line. Luckily no water crossing today until after CP6, which of course my both feet were in the water, and there was no handsome Swedish guy to help me.

At CP3, there were some familiar faces, like Sachiko san, Fujii san and Wei Yuit. I told them “I thought Achilles tendon pain killed me but it was just taping was too tight”. And while they were still resting, I was off and kept going. On the terrain I managed to run, I ran as much as possible even if it is slower than other one’s walk.

Going up to CP4 was the most difficult terrain of the day. My steps are very tiny, snail pace again. Struggling. This is the one at 2,800m altitude. I was impressed that there were still animals excrements all over, which means cows, goats, sheep are climbing up this as well.

The next CP5, there is hot water available and you can have a meal. There are tents and you can even sleep and rest. Some competitors who were suffering from altitude sickness take a rest here. Yoshiko san and Peter were there. Yoshiko san says she feels very sick. They got just married and this trip is a honeymoon. The scenery is indeed very romantic and spectacular every day on the whole terrain but I am not sure if I want to choose this trip for a honeymoon.

I felt starving and had noodles dinner here. I kept eating chocolate, soyjoy and nuts on the trail and protein powder and nuun are in my water bottle. This time my tummy is doing well. I know in ultramarathon races having strong organ is very significant. I think my mom’s secret weapon “BAINIKU EKISU”-concentrate plum paste, very black, very sour stuff- works well.

At CP6 it was 10:30pm. We started at 10am today and 12.5hrs passed already. Dr.Jay at CP6 says 11km of uphill to CP7 then 5.4km of downhill to the finish line. OK 16km something to go! Dr Jay has been always taking care of my ankle and blisters. “How are you Mika?” “I am pretty good”. “You are always pretty good and it makes me happy”. I just didn’t say taping by today’s doctor was a little too tight and when I got loosen this by myself, I started twisting my ankle again… but I think I can survive another 16km and also I wanted to make a move while it is in daylight. Sunset in Gobi is around 10:50pm and I have 30min to go. I set up the headlights and back-up lights and off to go!

After 11pm it was pitch dark. It is in Gobi desert. Middle of mountains. Nobody around. I was by myself, feeling a bit scared. I crossed a river just before completely dark and didn’t care my feet were soaked wet. I turned around, there was nobody. Kept moving… in a hurry… looking for a next pink flag with lights. If the ground was not too stone-ish, I ran. After 1.5hour or so I saw somebody’s back up red flash lights far in front of me. Oh yes, I started chasing the lights furiously. They are 2 of them. I should ask them for a company. Ran, ran, ran….eventually caught them up. They were Kimura san and a competitor from Philippines. “Hi mika san, you are fast. Good to catch us up. Let’s go together. It’s too dark to be by yourself”. Thanks god. So 3 of started moving to the rest of the journey. CP7 was very far. going up to 2,100m of altitude again. Getting freezing cold, the sky is… the sky is how amazing. Can you see so many stars in your life? Maybe in Sahara desert last time. This time since we are going up higher and higher, looks as if going to get all those stars in your hands. Stars are so close to you. Maybe I can grub one of them and keep in my pocket.

Eventually made it for CP7. The rest is 5.4km downhill. Let’s make the finish line together. 3 of us stayed tight. Actually I twisted ankle 2 more times but 2 gentlemen waited for me, passed me another painkiller, offered to take my back pack (of course I declined with thanks). We had a nice chat, moving together and finally made the finish line with wide grin,…yes Mel, big WIDE GRIN!

It was 2:30am and took me 16.5hours. thank you for checking the beak news, Neil and Micky. Yes I finished overnight stage in one piece and got back to the camp, sound and safe. Slept like a log till 9am. And when I go out from the tent, there was a beautiful lake in front of me. Kazafstan is the other side.

Oops lots of people are queuing for the cyber tent. I had better stop now but will come back for another article….

Love you all oxox
Mika meeks

Thank you very much for your comments, Tina, Gerry, Mika, Jon, Kaoru and Eric. Thank you for your emails, Neil, Nakajima san and Sunagawa san. When coming back to the camp and reading all messages is my favourite time of the day. Reading all messages makes me keep going. Neil, thanks for checking my result. Today I started 80th at check point 1 and kept struggling till check point 4 but last 14km I managed to run as it was on the road and flat, finished in 67th. I am happy.

Because of the weather yesterday’s course was shorter, they added extra 8km to today’s and made it for 49km. There were lots of streams to cross over today and the water is up again cos of the storm, like me who has short legs have problems. Chika chan this course is not for us. Everyone is cautious and choses which stone to step on your feet over the river, my legs cannot reach to the next stone anyway. Once I fell into the river, face down, hands wet, upper body wet. Ahh, never mind, it’s only the beginning of the day and it’s sunny today. It will get dry eventually. Later young handsome competitor from Sweden, says “I saw you fell in the river, are you OK?” I said “absolutely fine” automatically. Actually just now a gentleman from Mexico next to me in the cyber tent also asked “I saw you fell in the water. Is your sleeping bag not wet?” I said “OK thanks”. Apparently I am famous now.

Never fell again but may times my feet was in the water. Needless to say wet socks and feet were producing new blisters. I saw 2 more dangers of losing nails besides the previous one.

The terrain was tough. Today I was walking with Shin san, 30yrs old Japanese triathlete competitor. We discovered we were neighbours, he lives in Jiyugaoka. I had a great time chatting with him.

There were many police, army and local people on the horses, motor bikes, chasing sheep everywhere. They are friendly and saying “Jya yu!” all the time.

Nice walking the whole day but when the volunteer guy on the road said to me “next 4km is downhill on the road”, I thought “I must run”. The road is of course not asphalt but quite good condition. Surrounded mountains and so nice running there. The backpack was still heavy and shoulders are painful, very slow but never mind. I forgot about ankle pain or blisters pain. How nice feeling after 35km of struggle eventually managed to run. Actually after 150km and more since stage 1, for the first time I was running. I reached to check point 4, they said 10km to go. I didn’t take a rest, kept going. I must run.

Nice to finish the stage 4. I know tomorrow’s terrain is much more difficult and I will be suffering again. The run last 14km today may be for the first time and last time in this trip but if there is a chance I will try to run again.

mika

I decided to do one thing every day in Gobi.
This is “Washing my face in the morning and night”. Apparently if you do not wash your face you are aging a lot. Even if I do not change underwear, I will wash my face. In the desert, washing face is challenging as well as changing underwear. Sachiko san (Murakami san’s girlfriend) asked me on the day before the start, “how many underwear are you taking, mika san?”. I said “zero. I am not wearing underwear when I exercise”. Sachiko san, ”What? But my underwear get dirty every day”. “Hmm if you get older underwear never get dirty unless you pee in the pants”. Sachiko san is about the same age as me.

After this conversation I packed 2 underwear just in case but I haven’t worn one yet.
Anyway, I keep washing my face with limited water. Hope damage of the desert will be not huge. I cover all skin in the desert and put sunscreen and wear cap, sunglasses and masks.
When I do facial massage in the powder room in my gym, my neighbour friend sakuma san is laughing. “no point taking care of your face. You are always in the sun anyway”. But maybe it could be even worse if I didn’t do any. A week before leaving for Gobi, I was doing facial massage. Sakumsa san says “you better do this after you are back from Gobi desert”.

I will see how bad or not too bad the damage is.

Thank you for all your comments, Chaka, koide san, Sally, Geraldine, Bob, Neil, Micky, Mark, Joey, Mel, Evelyn, Naox and your email, Ned.
I am so delighted to read all encouragement the end of the tough day.
The ankle was ok in the day time but when night comes, pain comes back and difficult to sleep. But I decided to stop nagging and see the blight side. Well, I felt I was coming down to the cold and made a very concentrate protein shake with 2 Nuun, had a whole black garlic globe and a table spoon of concentrate plum paste which is very black and your teeth and lips are all black after eating this (my mom wanted me to take this to the desert) and went to bed at 8pm. (well, sleeping bag)

In the morning I felt good but noticed it was raining last night and my stuff was soaked in the water in the tent. Never mind not the end of the world.

As we expected it started raining in the terrain, pouring. I wore water proof jackets and ponchos, put the water proof cover over the backpack. If your sleeping bag is wet, it is going to be a big problem. Wow it’s very windy too and the rain turned to hail. Freezing. White stuff hit your cheeks, body and difficult to go forward. The terrain was uphill and downhill, all off road. By the time I reached to check point 1, I found my back pack cover was peeled and gone cos of the strong wind.

I changed my gloves to very warm ones. The volunteer lady asked me if I am sure I don’t want to come into the car and warm up a bit. I said no, I wouldn’t want to go out again once I sat down….

Luckily the rain stopped and blue sky turned up. Still cold, very wide filed all over. This scenery and this weather reminds me Dartmoor in south England or West Highland Way in Scotland. Never expect in desert. But beautiful. I started singing Sound of Music. Even you can see snow cap mountains in the distance.

Still pace is very slow like a snail. But I enjoy walking in a steady pace.

I saw Sam in the car in the course. I couldn’t believe next thing she said. “because of the bad weather we are making the course shorter today”. I was so happy and started taking photos, feeling relaxed already.

Back to the camp in safe (73th?).

It is going to rain again. Thundering. I better take my hanging clothes into the tent.

See you tomorrow!

Mika meeks

Thank you for your messages on the blog, JJ, Mika and Chiba san. And Sunagawa san, thanks for the email. Gobi here is quite cold now.

After sprained ankle 5 times, I couldn’t sleep because of the pain. As my ankle was swollen like an elephant foot, everybody asked if I was OK. Cyril says it’s ok mika, only 6 days to go. Lisa also suffers from pain on her leg. We cheered on each other, let’s hang in there, only 200km to go after 50km was over today.

I twist ankle probably due to heavy backpack on your back. My backpack was 9.5kg at check in which is not so bad though. Wei Yuet and George’s bag were 15kg and even Sachiko san’s was 12kg. Masami’s was under 9kg and she packed small. It makes a lot difference on your performance. I should have trained more with a rice bag like when I did before Sahara race.

In our tent there is an oldest competitor in the race, who is Murakami san, 66 yrs old Japanese guy. He is already on TV program in Poland on this race. He reminds me my dad because of his accent and his simple character. He is living in Aichi prefecture, Chita county, the same as my dad is from. I knew him since he is a friend of Sunagawa san and Imai san, all retired ojisans who enjoying their lives. Murakami san says to me, “If I could speak English like you, my life would be more colourful and enjoyable”. I said, “Murakami san, your life is already very colourful and enjoyable”. He keeps attending in desert races in Gobi and Sahara and more exotic races with his girl friend. What a life.

Just before stage 2 started I went to the medical tent again as it is still painful. Dr. Albert taped my ankle nicely.

Taping worked perfectly and the whole course of today’s stage 2, the ankle kept stable even in the rocky terrain and I didn’t twist the ankle at all. I walked steady the whole course and finished before 4pm (just under 8hours for 39km). I think my place is like 75th or so out of 110 competitors (the same as yesterday). I know it’s quite slow but I do not care. Actually it is quite fast in my standard now. I am very happy I completed with a smile. Sato san was there for me again at the finish line and looked after me. He is doing this for every Japanese competitors.

I lost only one toe nail after 2 stages and smiling.

The course was beautiful again today. Very wide surface looks life there is no end and surrounded mountains in the distance. It’s desert but there is green everywhere and stream and stones. It’s quite cold today like 10 degrees. It was raining as well.

Let’s have some dinner now (chicken ramen). See you tomorrow.

Thank you for the sweet words Deeks and Micky. Today we finished Day 1.

And…. Well, I didn’t do very well. I twisted my right ankle 5 times.

The course was around 50km and some parts were quite rocky, and some were beautiful valley, river, and hills. Mountain was clearly seen in the blue sky. Temperature must be around 40 degrees but breeze was comfortable. When I twisted my ankle 2nd time, I sat on the rock, couldn’t move for a while with a pain, thinking, what I am doing, how come I am in a hurry, I should take it easy, relax, enjoy the scenery. Life is too short not to enjoy. I decided to walk the rest of the whole way…and my walking is very slow. When the ankle seemed ok, I started jogging a bit, my run is again very slow. The guy in front of me was walking. I was chasing him but his figure never getting bigger…. Damn, I twisted ankle again. Just like that.

When it took me 10 hours to cover the distance and came back to the camp, Japanese competitors were coming to meet me at the finish line. Thanks guys! You must have been waiting so long.

Went to the medical tent right away and the doctor treated me very nicely. Tomorrow would be very hilly terrain. I will take it easy with this swollen ankle.

Mika meeks

I should have known Urumqi was not safe. There were quite a few armed police in the town and the atomosphere was tense after the recent mess in May. After finished local dinner in the town on our way back to the hotel, I noticed I had left my mobile phone in the restaurant. "Oops I forgot my phone", Kitada san and myself rushed back to the restaurant which was within 5 minutes after we left. When I asked about the phone, the lady manager said "there was no phone left on the table". I took a photo of the food so I am sure there was. Even though I know there was, there is no evident and this is how it is. We went to the police and they even investigated in the restaurant(they just listened to the manager's story) but couldn't do anything. My 3 month old iPhone 5s was gone but at least I have got a police report to claim my insurance and I have Singapore phone with me in case. I must admit there was some unfriendly feeling those Chinese people towards us Japanese though. Wish I were wrong. Let's forget it and focus on the race, but let's not forget what happened and do extra care. I am too spoiled in Japan and Singapore but this is how the world is like.

This Gobi March 2014 is special to me.

I had a terrible bike accident on my way to office last year. A blind taxi driver opened the passengers automatic door immediately when I went through and my face got smashed by the door flame. I have fractured and shattered cheek bone and orbital floor bone. After 6hours of operation, a titanium mesh, bolts and plates were placed in my face. Bolts and plates were removed 6 months later but the titanium mesh will stay in my face for good. The doctor says no endurance sports any more in my life as there is an infection risk of this foreign body. If I push myself in extreme condition, a chance of infection will be increased.

As most of my friends know, I am a dedicated triathlete and runner mostly long distance. I have done 11 Ironmans, 18 marathons and 8 ultra marathons and countless other races in this 15years.

Do I really have to bury my passion and love of endurance sports the rest of my life?

I cancelled Roth Challenge Ironman distance triathlon, Iceland 250km of RTP, Lass Vegas 70.3 halfIronman World Championship which I already signed up in last year. Sam was sweet to postpone my Iceland entry to Gobi 2014 and even trying to ask RTP doctors for my critical situation.

In the meantime I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Why me, why now, why so many mishaps happens in a row. Once I was down but I finally started thinking this way. Hold on maybe it is better bad news coming all together than things happen separately. I will focus on having treatment and recovering from cancer and injury this year and will definitely bounce back some time eventually.

Next thing I did was seeking for second opinions not only in Tokyo, seeing doctors in Singapore and Bangkok for both my injury and breast cancer cases. I had companies to visit doctors sometimes. Taeko was with me in Tokyo, Geraldine was with me in Bangkok, and JJ was with me in Singapore. Thank you very much ladies for standing next to me when I was desperate.

Reading books and articles, searching Internet and listening to stories from cancer survivor friends and specialists. All friends were very helpful, thoughtful and generous to share experiences and information.

I have obtained some positive second opinions for my injury. As for breast cancer, luckily it was in early stages and after partial removal operation and radiation therapy, I am now only taking hormone treatment which will last another 4years and 3months.

More than one year passed since I had an accident and I managed to get back to be fit again. I completed another 100km ultramarathon in April in PB time.

I am now appreciated I will be eventually at the start line of Gobi March 2014. I couldn't stop doing something and decided to raise a fund for Breast Cancer Campaign as well. Please visit

http://www.justgiving.com/Mika-Kume2

This is my 3rd time challenge for 250km stage race. I will not be competitive like when I was in the testosterone team in Sahara 2009 which we came in 2nd team overall. Also hope I will not be like when I did Nepal 2011 which I was suffering from food poisoning and couldn't eat anything at all for a week during the race.

I will be very happy if I cover the whole distance in one piece. Please follow my progress in this page.