Day 4

Day 4 course: 38K: 20K flat plains, 10K uphill plains, 8K up soft sand canyon and back down gorge into campsite.

Times: Owen - 3:54, Me - 4:10, Budjargal - 4:16

After a somewhat brutal but dull flat marathon stage yesterday, this stage began with 20K of the same. Spirits were fairly high in camp but a calm, cloudless morning implied a very hot day to come. I went off at a reasonable pace and found that it was enough to keep Owen in sight ahead of me and the others well behind me.

That first 20K was a steady accumulation of distance on a washboard track with a fairly strong headwind. Footing was a bit tricky and the wind was quite strength-sapping but as I passed Phil at checkpoint 2 the legs still felt reasonably good. The next 9 to 10K was a tough slog up the hill - never too steep to totally rule out running but relentless enough that my progress was a series of mental bargains: run a few minutes, walk a minute or two, repeat... By this point I'd lost sight of Owen ahead and everyone behind. It was a pretty lonely day.

At the 29K checkpoint the view was fantastic: back over the plains we'd just come from, the mountains flanking the plains and then the dunes up ahead in the distance. The terrain also suddenly became a lot more interesting for us runners. At first it was rocky and then turning up into the canyon it was a winding soft sand track that headed north before a sharp right turn into the gorge where camp awaited. The soft sand was a bit of a killer, especially after 3/4 of the day. I decided I couldn't run on that sand but equally I couldn't find a reliable hard-packed path so it was a combination of walking along with the odd jog on a side trail. As I finally got to the end of the softest sand I stopped for a quick shake out of the shoes and sauntered down to the finish. By this point my hips were really sore and I'd lost any rhythm from my running but I'd come in 2nd and just about moved into 2nd overall so I was happy with the day's work.

The camp is right in the gorge, surrounded by gorgeous high cliffs of craggy rocks with rays of sunshine peeking through in a constantly changing pattern. Not long after we'd got our breaths back and had some food, Mal arrived in camp at some considerable pace, concerned that Ryan had got lost just a few K back. Typically Ryan was finishing 5th with Mal in 6th or 7th but today we hadn't seen Ryan. We all piled into one of the Russian trucks and charged off to where Ryan had missed 3 orange flags at the turn and carried on north into the distance. With his silver sleeping pad billowing behind him like a superhero cape we were able to spot him about 3K up the wrong track, devoid of water. My guess is that we averted a real potential disaster there.

Physically I'm doing okay. No blisters still but sand dunes to come the next 2 days. My knees are a bit sore and so are my hips while I run but my biggest worry is just my energy levels. Every day has been harder than the last and today food was not very appealing. Having said that I've been running strong so fingers crossed. Owen has a really nasty blister on his foot. It looks very painful. I'm sure he'll still finish strong but that has to slow him down a bit. It has to hurt a lot. I think he could break the course record so hopefully it won't affect things too much.

Just one drop-out today - Mark the big Scot has had to stop with really bad blisters on both his feet. He's done 3 ultras this year and has taken it in good spirit. Everyone else actually looks okay right now. The slowest of the walkers, Robert, is taking nearly 12 hours to finish each stage but seems to be in good spirits. Then there's Piero on the bike. He's doing great, but I don't know how he'll tackle sand dunes with that.