Bittersweet blog today

I've just realized i start all my blogs with 'Well...' - so why should today be any different?! Well, Stage 3 - 'Farmlands of Langerville' - sounds harmless enough plus we were told in the briefing that today was a relatively easier 36 km compared to Stage 2 so of course Anoop and I launched into it with unwarranted confidence while the song 'Jai Ho' resonated through the mountains as we left the starting line. Sure enough, we felt strong to CP1 but I decompensated at some point between CP1 and CP2 - the terrain was insufferable, rocky and unstable, so slowed my pace. Suffice it to say that I actually cried a couple of times - thank God for Anoop who tried strategies varying from hand-holding and consoling to insisting that I pull it together. I know I slow his pace down but I'm grateful for every time he stops and waits for me to catch up, could not do this without him ;) Finally CP2 came into sight but not before a very steep and rocky descent into a riverbed- Anoop already started going down and for some reason I just kinda froze. Shout out to Giho Kim (competitor 85, South Korea) who was coming up behind me and very kindly held my hand and guided me down the descent, I really love that about this race - all the competitors have been really gracious. We got into a groove walking across the riverbed then into a canyon arriving at CP3 in time but starting to feel the effects of fatigue and exposure. The last 8.5km to camp were the longest in my life - both of us had to fight the urge to just put down our backpacks and sit at the side of the road but thankfully we pushed on. Finally arrived at camp within 2 minutes of the cut-off and pretty much dropped our backpacks and hit the ground. Rejuvenated by a finishing line Pepsi and the shade - Anne-Marie (Flammesfeld) was kind enough to carry my backpack to our tent :) Stage 4 tomorrow - we've been told we should plan for it to be much more difficult than today...as unique and exceptional as this experience has been, Anoop and I are gonna have to think this through...

Well, we survived it - 39km today in varied terrain, lots of hills and valleys.  Pretty spent by the time we arrived into camp but did manage to improve our standings. We really are taking this one day at a time - so far so good in that we havent had any injuries and are still in the race but this is probably one of the hardest things I have every done.  Not sure we will make it to the end of the week but are trying to make the most of this exoerience.

 

Too tired to be clever today, maybe will post a more interesting blog tomorrow.  Just want everyone to know we are healthyand safe :)

Well, the good news is that Anoop and I survived Stage 1, the bad news is that it really is as hard as we thought it would be..this stage is called Camels & Canyons and it definitely lived up to its  name - there were camels and there were canyons.  The scenery for the first 4 hours was really something but we were trying so hard to get done as quickly as we could (which still wasnt really fast at all) that we never really stopped for pictures.  Several episodes of "why are we here" and a demanding 7 hours (covering about 34 km plus an altitude gain), we made it to the first camp in Tapushka village by 3pm (made the cut-off!).  Interesting camp, its set up in an actual village and we are spending the night camping out in vacated village homes (and we are not talking about quaint European villages, these are bona fide villages (Sab, Jag - i have been transported to Badhni Kalan, we are sharing the toilet space with the cows..i keep thinking Im gonna hear Bapuji yelling at Neela ;))  The blessing is that the rooms are cool and a bit more private than the shared tents.

 

We had planned to take this one stage at a time and that is still the plan - stage 2 tomorrow, we will see what it brings.  If we manage to finish it, I will post another blog update (if you do  not hear from me, it means we bailed and are staying at the  nearest 5-star hotel!)

Well, I guess its really happening...like seriously, really, really happening!  We arrived at Gazi Camp, our starting point for Stage 1 which starts tomorrow morning.  No exaggeration, the scenery & landscape here is amazing and we were blessed with decent temperatures/  Arrived to a virtual welcoming parade with about 200 local people applauding as if we had already finished the race!

 

We met our tentmates - tent 16- Talgar, and are being entertained with some local dancers and a horse show :)  Today is all social, tomorrow the race starts and it will be time to pay the proverbial piper.

 

Hoping for a good nights sleep before tomorrow - Stage I is called Camels & Canyons, I guess we will find out what that means?  Looking forward to posting again tomorrow night :)

Well, this is it - we arrived in Kashgar last night on a rather long flight from Guangzhou through Urumqi to Kashgar. FIrst good news was that we arrived, second good news was that our bags arrived! Had an entertaining taxi ride with a very animated driver and checked in to the Tianyun International Hotel by 6pm - reportedly 4-star but kinda 3-star - either way, looks like it is the best that Kashgar has to offer. We lucked out with good sized room but no internet (thank God for the mobile stick). Met a few of the other competitors - everyone seems really nice and super-fit! Trying not to let that intimidate me...Anoop and I spent the first few hours walking around trying to find a decent place to eat - settled on a place called Eversun Cafe, not too far from the hotel. Had an interesting version of a seafood pizza and some salmon - tried to savour it as one of our 'last dinners' before we head into rehydrated meal territory for next 7 days. We were then up until about 2am trying to pack and repack our backpacks - what to take and what to leave behind. At one point, Anoop looked at me and said 'Gill, you look scared'. ;) In the end the priorities were food and sleeping gear...our carefully packed small luxuries and extra wet wipes didn't make the cut. We're still looking at about 22lb backpacks pre-h20 - our saving grace is that we will be eating down the weight so they should get lighter as the race progresses. Even though I wanted to savour this night of sleep, was hard to get any....restless with a combo of nervous anticipation and some excitement. Thinking of loved ones and staying strong during the Race (and also trying to figure out exactly why we're doing this when we could've gone on a luxurious vacay to Paris instead). Up early, catching up on last-minute emails...its now 7am, time to get ready for our Competitor Briefing at 8 and then the fun begins.....