It is done! The long day of 94.5k is over and I am still standing - but just very very barely. And what a day it has been: Eddie and I had set out with a decent pace at the start - little running as Eddies joints were aching when he was running at that time, but we were still doing good pace. That worked well until about checkpoint 4, or equivalently approximately 40k into the day. We had a great time till then and some amazing views. Around that time though my right calf started stinging like mad whenever I made a step and resting made it even worse... so I split up from Eddie who wanted to take a break at checkpoint 4, and headed off on my own - that leg from checkpoint 4 to 5 was excruciating: not only did my calf feel as if it wanted to explode but the whole thing happened during the hottest hours of the day. I was really glad when I caught up to Scott a really great guy sleeping in my tent. Both of us were quite down when I met him. We both felt physically very exhausted and there were still approximately 45k to go - so quite understandably both of us were feeling on an all time low. We crawled on till checkpoint 5 and since resting didn’t do any good we quickly moved off from there again to make our way slowly but steadily to checkpoint 6. At checkpoint 6 I decided to wait up for Eddie as I felt very drained and just couldn’t make myself to move on. Once Eddie arrived there we had dinner there and took a break of about an hour just resting. That helped a bit and we made it reasonably well through the dark from checkpoint 6 to 8 without stopping too much at checkpoint 7. At checkpoint 8 there were still 18k left though and both of us were in complete pain, we took a break there and set off at about 3k an hour just because there was no way of going any faster. Those last 18k were a nightmare - all the calf pain was back, I could feel that I had run myself several new blisters and that one blister under my right foot must be quite infected. On top of that there was the whole body pain and exhaustion of having gone for 80k already, which started to tear me up mentally - amplified by the fact that we were crawling through the dark for hours and hours. However even though we were in a state of pain and exhaustion worse than anything that I can remember we pushed on taking it step by step. After 20 hours and 59 minutes we finally reached the finish line - this was the longest day of  my life but I am proud of having pushed through and glad of coming out in one piece on the other side - even though my right calf seems to strongly disagree with that statement. Today is just a rest day, even though I have to say that I am not getting much rest here: I cant move since my whole body is in agony as soon as I move and just hanging out in the tent isnt very enjoyable either since it is an oven.  Anyways the one thing I am looking forward to right now is the finish line at the pyramids tomorrow - they say there will be pizza and beer! Looking forward to seeing you all back in civilization.

Made it home and today we really did well! Eddie had been struggling with the sun a lot yesterday especially towards the end - it was that bad that when he came into camp yesterday he had a bad sun stroke and highly doubted that he would be able to start today. Having recovered over night it was clear that he would not get through another day like that. Because of that we set out with a completely new tactic: instead of going a constant slow but steady pace as we were doing before, we went all out during the first 21k and basically ran all of that apart from the uphills and loose sand bits. From checkpoint 2 to 3 we then slowed down to a fast hike - actually because of Eddies long legs I found that moore tiring then the running before. The idea was to wait out the hottest part of the day at checkpoint 3 in the shade and then to set of from there when it had cooled down. However we reached checkpoint 3 rather early and after chilling out there for about half an hour we both felt really fit and decided to rather tackle the last leg then and there. The last part we took easy and went rather slow but given that it was during the hottest hours of the day it was a smart decision. All in all this was a great day since overall we did a great a pace which felt like a nice change. Also given that the course layout today was basically one long basin after another makes me be happy that we tackled today as fast as possible since hanging in those for hours in the midday sun is just no fun whatsoever. Another plus is that like this we are actually getting a few more hours of rest in, which is very welcome before the long day tomorrow. Concerning my physical situation I have to say that I am still holding up pretty well: the blisters are getting worse - every toe on my left foot is now properly blistered, the right foot is doing slightly better - and the joint pain in my left leg is getting worse, but given that only the long day is left I am more than happy with the state I am in - it it very unlikely that any of those issues will become a major problem tomorrow. Then again, you never know - so fingers crossed! As usual I hope you enjoy reading these few lines and am looking forward to seeing you all soon.

Stage 3 vs Alex: 1-1. I made it home safely but today's stage was a 5 legged killer... The third leg was the first big hurdle: Sand dunes as far as the eye could see - the problem with that was that we were basically going through a canyon in which there was just no movement of air whatsoever. That combined with the fact that we were going through there in the middle of the day let to the feeling of getting grilled alive. I wished the checkpoint was in sight during that part more than once. When we finally got to it we were at least pleasantly surprised to find that there was a cool spring right next to it - the first thing I did was jump in there which felt like heaven. Since my gators had already gotten completely shredded on day one I ended up with a lot of sand in my shoes after those sand dunes - the result: quite extensive blister fixing was neccessary at that checkpoint. Eddie didnt have any blister problems and so set off without me, since he was taking it slowly anyways. It was nice to get some good running in between checkpoint 3 and 4 while hunting Eddie. The landscape generally today was amazing - just what you imagine when you think of Sahara. At the last checkpoint Eddie wasnt doing so well so he again told me that he would hang out there a bit and take it very slowly till the camp - so I headed off on my own. The first half of that last leg went well I ran at a good pace and felt trahter good, but than I suddenly hit the wall with about 4k left till the camp - that last stretch turned out to be hell: all blisters were back and on top some ligaments in my left leg started to go crazy... I hiked on and was more than happy when the camp finally came in sight. Having soaked my feet in water and taken care of blisters I actually feel half way alright again but if tomorrow turns out to be equally demanding as today then I might get into real pain. I also wanted to excuse my bad and unimaginative use of language here: I usually have 10 minutes to write these blogs at the end of the day before they close down the cyber tent, that together with the fact that the sun has been pounding on my head for the whole day doesnt help to improve my English, so I try to keep things factual. All the long stories full of embelishments will have to wait for after this race.

Stage 2 down and still going! Today finally felt like running through the desert - massive sand dunes as far as one could see were interchanged with a landscape that reminded me of how running on the moon must feel like. To summarise the scenery was just great, but let's go back to the start: I basically had the worst start imaginable - just before the start was called out I realized that something in my backpack was massively leaking - my hydration bladder... there was just no time to do anything about it right there so instead I told  Eddie who wanted to tackle the day very slowly, that I would run ahead in order to try to fix the bladder at the first checkpoint. Those first 10k felt great - it wasnt too hot yet so I could run that stretch at a good pace. Unfortunately I had to find out at the checkpoint that there was nothing I could do about the leak in the bladder, but fortunately it is somewhere near the top of it so I got away with only filling it about half way without getting any leaking. Since there wasnt much I could do I just chilled out for about half an hour for Eddie to arrive. After that we set off together for the remainder of the day. We went rather slow since Eddie feared getting problems with his hips but like that we had all the time to enjoy the great scenery and had a good time during stage 2 and 3. Midway into stage 3 we came across Roland who was lying next to the track completely exhausted. He told us that he was gonna quit there, however Eddie convinced him to wait there for another half an hour or so and than give it another go - to cut things short he got up again and finished the day even though he was completely nautious and had some of the worst blisters i have seen in a long long while - big congratulations!  I myself split up from Eddie after checkpoint 3 since he wanted to take an extra break at the checkpoint and wanted to tackle the last strectch extra slow. Those last 6k were partially down big sand dunes which was great fun, than through a huge basin, where I could try out running in the midday sun - that was slightly painful, but endurable given that the end of the day was in sight. All in all it was a quite nice day - no problems with joints so far and only a few blisters. Fingers crossed that all stays well.

done! It was a long and hot day - 48 degrees when we came in. Luckily a slight breeze was blowing and easing things slightly. About the stage itself - almost the entire stage was along a lake which felt slightly wrong since we are supposed to be running in a desert. It was very tempting to just through off the backpack and jump into the water - especially in the midday heat and I slightly regret not having done that. Apart from that the stage went very smoothly though - the main reason for that is that Eddie and I slowed down our pace after the first checkpoint considerably since he started feeling his hips, because of that I never really got very tired today which is a nice change campared to Atacama. I feel like a got a slight heat stroke from all the sun though since I actually started freezing slightly during the last 7km. If any part of todays stage was especially hard then it was definitely that last stretch - the final campsite could be seen almost from the last checkpoint and initially it didnt look that far at all, however the further we went the further the campsite seemed to be, which was quite frustrating. All in all I am quite happy with the start of the race though: Even though I hoped to be moving faster than we did today both Eddie and me feel strong after the day and neither of us is having problems with blisters or joints so far. I hope you enjoy my updates - I will do my best to keep them coming. Going to have dinner now and then relax a bit in the tent or at the campfire - talk to you guys tomorrow!

5.30 in the morning of friday, october the first. i am sitting at the train station waiting for my journey to start. this is the first entry (of hopefully many) into this blog, with the intention of trying to share a bit of how the race is going with you guys. comparing my preparation for this race to my training done one and a half years ago for the atacama crossing, i couldnt help but notice that a dangerously high amount of time went into non-running training. strangely enough quite a lot was kickboxing - love you guys, but it doesnt exactly qualify as ultramarathon training. nonetheless during my last long training runs i was relatively happy with the level of my running fitness and the fact that my joints all seemed to be doing well - ironocally with the exception of my left achilles tendon, which has been bothering me slightly every now and then. apart from that though i feel ready for a week without luxuries in the desert and am looking forward to meeting up again with eddie and roland- even though i was informed by a reliable source that roland would bury my corpse behind the next sand dune in case this race turned out to be considerably harder than our last hike... good thing i didnt show him how my feet looked after the atacama run or i probably wouldnt be able to write to you guys right now. anyways i will try to keep you updated as often as possible although my experience is that the last thing i wanted to do after a day of running through the desert is to sit down in front of a computer - so the only things i promise are good intentions. talking about good intentions: please check out my website at just-giving if you havent done so already - the link is on facebook. the train is leaving soon so i have to stop here for now - thank you all for reading these posts and i am looking forward to seeing you all again soon

quick update - the day so far has been a costant change of ups and downs: it started by me noticing that i had left the spare camera battery at home, was followed by the fact thst my ipod seems to be slightly retarded since it seems to have synced music but for some reason not the audio books and reached the low point when i was told at the airport that my flight was overbooked... from there it picked up: i found a spare battery plus charger on the airport and my ticket got upgraded to business class - if i now manage to somehow find somebody with a laptop with internet and itunes on it than my day is made - fingers crossed...