Day 5

Yeah I am finally done!! With 5 missing toenails, aggravated groin and a stiched eye!

 

What another long and amazing day. There were some strict cutoffs today. I just had to keep that in mind. My plan was to start slowly and figure how I would feel and keep going. I have no idea where this location of the place is, but I am sure its close to a border given the number of Chinese border patrols. I made good progress through, didnt push myself because I have just recovered and didnt know when my body or mind would break down. The interesting stuff happened mostly after checkpoint 5. I stopped to make dinner, Ramen noodles with chicken. Gulped down two servings,  then put on my headlight and red tail flashlight, my music and started towards Checkpoint 7. The description and the information given in our race packet was it was a gradual descent on a river bed. Anyways, it was like that for maybe 40minutes, but after that I ran into gravel and thorny patches. All the while thinking that I was off track. The headlights are no good at giving you the bigger picture, just what occurs near your feet. Anyways, since we are supposed to carry flashing redlights on our back, I could see those in the distance, so headed towards it. Met up with this guy, made my introductions and decided to run together for a while. CP6 was well hidden, you couldnt see it till you approached it from quite close. Stocked up on water, and this guy whoI was tracking with, decided to hang around there for a hour or so, so I decided to head again on my own. An hour later, I was lost again. It didnt look the route to me. Decided to find a rock and look at the map. Well, near that rock, I see three sleeping bags (ha ha). Some guys who were lost decided to just go to sleep there and wait for daylight. I took out my bag and slept too and when we all got up -- it was hillarious to see the look on their faces (a fourth guy sleeping next to them!!) We packed up quickly, but my bloody foot wont fit into my shoe anymore. Also my water Managed to squeeze it but it was painful with the blisters. Kept a steady pace and made it back.

 

Some amazing moments in the race. Adventure racing is not about athleticms, its mostly about have a stubborn attitude :) Two very strong runners from my tent dropped out due to various issues. In the night, ran into this Japanese girl who was limping so badly and tears in her eyes and so determined to move forward. It was quite inspiring.

 

We are relaxing today. The race for all measure is done! Tomorrow is a ceremonial run ending at the Id Kah mosque in old Kashgar something which had been a tradition for Silk Road travellers and a place I had visited before the race.

I am feeling good. My eye is not hurting at all. The docs did a good job of patching the gash. My feet are relatively ok -- compared to what I was expecting. I was expecting my knee to cause problems from the fall but it has recovered quite well. Whats hurting is my groin. Days of desert, sand and sweat -- you can lick the salt from my body. When the salt and sand builds in parts of the body say the groin, it causes a fucking bloody mess. My shorts have embarassing bloody sticky stains.

I have taken lots and lots of photographs. Some amazing pictures of the location (and yes Ashok bactrian camels are everywhere) and people watching in amazement at a Western pastime. Will post photos as I get back. I looked forward to getting see all the emails from you folks at the end of the day. In three days, I will be back at work, its seems so surreal -- we are all now relaxing at the really beautiful camp, an oasis in the middle of the desert, so lovely and grassy and so different from the harsh environment a mile away from where I am sitting.

Miss you all.