Gobi Challenge Day 1

Course for Day 1: 28K total - 10K steady uphill through valley, 10K steady downhill through gorge, 8K up and down along dirt road.

Times: Owen: 2:27, Budjargal 2:46, Me: 2:51.

Waking up at 6am, feeling refreshed from a surprisingly good night's sleep in my ridiculously expensive new sleeping bag and on my now 2/3 length ridgerest mat, I was keen to get started. The previous day was a good chance to get settled in at camp and go through all the kit, but frankly it was a long buildup and everyone was ready to go. I made a few tricky decisions on kit: no mess tin - evn though it was the mug that had been up Mount McKinley recently; a spare T-shirt did make the cut - knowing I'd have hours to kill each day after the run; a front back (Owen managed to get rid of his but I needed the space) and finally a good amount of time spent taking all the food out of the bulky vacuum packs and into ziplocks. Every gram helps.

As the day began we assembled on the line, all fully kitted up with the exception of the 3 Mongolian runners who were doing the race "supported", meaning all their kit was in the van and they just carried water. Steve and Ali (Owen's parents) were up at checkpoint 1 waiting for us with water. Owen, Budjargal and myself went off at the same pace and quickly moved away from the rest of the pack. At around 5k the pace seemed too much for me and I dropped away from them. At that stage I couldn't see anyone in front or behind, something I'd experience quite a bit more. Everyone was feeling the thin air of the 6000ft+ altitude and also the steady uphill. I managed to run all bar the steepest uphill part and felt good going into the first checkpoint.

After a quick water and salt tab stop I charged on into te gorge - a beautiful 10K down through a narrow rocky pass with a stream running along te whole winding route. Most of us got wet feet, myself included. By the 20K checkpoint I was ready for a quick stop and a chat with Dave, the race organiser. Moving out of the gorge I climbed up onto a plain and then faced a continuous 8K of rolling, stregnth-sapping hills. Those last few K were a lot tougher than they looked. The similar terrain and constant up and downhill made it difficult to get any rhythm or perspective. I did manage to run down to the finish at a decent pace to see a very fresh looking Owen and a just-finished Budjargal. After about 1/2 hour Ian came into camp next and from then on it was a steady stream of the runners, the run-walkers and then eventually the walkers.

Physically I felt good. No major aches and pains over and above a long training run. Pretty happy to finish as quickly as I did.