Well, the 100km 'Long Day' is over. It's hard to understand this Stage 5 without first knowing a little bit about the end of Stage 4. About an hour after I finished word quickly spread that one of the runners had been found out on the course, not moving. News so far is that he is in a coma in a Chinese hospital. The rest of that day seemed to get more serious as it was uncovered that five others were trapped in the canyon as well without water. It took a monumental effort to bring them all in unscathed, albeit dehydrated and a bit delirious. We figured that would be the hardest stage we would face. Yeah right.
The 100km stage started at 8am sharp and sent 160 of us down into the canyon and back and forth across the river at the bottom. Wet feet for the next 98km was not going to be fun. I stayed with the normal pack of Bendt Tritscher, Phillipe Pech, Taavi Sumberg, Brian Lang, and Jimmi Olsen. We moved through the tall bamboo, across the rivers, and over rocks and cliffs together like a pack of hunting dogs. It was awesome fun, and when we lost track of the course markers, expletives in six different languages could be heard. Gradually as the track emerged into a string of villages, the pack thinned out and we all seemed to be isolated by several miles. By the time I hit the 30km (18mile) mark I was pretty much alone, but running strong and in front of several guys in the 14th spot.
From 30km to 50km the course took us through the Turpan Basin and the town of Turpan. Turpan has the distinction of being farther away from a main body of water than any other place on earth. It was dry, hot, and every imaginable shade of brown. There is nothing in Turpan except for dirt. You can stop by the dirt café for a dirt sandwich and wash it down with a glass of dirt. Daily chores undoubtedly revolve around shoveling and moving said dirt. Regardless, I started to feel worse for wear in between this stretch in all of its uninspiring glory.
By 65km I was in trouble. Even though I was through 55km in 7.5 hours, my day would turn upside down only 10km later. I vomited so much at Checkpoint 6 that they put me on an IV drip. After that hour gone, I took off for the 76km mark where I knew that there would be hot water and the chance to eat something and recover. That 11km took me 3.5 hours. Delirious myself and battling dry heaving bouts I wobbled down a road in the middle of nowhere. The next thing I knew I had found myself in a farm land and found my way to a field of melons and a vineyard. I gorged myself on the fresh melons and grapes but immediately vomited them back up. From there I found the irrigation canal leading to the farm and deposited myself in it. It was coolllldddd but felt great. I gulped as much of the cold water as I could but still I was sick and disoriented.
I managed my way to camp 7 but was held there for hours until I could urinate. It took another IV and several bottles of water before I was finally 'released' but I was off again by 6am. I joined up with Canadian born BCG Consultant, Ryan, who was convulsing when he came into camp 7. He too was fine by 6am so we were in it to finish together. The last 23km was uneventful except for the last 6km of massive sand dunes. We didn't get to the dunes section until 10:30am and by then it was 53 degrees Celsius/124 degrees Fahrenheit. A nice hurdle to have to cross to get to camp.
It is SCORCHING hot here in camp. It's unbearable out in the sun but even worse in the tents. There's nowhere to hide but everyone is in good spirits cheering on the runners who cross the line, especially as a sizeable amount have dropped out of the event at this point. Competitors have been really tested over the last 27 hours. Phillipe Pech came across a competitor from Hong Kong who was literally crawling on his hands and knees in circles in the dunes. When Phillipe sat him down and started to give him water, the runner just pointed at his shoes and said "I have very pretty feet." Meanwhile, Samantha Gash and Lisa Tamati spent the stage alternating sobbing and crying. Brian Lang was lost in the desert for at least a few hours, and others spent the stage hallucinating, crying, and vomiting. The 100km stage is always epic.
I lost a TON of spaces in the race after this stage but it has been a great race and a lot of fun. We have one more stage tomorrow to get us to the medal--22km of sand dunes!
I hope everyone is doing great at home and good running!
RP
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