Only a few more days to go until we fly.....! The meeting point is a city called Bole, which is in the Northwest of China, on the border of Kazakhstan and Mongolia, in an area made famous by Genghis Khan.  The journey there promises to be almost as challenging as the race itself, with 3 plane changes in one day! We've been told the scenery will be amazing, so I'm very excited to be heading there.

There are 32 women and 120 men signed up for this event. We have just found out that we will be sharing a tent with 5 guys and 3 other women. The women are in a totally different league from us : one is a SuperTrailwalker who has placed in the top 5 in previous RTP events, the second one is an Ironwoman, and the third holds the world record for the Antartica 100k ultramarathon!  Alison and I are clearly the token mere mortals, which is slightly daunting…… 

Packing and kit preparation is now almost complete. A big thanks goes to all those past competitors who kindly gave us tons of useful advice and tips, particularly the amazing but modest Mark Cox who completed this race last year.  Despite our best efforts to keep the weight down, our packs will weigh around 10kgs and this for me will be the most challenging part of the event : lugging a bag on my back which is equivalent to 20% of my total body weight, across the desert for 40kms, and then getting up the next day with aching back and shoulders (not to mention blisters etc…!) and doing it again – then again- then again – then again twice in one day….. Errr… why am I doing this exactly …???

Well, one reason not to drop out is that we have just found out from The Mandalay Projects that, because of the generosity of our kind friends and supporters, we have raised sufficient funds for them to take on a new project in a remote part of Myanmar (Burma). The project involves building a safe house for a group of vulnerable children who are at a particularly high risk of being trafficked and exploited.  The children, aged between 3 and 16 years, live in extremely basic conditions. They sleep on a straw mat on the floor and live mainly off rice and vegetables.  Many of them are malnourished and show signs of skin disease.  The sanitation is poor, with holes in the ground for toilets and a basic water tank which serves as drinking and cleaning water. They are often flooded during the rainy season. The work of the Mandalay Projects will help give these children safer and healthier living conditions, improve their life opportunities and reduce their vulnerability to exploitation.

Your support for The Mandalay Projects to help them to achieve these goals is hugely appreciated and will make an enormous difference. Thank you!  If you would like to donate directly towards this new orphanage project, please click on this link https://www.ammado.com/community/137375

Supporting a cause like this puts many things into perspective. My mantra when I hit a low point (as I am sure to do from time to time) is going to be "Suck it up woman! It's not all about you...".

I will be taking part in the Gobi March 2013 with my friend and running buddy, Alison Cooke.
I am the one on the right (so obviously she is the one on the left!). We have been training
and preparing together – from running with dive weights in our backpacks to tasting freeze
dried foods together. A big thank you to my husband Matt and my lovely boys Josh and Sam for being so tolerant about me going off on my midlife adventure!

Alison and I have chosen two causes to support and we’d love it if you would make a donation to them, however small. We will no doubt go through some tough moments along the way and your support will be sure to motivate us to keep going!

The Mandalay Projects

The first cause is The Mandalay Projects, a small but tightly-managed charity focusing on
improving the living conditions and life opportunities of impoverished children who are at risk
of abuse. Their mission is to help prevent the trafficking of children into the worst forms of
child labour. They work on sustainable development projects to help reduce the vulnerability
of children to remove them from the supply chain which feeds the global child trafficking
market. As mothers of primary school children, this is a cause close to our hearts.

To sponsor us, please click on https://www.ammado.com/community/137375. You must click
on the Options button after you’ve clicked Donate, so you can leave a message with your name as the default setting is anonymous donor.

The Naylor Education Trust

For our running friends in Hong Kong who were also shocked and upset by the loss of
Andy Naylor whilst competing in the New York Ironman, you may wish instead to make a
donation to his widow Lynn and their 3 daughters. Alison and I both trained with Andy at the
running track in Sai Kung where he was an inspiration to many in the running community.
Donations can be made via Andy’s memorial page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
AndyNaylorMemorial?fref=ts. Please email us so we can track the donation for you.

Many thanks and please wish us luck!

Janine