obstacles are those frightful things that become visible when we take our eyes off our goals

It was my anchor on Stage 01.

Ask me then if I was enjoying myself and I would probably have slashed your throat with the blunt knife in my swiss card. It could well have been the toughest day of my life. Although I was feeling great to go by the 9am race start, I seriously doubted how I was to cover the longest distance of my life. You see, I have a weak mind. For someone who had never covered more than 34km or sustained more than 6hr of activity, completing 39km with a 10kg pack qualified as a daunting task.

Wondering in the vast, desolate and arid land, baked by the immense heat, the mind took a form of its own. It is perhaps time to withdraw. There is no way you could finish this distance in this temperature. Stop at the next checkpoint. Quit and you can still volunteer. I learnt quickly the need to evict these thoughts.

After what felt like a lifetime, I saw the bright red banner and a smiling E welcoming me.

Me 1: Evil Mind 0

At that very moment, I knew I could finish the race. Regardless of what my mind tells me, I am worthy and as long as I tried, I would get to the end.

They called Stage 02 the toughest day, with steep climbs and drops. After Stage 01, I have decided to take it as it comes. Toughness is relative. I would relish the ups and downs and swallow the hills as they present themselves. Tough for me were the flat village roads which so many enjoyed. The mental block in Stage 01 seemed to have resolved miraculously.

Then came the nausea. The final bits of Stage 02 rested in a windless narrow canyon. The winding foot wide trail left me all puke-y and uncomfortable. Dehydration was creeping onto me and I had to get it fixed. Upon reaching camp, I took as much water as my delicate stomach could hold.

The nausea came back at the conclusion of Stage 03, this time with a vengeance. Wanting to keep the food in, I lay down to squelch the rebellious tummy. Albeit without success, bouts of ominous sour quivering up the throat shot me to my feet and straight out to the back of the tent. Out came the 140g of teriyaki chicken together with the wasted effort carrying them the past 3 days. The chills followed and under the hot afternoon sun, I dove into my -9degC sleeping bag wondering if it was to be the end of my race. Sensing something amiss, someone called for medical help. 2hrs later, I was back on my feet, searching for food, a very good sign.

Stage 04 was long, unexpectedly longer. It was not amusing running out of water in the desert. The only consolation was the fact that I was topping my own longest mileage and time out day after day. I had to win the challenge I have with my mind. Not now, it is too late to give up now.

I had no idea how I was going to complete the 50mile on Stage 05 but I knew I was going to. I want to. I want it to be my biggest distance ever! Simon, Richard and I agreed to tackle the long day together, we wanted to reach camp by 1am.

Right from the start, it was evident that Richard was in pain and hence much slower. A decision was made at checkpoint 1 that Simon stayed with him while I forged ahead. Just before checkpoint 2, Simon had caught up with me, feeling guilty about leaving his buddy behind.

Somewhere between checkpoints 4 and 5, I went to hell and back. Seriously low on sugar, I felt light headed and couldn’t concentrate on my steps. Thank you, Simon, for believing in me. Then it was his turn between checkpoints 6 and 7. His suspected stress fracture was killing him and the pills have not kicked in. We are finishing this together Simon.

Then my sweetest moment of the whole race came in the last 3km. We ran our legs out and passed the Spanish team from our tent (to be fair, I think they were hurting). For the first time in 5 days, I was the first to choose a spot in the tent! SWWWEEEEEET! To top that, we had arrived just past 10pm, 3hrs ahead of schedule. Richard came in closer to 1am. Awesome!

The next day was spent welcoming the rest back. When Nicholas, Adeline and Weiyong came in just past 830am, everyone broke into tears. 24hrs of continuous walking had taken a toll on them both physically and mentally. These people are amazing!

Stage 06, 15km. I am going to run this even if it meant i would die from running. Run I did. The highlight was cheering the other finishers coming in and watching the 3 winners finish hand in hand.

What a beautiful end.