I finally made it back to the United States yesterday.  It was a 24 hour process and a very long day.  Let's start with Stage 6.... After completing the long 54 mile Stage 5, I had a day to rest at camp and then we got on buses early the following morning and arrived at Giza.  We ran our final 2 km victory lap past the Sphynx (surprisingly small) to a hill top behind the Pyramids where we crossed the finish line.  Our times didn't count, but this was where the celebration began.  We were greeted by red persian carpets, camels, and a local band.  We received our Medals as we crossed the finish line, took photos, received a sahara race patagonia shirt, and then feasted on pizza, beer, and soda. It was awesome.  The view overlooked the Pyramids with Cairo in the backdrop.  

After everyone had time to enjoy the sites, we loaded back up onto the buses and arrived back at the hotel where we made a mad dash for our room.  I showered 4 times to get all the sand and grime off... it felt fantastic!  Afterwards we all met up for one final time for the awards banquet.  It was suppose to be outside, but it ended up raining, so we moved into one of the hotel conference rooms.  We all ate and drank a ton.  Pablo and the other awards winners were very gracious and the video/photo highlights clip was fun to watch.  I left for the airport a few hours later at 1am and boarded my flight to Istanbul at 3am.  I had acouple hour lay-over in Turkey which ended up getting delayed until 4pm.  After a long 12 hour flight back to Chicago, I finally made it home at about 8pm Sunday.  

So... what are my last words?  I'd like to give a few tips to future competitors and some final thoughts...

1)  Pack light.  I can't emphasize this any more.  My pack was very light and it was one of the reasons why I was able to be as successful as I was.  My friend's packs were about 10 pounds heavier and trust me, you could tell.  Here are the best ways to pack light....  check calorie to weight ratio of food (expedition foods), consider the wieght of your snacks, buy light weight clothes, buy a light weight sleeping bag, but a light weight pack (REI Flash 30 is great), and finally... bring only what is on the mandatory equipment list unless aboslutely necessary (with a few exceptions below).

2)  Limit food.  Don't bring too much food.  Everyone ends up throwing a lot away.  Food is the heaviest part of your pack and will fill up 90% of it.  Bring the required 14,000 calories, but don't bring much more.  16,000 calories would be more than adequate for just about anyone and you would probably end up thowing some out.  I have a HUGE appetite and brought 17,500 calories.  Remember, I threw out 6 meals (total of about 3,000 calories) over the course of the week.  I'm glad I threw most of it out the first 2 days so I didn't lug them around unnecessarily.

3)  Buy gaiters.  They must be good.  I don't know about the Atacama or Gobi, but gaiters are an aboslute must in the Sahara.  I didn't meet anyone who was truly satisfied with their 4Deserts gaiters.  The silk parachute gaiters I bought were fantastic and almost everyone who had them loved them.  Not one grain of sand got it.  They are ultralight and durable.  You will need to get them glued on and then over-stitched as well for the best result.  A local cobbler should be able to do this, but you may have to look around b/c some will be hesitant to comply with such a strange request. But trust me, it is worth it!

4)  Injinji Socks.  These rock.  They are breathable, comfortable, light weight, and have toe sleeves so that each toe has it's own covering kind of like a glove for your foot.  One of the greatest advantages is that it reduces friction between toes which prevents blisters.  And once you get a blister on a toe, you can tape it, and the sock will also reduce friction from the taped toe on adjacent toes which would otherwise cause even more blisters.

5)  Music.  Absolutely necessary!  Hiking for 7-15 hours a day in the desert gets very boring.  Music will keep you alert, active, happy, and you will find yourself moving faster to the beat.  I bought a cheap $25 battery powered mp3 player (Coby) because I read about the disasters associated with solar panels to recharge iPods.  I am very thankful I went with an mp3 player instead of my iPod.  I held 300 songs and there were plenty of memory to spare (2 GB).  It was lighter weight than an iPod and only required 1 AAA battery to work.  I used 3 AAA batterys during the week and that was MUCH lighter than the cumbersome large solar panes other people brought which most of them never even worked.  Beware of solar panels, most are garbage!  

6)  Develop a strategy.  I busted out of the gates on stage 1 a burnt out before the last leg.  That was my biggest mistake.  If you get too tired early in the day, you will struggle later.  After talking to some of the more experienced guys in my tent, and watching other people pace themselves, I developed a new strategy the rest of the days which helped me cut off substantial time and improved my rank every day.  Some people run slowly all day long, some people run at the start and walk the rest, some walk fast the whole way, and some rotate between running and walking. So... what was my strategy???  I alternated between walking and a slow jog.  There are certain conditions that make running difficult in the desert and cause you to expend unnecessary and valuable energy (unless your in extremely good physical condition and plan on being a top 10 finisher I do not recommend running in these conditions) which include:  peak times of head noon-2pm, uphill, soft sand.  Ideal times to jog include flat surfaces, downhill terrain, hard packed sand/rocks, cool conditions (sun at your back, moderate breeze, morning before peak sunlight).  Take advantage of these conditions when you have time.  I also never stopped at any checkpoints.  I didn't even sit down.  The only thing I did was fill my water bottles and then kept walking.  If you stop for 5 minutes at each checkpoint to rest, you will lose about 2 hours of time throughout the race.  That's quite a bit, but in order to be able to trudge through, you have to pace yourself.  This will not work for everyone, but the key is to find out what works for you. 

7)  Drink lots of fluids.  Nuff said.

8)  Be mentally strong.  To win the race you have to be very physically fit, but not to complete it.  You just need to be smart, athletic, and in relatively good shape, and a strong mental drive.  Take it slow and keep to the plan.  You will finish. 

And finally... if you would like to contact me, you can find me on facebook or e-mail me at [email protected] and I am happy to answer any questions you may have.  If you are contemplating doing this race... just do it!  You will remember it for the rest of your life.  Take care!

The Race is finally over!  I can't tell you how happy I was to make it into camp last night.  I started stage 5 (54 miles) at 6am yesterday; although, the top 16 competitors started 3 hours later at 9am.  The sun was barely up, but the cooler temperature was a nice start.  Fortunately, it only made it up to 45 degrees Celsius yesterday.  The total stage included 8 checkpoints at 6 mile increments, whereas all the other days had only 3 checkpoints.
 
I started off stage 5 mentally pretending that I was only running a single marathon.  I completely emptied my pack of everything possible.  I ditched my remaining sunscreen and threw out my toothbrush/toothpaste, extra safety gear, etc. The only remaining gear before starting was my sleeping bag, a long-sleeve shirt, mandatory emergency gear, 3 meals, a small bag of crushed potato chips, 1 candy bar, 1 energy gel, my mp3 player, electrolyte solution, and water.  I ran pretty hard through the first 3 checkpoints to take advantage of the cooler temperature before the sun came up.  As I approached the 4th leg I could definitely feel the heat coming on and my legs fatiguing.  Fortunately, the end of the 4th leg brought us down a steep rocky dune into a small village.  I had my last candy bar as a snack just before entering the checkpoint.  A bunch of little kids were at the entrance and raced me in.  Some local people offered us tea, but I went straight through, eager to continue.  The 5th leg led us through the village and out into an area of soft sandy dunes making it impossible to run.  By this time it was a little after noon.  This was the second hardest leg of the day.  The top runner from the late start group (who ended up winning) passed me at the 5th checkpoint.  This was really the only time I really contemplated stopping for a break.  I sat down while I filled my water bottles and took some ibuprofen because my right hip started bothering me.  I initially intended to eat dinner at checkpoint 6, so I decided to push through.  I ate a vanilla energy gel instead which was pretty disgusting, but I desperately needed the calories after completing the first 30 miles.  I had to force it down.  Fortunately, the terrain got better.  The dunes flattened out and the ground was firm making it amicable to running again.  I still walked through the majority of that leg because of the pain and cramps in my legs.  Once I got to checkpoint 6, the sun was going down and it was starting to cool off again.  At this point, I figured I could just push through all the way to the end.  I broke out my bag of crushed potato chips and scarfed them down while I continue to walk on.  I began jogging again and was able to make up quite a bit of time during the next 5-10 miles.  Running across the plateau with the moon ahead and the sun setting was surreal.  As I arrived at checkpoint 7 the sun was finally over the horizon and I had to break out my headlamp.  I've never done any trail-running at night (or any trail-running at all for that matter), but I quickly realized how difficult it can be on uneven terrain with rocks everywhere.  I almost fell numerous times.  Fortunately, the path was relatively well lit with glow-sticks.  Arriving into the 8th (final) checkpoint, I was feeling pretty good and excited about only having 5 miles left.  I had taken another ibuprofen and a norco which definitely helped with the pain.  The last leg proved to be the hardest.  It was soft sand, lots of dunes, and 3 were so steep you had to virtually crawl on your hands and feet in the dark.  It seemed neverending.  I British guy (Robert), who I had walked with during quite a few segments, had caught back up to me with about 2 miles left and another person was right behind him.  I was determined not to let either one of them pass me, and began running like mad.  I thought the finish line would be over each ridge and it seemed to never get any closer, and I couldn't see it (most of the time you could spot it from about a mile away).  Finally we went over 2 dunes, down a winding path and around a corner where you could see the finish line about 100 yards ahead.  It was at the top of a huge steep dune... an appropriate finish to the 150 mile trek (54 miles that day).  I crossed the finish line at 9:16pm and was ranked 27th for the stage.
 
When I got back to camp, my legs were in excruciating pain.  It's amazing that while I was out there I didn't really appreciate how much pain I was in.  I guess it was the adrenaline over-riding the pain.  I could barely walk, and couldn't sleep either.  Drums were beating throughout the night as people trickled in.  My shoulders and thighs are both fully scabbed over from chafing.  Surprisingly, I don't have any new blisters.
 
I'm not sure how I ended up running the better part of 54 miles in one day.  Before this race, the longest I had ever run was 13 miles during the Jacksonville Half Marathon.  I few things definitely saved me.  Most notable were my light pack, gaiters, and MP3 player. If I didn't have music, I would have died of boredom way before dehydration.  I'm not sure if I'll do another one... right now, I'm going to let this one sink in.
 
Today we're hanging out in the tents as people have been finishing up stage 5 at all hours of the night and this morning too.  Damon pushed through and finished up around midnight, and Saurabh slept for a couple hours at checkpoint 6 before finishing up at around 7am this morning.  People ran all through the night.  The last competitor just crossed the finish line and it's about 1:30pm the next day.  People are shuffling around camp in pain from their cramps and blisters.  I think the head is more intense sitting around than it is jogging.  Fortunately, some local nomads keep coming up to our tents trying to sell us bread, cheese, and coke. We caved and bought some since most of us have almost completely run out of food.
 
Tomorrow is basically just a formality.  We are taking buses to outside Giza and then have a 1 mile run to the Pyramids where they will take our official finishing photos and present our medals.  It won't count for time, so most of us will probably just walk it.  It's more of a victory lap for those who finished it.  I can't wait to get back to Cairo and shower.
 
The final rankings are out and I finished 28th out of 128 competitors (4th American overall).  There were 31 competitors who withdrew.  My total time was 42hrs 35min 35sec to complete the entire 150 miles.

I slept well last night knowing that half the race was over....  I ditched all my extra socks and the shirt I had been wearing today (don't worry, I have another one).  My pack is down to virtually nothing.  I even squirted out excess purell, toothpaste, and sunscreen to make it as light as possible.  One thing I can't spare is toilet paper... I've got about 15 squares left.  Some of the the guys got time penalties for not carrying everything on the mandatory equipment list.  One guy even threw out his sleeping bag (the same thing has definitely crossed my mind more than once).
 
Otherwise, this morning was more of the same.  The first half of Stage 4 I ended up spliting between walking and jogging.  The second half was pretty brutal with soft sand and some areas of dunes after the last checkpoint which prevented me from jogging during that portion.  I was able to make up some time at the end when we hit more solid ground.  I finished 27th today.  I saw a couple guys struggling today who are normally way ahead of me.  We'll see if I can keep up a decent pace tomorrow.  It was only 26 miles today....  tomorrow is 54 miles.  We start at 6am and I anticipate it'll take me about 18 hours to complete it.  I hope to make it to camp by midnight.
 
I ate 2 dinners tonight and feel pretty good.  Much less muscle cramps today, but I noticed a couple more blisters.  My thighs are a little raw.  Fortunately, Damon's "Anti-chafe" seems to be helping a lot and it hasn't been too much of a problem. 
 
Time to crash....

Last night I noticed my first blisters... I popped them and taped them up this morning.  I also dropped some more food (2 more dinner packets), and a bottle of sunscreen to lighten the load.  I'm also probably going to toss out my 2 remaining pair of socks tonight as well.  My gaiters are amazing... I haven't gotten a single drop of sand in my shoes yet. 
 
Today was stage 3.  It was slightly shorter than yesterday at 27 miles.  Unlike yesterday, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  The sun beat down on us all day.  The temperature was 123 degrees Farenheit (about 49 degrees Celsius).  I went back and forth between walking and jogging during the first half while the ground was relatively firm and the sun was at my back.  The last half was pretty soft sand, so I ended up walking most of it, up to the final checkpoint which was at an oasis.  As usual, I didn't stop (despite the temptation to actually get my head wet and clean off for a second).  I've been motoring straight through all the checkpoints so that I don't cramp up, plus it saves a lot of time and I end up passing about 5 people each time who are resting.  I've got it down to a science and I don't even stop to piss.  I finished 31st today.  A few people came down with gastroenteritis the first couple days, so I decided I won't be using the designated latrines from here on out (I'm sure every one who's is reading this is really interested in my bowel habits!). I've got a few more blisters today, but otherwise doing pretty well despite smelling like my hockey equipment.
 
We started with 10 guys in our tent and now we're down to 6.  2 guys were no-shows.  1 guy in my tent had to be flown out to a hospital in London yesterday, and another guy in my tent dropped out today. 
 
We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Finished stage 2.  Last night I had very little appetite and had to force down one of my mountain house meals.  I ended up chucking 3 dinners and 1 breakfast to reduce the weight in my pack (don't worry, I packed 2 meals for breakfast and 2 meals for dinner each day, so there was plenty to spare).  I also had to chuck my deoderant b/c it melted during stage 1.  As I went to bed, it actually started to rain.  It only lasted about 5 minutes and was pretty light, but apparently it has never rained at one of these 4Deserts events before. 
 
This morning I felt pretty good.  I ended up eating 3 breakfasts b/c I got my appetite back.  Other competitors beware... I'm going to take 1 mean dump tonight!  Stage 2 was 28 miles.  My biggest problem at the start was chafing on my thighs.  I started off with a combination of jogging and walking for the first half and walked most of the second half.  There was a series of dune climbs at the end which was pretty brutal.  Fortunately for me, years of climbing the Sand Dunes in Northern Michigan prepared me well, and I was able to make up time.  I finished the day in 7 hours and 35 minutes (36th place).  A lot of people dropped out today... probably 10-15... mostly from the heat.  It hit 48 degrees Celsius today.  It could have been a lot worse.  We actually had quite a bit of cloud cover for a large portion of the morning.
 
Tomorrow will be similar to today.  27 miles total. 

Stage 1 is now complete...  I had a mini-garage sale at the last minute yesterday before the official check-in.  I ended up ditching my lip balm, baby powder, sandals, and long sleve T-shirt.  My official pack weight was 15 pounds.  The lightest pack was 13 pounds and the heaviest was 37 pounds.
 
Yesterday afternoon my bus broke down about 2 hours into the desert and we ended up stranded on the side of the road for a couple hours.  We finally got to camp at about and everyone pretty much crashed.
 
Stage 1 is the easiest day....  only 22 miles and the terrain was moderate.  I started off at an easy jog for the first 7 miles.  The next 5 miles I did part running, part walking.  After mile 12 I started to cramp up so I walked the rest of the way.  It was fine until the last 3 miles which were pretty painful, cramps were developing again, and the direction of the course changed so that we were running into the sun.  Overall we were pretty lucky.... the temperature only got to 43 degrees Celsius (two days ago it was 51 degrees Celsius!).  A couple people dropped out today, and I ended up finishing 43rd out of about 130 people.  That will definitely my best rank of the race since I don't plan on running again.... just too painful. 
 
Tomorrow we start stage 2 which is about 28 miles and the terrain is difficult instead of moderate.  Should be fun... maybe not...

10/23/09  10:20pm

Yesterday we spent the day at the pool and swimming in the Red Sea.  We went to Old Sharm  for dinner at Saf Safa which was some pretty awesome seafood.  The area is much more rustic and authentic than Sharm.  Although, with the authentic appeal comes the dirt, grime, and congestion as well. 

This morning we flew to Cairo and checked into our hotel.  We met up with Damon and then went straight downtown to the Egyptian Museum.  Tutenkhamen's tomb and the mummy room was definitely the highlight.  We at dinner at Falfela where I had a whole leg of lamb and rice (my last supper before the race).  Everything else for the next week will be freeze dried pre-made meals or beef jerky.  

I did make some final adjustments to my pack tonight.  I decided to add back the baby powder, and also threw in a pair of hotel sandals and wet-wipes.  My unofficial pack weight is 7.5 kg.  We leave tomorrow morning for our 7 hour bus ride out to the Sahara.

10/22/09 01:02pm

Saurabh and I got up at 6:30am on Tuesday and got an early start at Petra.  It was much more inspiring during the day compared to at night.  The entrance begins at the outskirts of a small village called Wadi Musa.  The hidden ancient city is only about 2 miles outside of town, but the road through the Siq (main passage) is pretty amazing.  The canyons wind in and out and you can still see remnants of the aqueduct water system carved into the canyon walls.  The Siq leads you directly to the Treasury (yep... that's the famous Indiana Jones building), which is your introduction to the hidden city that lies within.  It's the most detailed and well preserved building in Petra; although, it's not in the main city center.  

We continued down the narrow canyon path which eventually opened up into a valley.  More building facades litter the walls and then souvenier stalls start popping up left and right.  Everyone appears to be cashing in on the fame.  We decided to hike off the main strip and take the "High Pass" which leads to an area where they used to sacrifice animals to the Gods.  The views were good from above, and we got to pass by some remote tombs on the way.  A couple miles later, we rejoined the main path at the Ancient City Center.  There's a main cobblestone street which is flanked by an old Crusader fortress and an impressive Grand Temple still under excavation.  It had a huge entrance lined with pillars and a theater inside.  It is one of the only free-standing buildings and was one of the few buildings which actually appeared to have utility.  Most of the buildings were merely facades carved into the sides of the canyons with small openings used as tombs.  The Nabatean people who constructed the city mostly lived in tents and a few other free-standing buildings.  Finally, we hiked another mile up 800 steps to arrive at the Monastery.  It was similar to the Treasury, except not as well preserved.  The hike down was much easier than the hike up.  We finished the day around 2pm.  In total, we probably walked 10 miles. 

After taking a short nap, we got shawarmas and hummus for dinner, then Movenpick ice cream for dessert.  I've never heard of Movenpick before, but it's everywhere in the Middle East (Swiss hotel chain and ice cream maker).

Yesterday, we checked out of the Peace Way Hotel we were staying at, and made the 2 hour drive down to Aqaba.  We dropped off our rental car and caught the afternoon ferry across the Gulf of Aqaba to Nuweiba, Egypt.  It was suppose to take 1 hour, but took more like 4.  There were delays after delays, and everything was pretty sketchy.  They took our passports on the ship and when we arrived in Egypt, they shuffled us off into a chaotic port where we were loaded onto buses like cattle.  When we finally got to the front security gate, we walked straight through the customs check, exit doors, and a half block into the city before realizing that we completely forgot our passports and still hadn't obtained our visas.  Wow... so much for Egyptian security!  We had to re-enter the customs and immigration zone, and start all over again.  Fortunately, it was pretty easy.

The town of Nuweiba was eerie at best.  It looked like a ghost town.  There was litter everywhere and most of the buildings were deserted.  We found the bus station and booked a 3 hour ride to Sharm El Sheikh.  When I got on-board, the air vents were blowing hot air, the seat was broken, and there was snot and grease on my window.  I was so disgusted that I had to use Saurabh's water bottle to clean some of the grime away from the window (for those who know me, you know I don't get disgusted easily!).  Nevertheless, we made it to Sharm around 8pm and arrived at the Marriott.  It's a pretty impressive hotel with a gigantic set of pools.  Sharm is a mini Egyptian-style Vegas with lights, clubs, and sheesa lounges everywhere.  We hung out for a while, then called it quits after a long day of traveling.  Today we're going to spend the day swimming in the Red Sea and poolside relaxing.  Tomorrow we're off to Cairo.

10/19/09 11:48pm

Today was a very long day. After sorting out our rental car issues (Reliable Rental Car was out of cars... including the one I reserved 6 months in advance!), so we went with National Rental Car instead. They gave it to us with only fumes in the tank, but otherwise it's a decent compact Nissan Tira.

Leaving Amman, we hit the major biblical sites in . First, we stopped at Mt Nebo which is the site where Moses supposedly climbed to the top and overlooked his "promised land" otherwise known as Jerusalem and what is now the West Bank . Unfortunately, God wouldn't let him enter, so he died there at age 120. Today it's not much more than a barren inhospitable valley. Next, we drove down the steep mountain switchbacks to the Dead Sea and visited the banks of the where Jesus was baptized. The site is known at "Bethany Beyond the ". It's also completely infertile and the Jordan River is only about 5-10 meters wide. Apparently during Christ's time it spanned 150 meters across at some points and the region was filled with a multitude of animals and vegetation flourished. I don't think a mouse could live there now. The river separates from and is not exactly a friendly boarder. Jesus Christ's baptism site is widely recognized as legitimate and you can actually see the excavated pool that was used. Pope John Paul II visited the site in 2000 and gave a sermon acknowledging its authenticity. Of course, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to touch the same water Jesus once did, so I dipped my head in for an unofficial self-baptism. Finally, we drove down the Dead Sea Highway and stopped off at one of the public beach resorts for a swim. The Dead Sea is definitely unique. It's the lowest point on earth above water (408 meters below sea level) and the saltiest body of water on earth (9 times the salt concentration of the oceans). In fact, it's so buoyant that it's impossible to sink. Saurabh and I went for a swim and I could barely get my entire head underwater. Once I finally got my face wet, I wish I hadn't. The salt burned my eyes for about 5 minutes afterwards.... not something I recommend repeating.

 

 

 

10/19/09 07:30am

Yesterday was a long day of traveling.  I spent nearly 20 hours in transit going from Chicago to Amman, Jordan.  I left Chicago at 10:20pm on Turkish Airlines and endured a 11.5 hour flight to Istanbul.  The Istanbul airport was surprisingly clean and modern.  There were numerous wifi coffee shops, and laptop lounges.  It was not the third world hub I expected it to be.  After my 3 hour layover and another 2.5 hour flight to Amman, I arrived at my destination.  

From what I could tell last night, Jordan has a dry and relatively baron landscape.  My taxi dropped me off at the Amman Marriott where my buddy Saurabh (who is also doing the Sahara Race) was able to book us free rooms throughout our trip.  Hotel security was worse than the airport.  The entrance was guarded by an electronic gate, concrete barricades, and armed security.  Pulling up to the main lobby doors, I was greeted by an airport style x-ray machine and walked through the routine metal detector screening.  After all this, I was finally able to check-in.  The interior of the hotel is spotless.  There's a marble piano lounge, upscale shopping arcade, 2 pools, health club, and an executive business center where I just stuffed my face with breakfast.  We're having a little trouble confirming rental car reservation.  Ironically, the company is called "Reliable Rental Car".... I guess they're not so reliable after all.  

Once we get our wheels, we're off to Mt Nebo and the Dead Sea.  We plan to make it down to Petra tonight (ever seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?).... The final scene where Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, and their 2 friends ride on horseback out of the city within the canyon.... that's Petra...

10/17/09 02:50am

The freeze dried meals were actually pretty good.  I had Turkey Tetrazzini last night.  This morning I had Granola with blueberries with a Tofu eggs w/ vegetables.  I spent most of the day organizing and packing my 30L pack.  I made a few adjustments.... 

Added deodorant
Added 2 extra water bottles
Added 1 more pair of socks
Removed baby powder
Removed 2 packs of beef jerky
Removed 1 bag of crushed potato chips

Things are pretty tight.  My 30L pack is busting at the seams.  About 85% of everything in my pack is food.  In fact, I'm concerned I have too much, so I cut back from my original plan of 19,500 calories to 17,500 calories for the week (the minimum requirement is 14,000).  In order to save space, I also bought some front loading water bottles and lighter weight/more compact headlamps and pocket knife. 

I leave for Jordan in 20 hours.  Only one more shift in the ER stands between me and the Middle East.  I have a shift that starts in 4 hours....    

10/16/09  02:14am

I leave Chicago for the Middle East in less than 48 hours.....  

Time has really flown over the last year since I decided to sign up for 4Deserts.  It all started when my roommate, Phil, convinced me to buy a road bike in May of 2008.  Residency was winding down and I finally had more time on my hands.  I made a decision to finally take advantage of the fantastic summer weather in Chicago and get outside, get in shape, and get active again.  

I started off with biking in may.... running soon followed... and I ended up doing the Elvis 5k in early August.  A few weeks later, my sister came into town and we ran a 10k together.  One thing led to another, and in December, I flew down to Jacksonville Florida to do my first half marathon.  It wasn't too bad; although, at mile number 10 I started to appreciate how much harder a full marathon would be compared to a half marathon.  This spring I spent most of my time getting ready for the Chicago Triathlon.  My brother-in-law came into town and helped show me the ropes.  Amazingly, I performed the best on the swim, which I thought was going to be my worst event during training.  The bike portion proved to be the hardest part.  I'm pretty sure I saw a 300 pound lady riding a pink Huffy pass me at one point.... oh well.  

The last month has been pretty hectic for me.  I just moved into a new place in Chicago and I've been traveling quite a bit.  I was in NYC and Las Vegas this month and I've only been able to jog twice.  Most of my spare time in Chicago has been consumed with moving, buying furniture, and getting my 4Deserts equipment. 

I finally made it out to REI today and bought the last items on the required equipment list.  Originally, I planned to take a 10 pound bag of rice, but someone finally convinced me that it wasn't the brightest idea... That same person also convinced me that moving would be a lot easier with some extra boxes and a UHaul (instead of my original plan to move everything in my SUV without any boxes).  So, after conceding that freeze dried meals would be a better alternative, I ended up buying $200 worth of Mountain House packets, some potato chips, beef jerky, and a few energy bars.  I'm getting ready to give one of the freeze dried meals a test drive and see if all my gear will fit into my backpack....

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow....