The long day indeed lived up to its name, my 75km took 23 hours to finish.  It was a struggle and slow grind, walking into camp never felt better.  I won’t bore you with the details, I could write a lot about the 23 hour walk, just know that I’m still walking (limping but I’ll recover) and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s 15km finish.  I feel stronger, faster and better!

We are on day 6 now, rest day after the long march.  Camp site is beautiful, shaded by trees and surrounded by rocky grass land.  Snowcapped peaks of Kunlun mountain raise in the western distance.  Since I spent all day walking, I saw both the sun set and sun rise. Ask me for pictures of Kunlun as the sun rise from the east drapes over its western peaks like a curtain coming down on stage.  Too bad my iphone is running low on battery and I only have a few pictures to show.  The night walk was long and cold, it was made easier by  long rests at check points.  Once a while I would stop, shut off my head light and just stare into the night sky, lit up by stars and the milky way. 

By this time tomorrow I should be on my way back to Kashgar, medal in hand J 

You are all awesome for sending me comments/emails, I'm feeling 100% better after reading your suggestions and encouragements, it worked! 

Day three has came and gone.  The road was a bit like day 2, but tougher.  We had about 1000m of incline over the day, mostly gentel, but there were some small hills.  There were more hard uneven rocky terrain, more technical, more places to really shred one's foot or turn an ankle.  I'm grateful none of that happed to me, it was hard, but I made it back in 8.8 hours.  Legs feel very strong on the hills, Jun called me mountain goat at one point, haha.  Training in the mountains of HK really helped.  We are starting to see more drop outs, I don't know the exact number. Day 4 is suppose to be super hard, more technical and more bigger + steeper hills, I'm ready!

Well, before I get carried away thinking I've this thing down, I need to warn you I had a real low point this morning.  The spot right above my right ankle, where all the leg muscles connect to the foot, was swollen and sore and hurt with every step.  Pain pills got me through the day for now and doctor says it should get better later this week, hope he's right.  I'm keeping my feet elevated when I can and taking care of my body during rest time, no worries :)  

Speaking of rest, in case you are wondering what camp is like, here is roughly what I do after ever race.  The camp site is usually in a field in the middle of no where.  We have close to 30 tents in all, each sleeping less than 10 people, my tent has 9 people.  There is also a cyber tent, a medical tent, and of course toilet area (it's a hole in the ground and not pleasent, I'll spare you the details).  I usually get in around 5pm (+/- an hour), first thing I do is rest a bit and elevate my feet to prevent swelling, chat with my tent mate who are all very cool.  Then I stretch a lot, unpack my stuff, eat some snacks, etc take about 2 hours.  After that I que up for the cyber tent (it closes at 8pm), I'm here now, blogging and checking messages.  Then it's dinner, make my "bed", rest and hang around to see how everyone's day was.  I'm usually in bed by 10pm and up at 6am (race starts at 8am everyday).

There is a long line for laptops to blog, I'll go have dinner now and update you all tomorrow. 

Hi everyone!  We are off to a great start, all except 1 person finished today.  One day down and 6 more days to go!  If I sound upbeat it’s because I’m sure my enthusiasm for this race will die down after a couple more days.  So I better blog more while I’m happy and save you all from reading my depressing thoughts later, haha. 

Day one’s course was pretty easy, smooth up and downs with nothing too steep.  I walked all of it in about 6.3 hours.  Today was also made easier by a last minute change to shorten this segment to 32km, instead of the normal 40km.  The first 10km was supposed to involve lots of river crossings, given recent rain in the mountains water levels were too high for “safe” passage.  I thought we were in the desert, apparently there is water sometimes. 

A word about the terrain, it is very rocky and dusty, check out the pictures online, this could have came straight out of an old western movie.  The views are stunning, but it’s tough on the foot and easy to roll an ankle.   Which happened to me right after the starting line, stupid stupid, stupid!  It bothered me a bit but it wasn’t serious, it was my right ankle where I have a previous injury.  Good news is I walked it off, it hurts a bit post race but pain is similar to how I feel post training normally, so this shouldn’t be a big deal, I hope J 

Other than the ankle, today was pretty uneventful.  I got a couple blisters on my left foot, it feels better after draining and taping the blisters, the pain pills should get me through day two.  My food plan is working out well, enough to keep me going but not too much to weight me down.  My water and electrolyte plan is also fine, in addition sleeping pad and bag are comfy, so no complaints about equipment and logistics.  There are 9 guys in my tent, mix of Korean/HK/Chinese, we are all getting along well so far. 

Day two’s segment is 39km, more hilly than day one but not too difficult.  I’m going to walk slower on day two, save my legs and energy for the tough segments 4 and 5. 

I don’t have access to the RTP website here, hope they are posting pictures everyday and keep you all updated.  My bib # is 75, I’m either wearing a green shirt at camp or grey shirt on the course. 

Thank you for all your comments on my blog, miss my family and friends and everyone back in HK.

Following from Alan Wong:

Hi it’s Alan.  I survived the first day, and will make it for day 2.  Thankfully the stage was made easier today, though the experienced runners are probably complaining.  I’m totally fine with the change.  My ankle is making this weird squeaking sound, they taped it up and hope it feels better tomorrow.  Alrighty, look for my continued good news tomorrow.

One more thing, love you baby!

I’m in the office, in front of my computer, Bloomberg screens flashing red and thinking about risk management tenets as the market melts away.   It occurs to me that much of this applies to the race and life in general. 

“Cut your losses”

“Don’t try to turn a bad trade into an investment”

“No matter how much you know about a stock, it owes you nothing”

“Avoid incremental thinking – be decisive”

Etc, etc…