If I can use only one word to describe the Long March in Gobi is.. diabolic.

Stage 4 went relatively well today because it was pretty much all downhill. I could breathe much better and focus on the run. Although the course today was rated as easy, it really wasn

So stage 3 is now in the bag.. I could go into details of how beautiful it was and how horrifyingly hard this stage was, but by now, you would have guessed these races are not supposed to be easy. There were more climbs again, not as high but enough to stall me and made me feel queasy gain. I really hope it was altitude-related. Otherwise, I may have a bigger problem.

I didn

Gosh, I hope today was my worst day in this race.. Each race seems to have one day that beats the crap out of my spirit, and I really hope today was it.

I experienced somewhat of a fall from grace today. I was 2nd

Briefing and departing for camp: Everything flew by in a flurry. Yesterday flew by. By the time we finished dinner, it was already 9pm and it was still light out. The Sun rises at 5:30am and sets at 10pm here. Nic and I decided to test the drone for half an hour before it got locked into "No Fly Zone". In Beijing, we had the same issue and the drone could not take off. Hopefully, when we are out there in the desert, this would not be a problem. I passed out cold at around 10pm and when I opened my eyes, it was 8:59am. It was a good sleep, making up for the measles 3 hours I got the night before.

I thought.. traveling to Gobi should be the easiest journey as it is the closest in proximity to Vietnam but after three days on the road with very little sleep proved otherwise. A few delays caused my bags to go missing for a few hours and my friend/photographer's luggage arrived on another flight a day later. We had a small scare because the weather in Gobi is so extreme. It's not an easy place to deal with fully equipped let alone without anything. But luckily the luggage arrived in time before our early flight to Hami, Xinjian this morning.

We met Erik from Canada and Daniel from Mexico (who is also doing the Grand Spam this year) at the airport. Its always so nice to see familiar faces and talk to people who are also doing the race. It's like somehow we can all share the anxiety and anticipation. I'm not quite sure that I was happy to find out from Erik that in the past few days, the weather has ranged from 10 to 49 Celsius on the course in the past few days. Despite the fact that I live in a tropical country, 49 Celsius is b*tching! Now I'm thinking I shouldn't have left behind my Salomon waterproof jacket, which is a quarter of the weight of the North Face jacket that I brought. I hope I'm overthinking it..

Anyway, I'm feeling much better now that the race is starting soon. That always seems to happen. The nerves are unbearable two weeks leading to the race. I cried for five days straight last week.. Well, I was also grieving the death of a young pilot friend and the anxiety from the race amplified everything.. I'm excited to see friends again. Can't wait to give Jax, Mike and Mario big hugs!!

If you are reading this, wish me good weather ;p