Yesterday was gruelling..that

HOT,HOT,HOT..............

Wow what a difference a day makes, yesterday it was so cold my fingers felt like they were going to fall off. Competitors were being wrapped up at checkpoints suffering cold.......today they were enforcing the mandatory water allocation at checkpoints to avoid dehydration and heat.

The course was rated as easy today in our books. After a small climb and decent at the beginning it was a relatively flat course for about 35km....but this is The Gobi and nothing is that simple. This time the entire course was strewn with small pebbles and stones....it's like a tip truck has come along and dumped an entire load of gravel in your path and this is what you have to walk through for 7 hours. You look all the way to the horizon and it is nothing but flat and black stones, incredibly monotonous for hour after hour. The only respite are the checkpoints.

My feet have held up amazingly well, although today my big toenail is retaliating and threatening to leave me after kicking little rocks all day.

I love the flat and really worked hard to move up a few more places. At checkpoint 3, I was in 59 place and I had 11k to go, I wanted to slow down because it was so hot, but every time I looked over my shoulder I could see people not far behind.

I could see greenery in the distance, by now I was desperate to get off the plain, the radiant heat from the black stones was sucking all my energy. The green was a vineyard...in China ????.....you see something amazing every day. It was instantly cooler in the shade, alongside the vines was a small canal that they used for watering, I actually contemplated sitting down for a few minutes and putting my feet in. I just can't believe the extreme change in temperatures in one day.

It seems the last 2-3 km of each day are the hardest, you are tired and just want to get in. Every corner you turn or every rise you go over you look for the campsite. Several times I was sure I heard the drums, but it was something else.

With less than a km to go I heard footsteps behind me, it was the blind runner with his guide. This man from Brazil has run every day, being led by a piece of elastic in his hand attached to his guide. With nothing more than "left, right, down, up"he has been navigated across some incredibly difficult terrain even for a sighted competitor. If someone was going to pip me at the post it deserves to be them.....so it was 61 for me today.

Tomorrow there will be no blog. Tomorrow is the long stage 80km. My plan is to complete at least 60km by nightfall, leaving 20km in the dark. By that time I know I will slow down, so that could take another 4 hours. In the Sahara there were 850 competitors so there was a constant trail of headlamps to follow, there was always someone around. This time there is only 160 taking part, so I'm sure at some stage I'll be out there alone...just me and the glowsticks.

I'm feeling confidant, the body is still strong, everything hurts a little, but not in a bad way.

As long as everything doesn't go pearshaped I hope to be in somewhere before 2am......

The emails and comments left on the blogsite have been amazing, it's so good to get into camp, clean up and then come to the cyber tent. People I have never met, have left comments and friends who have done this before are feeling my pain...Thank You to you all.

I have worked hard to try and come in at a respectable ranking for a walker......today I walked for my younger sister. She is going through an incredibly difficult time at the moment.

Stay strong Di.

I love you.

Remember yesterday when they told us we had reached the highest point and we would now descend to the plains and the weather would get warmer...well...yeah, that didn't happen.

Today was rocks, boulders and rain. I have to look up the word desert in the Chinese dictionary because I think they have a different meaning than us.

All day was up hill and down, walking through dry river beds, just covered in boulders. You had to watch every step or you would lose your footing and your race would be over.

We eventually came out onto a road which gave your feet a rest, but it was only a teaser as the markers left the road soon after and wound their way up another hill strewn with nothing but...you guessed it...more rocks.

The rain started about 11.00am and continued solidly all day. By the time I got to checkpoint 3, I couldn't feel my fingers. I had to get the volunteer to help me cover my pack properly and help me on with more wet weather gear. I didn't eat all day as my fingers were so cold I couldn't open the zip in my front bag..it was just a case of one foot in front of the other till I could hear the drums beating, signifying another competitor had made it home.

The conditions are starting to take their toll with several people dropping out today.

The course is tough but manageable, it's the weather that is making things so hard.

On the brighter side, the legs are still good and the body is fine...its turning into

We woke up today to sunshine, great, I got dressed, had breakfast and went back to the yurt we were sleeping in to cram everything into my pack...then a cheer went up from outside, I looked out the door and saw the snow coming down again...It's snowin, it's snowin sideways.

Today I was more prepared, I dressed for a day in the snow, not a day in the desert.

The first 5km were brutal, we slowly wound our way up a forest track until we came to the base of a mountain, I looked at the trail of people making their way to the top in single file..500m straight up, covered in 6 inches of snow. I joined the congo line, several times I had to step aside and let people pass it was just so steep. The summit was going to be the highest part of the whole course, so I knew once it was done it would be down hill.

Unlike yesterday there was no wind, so even though it was snowing I was melting under my layers of clothing from the sheer exertion. One by one people passed me. It was like I was back climbing Kilimanjaro again with all the snow around, not racing in the Gobi Desert.

I looked around expecting to see the sweepers, there were still people behind struggling just as much as I was...but not many.

I finally got to the top and stopped to take in the view. This is the weirdest desert I've ever seen, below me was a mountain covered in snow, yet off in the distance you could see massive sand dunes.

The rest of the day was either flat or downhill...this is where I do my best work. I pulled off all the extra clothing I had on and spent the day mowing down the other racers. One by one I clawed my back up the ranking and came in at NO: 73, higher than yesterday.

The legs are feeling good. I came into the race with calf issues that I was silently concerned about, however all the snow has given them the equivalent of an ice bath and I'm feeling no pain.

After day two the feet are in great shape as well, no blisters at all. After day two in the Sahara I was already in the medic tent, ironically the one blister I do have is on the palm of my hand from leaning on my walking pole to stop me sliding down the mountain.

We have another 40 tomorrow. and 43 the day after. We are slowly desending so the weather will start to warm up soon

Have you heard the saying

I have just packed and re packed my rucksack for the one millionth time....try as I might I just cannot fit everything in....that puffy jacket I was so excited about, when I got it for 50% off...takes up way too much room, but a jacket is on the compulsory list and way too many geese are now bald for me to leave it behind.
To ditch or not to ditch is the question....do I really need two rolls of toilet paper, and let's face it, I'm not going to shower for 7 days, is a can of deodorant really going to make much difference. While I'm at it, there goes the extra pair of socks and clean nickers......
The entire conversation at dinner tonight was how many calories are you taking for each day, how many wet wipes do you have, you've never seen so many people overthink their daily bathroom habits. I think we just need to get on with it and put us out of our misery....C'mon Gobi!!

My Gobi adventure got off to a great start. my husband waved goodbye to me at the airport at a very chilly 6.00am

Ooh, I'm the first one here. The warning bells should have gone off then.....I'm never first for anything, except the buffet.

Seems the flight has been cancelled....Thanks Malaysian Airlines !...That's ok they say, there is another one tomorrow....but that means I miss my connecting flight to Beijing, which means I miss my connecting internal flight to Urumqui, which means I