The country I most looked forward to visiting on this trip had to be Mongolia, and yes it was an absolutely amazing place, the landscape was breathtaking, the people were the friendliest we have encountered so far, but there was a price to pay, a stomach bug or food problem, I won't ever know, but what I do know was that it made the following 4 days the most miserable days of this trip.

It all began on team yellows day off, when the organizers thought that it would be nice for us to spend our rest day baking in the desert, in tents, with the only shade a cover over the meal table, not the easiest place to rest or sleep. So it was off to do our first run of the night shift with very little rest, but "you know it's not a holiday camp", and don't we know it. 7 mile into the run I went over on my ankle and therefore limped through the final 3 miles, hoping to run it off, so it would be fine for the following day. After the run we arrive at our hotel at around 5.30am to find that there is no water and no electricity, oh well not too bad, there was some good food. But there is building work outside our rooms, making it impossible for any more than about 2 hours sleep and the room feels like a sauna. Great!

So it is off to our next run, what turns out to be a 5 hour drive through the Gobi desert covering only 140km, that gives you some idea of the terrain, the final 2 hours were spent fighting off the feeling of nausea, only travel sickness I thought. It was decided I would run third so have a
little time to recover, but no, the feeling only got worse, to the extent that it was difficult to even stand. So off I went on my 10 mile run, slightly unwell, but managed 8km before first pit stop, and first load of pills. After handing over to Heiko and travelling to the next exchange point my stomach had decided it was time to relieve me of my contents, a good meal for a local animal, (why is there always carrots, even though you have not had any for days) What was most distressing was that I don't remember getting to my bed in the camp. During this time our 4th runner Heiko was being run over by the night pilot, only just managing to role out of the way
of the wheels of the vehicle, which would have definitely ended his time on this trip.

So after another couple of hours of sleep it was on to a bus to cross the border into China at 8.00am, this went smoothly if not a little uncomfortable for me still feeling sick. At this point it was becoming evident that things were not going well in team yellow, Rudy with his leg injury, Laurel with her leg injury, Heiko feeling the effects of the collision with the van and me still sick. So the organizers promised that we only had to cover 30 mile as the team before us had a spare runner and they would run 50 mile, great we thought. No not to be, a mistake in the day book meant that we had to do 40 miles, some how we managed to battle through as a team, and set off for our next hotel, a very nice hotel it was as well, but once again the building site out side was to stop any chance of a good sleep and music from near by rooms, and once again no water. Another morning of around 2 hours broken sleep before setting off at 12.30pm to our next run at 3.00pm. Two runs in less than 24 hours, just what we needed at this point.
So luckily a chance meeting in the hotel with the orange team resulted in them agreeing to cover our last 10 mile, this meant we could split the rest up. At this point Heiko began to show signs of sickness, but battled through, walking and running and Laurel gritting her teeth managed to finish her 10 mile. I would run the final 10 mile of our shift, only to notice that 3 days of no food and very little fluids had started to take effect, my urine resembled jelly, very painful to pass, but no option, I had to run, I hate to give in with any thing, and it was our final run before a rest day. I don't really remember much about the final 3 to 4 km, just that I had
really bad stomach cramps and my body was slowly giving up. The pictures taken by my team mates of me lying flat out on the road side are not a pretty sight, but I finished that was the main thing.

You would imagine that we now deserved a rest, but no, it is now a quick visit to see a doctor and off on a 300km drive to Beijing, to catch a flight to Japan. So at 2.30 am we arrive at a hotel next to the airport where we have enough time to repack our luggage and have a quick shower and off to check in at 5.00am. At this point the yellow team was under the impression that we would not run for 2 days, well we were wrong again, we would be running a night shift the following night, and before that at 2.00pm could we do some media work. The answer to this by the whole team simultaneously is not fit for print. So after 35-40 hours with out any sleep we all managed to get a full nights rest in Hiroshima.

Morale in the yellow team has reached rock bottom, through fatigue, lack of support and a crazy schedule. It is the first time I have told my wife that I'm giving up and coming home, as there is no way we can go on any longer like this. As I write this I have just been informed we will once again be doing a double shift in less than 24 hours, oh how nice, what a great way to
recover, but not to worry I'm now eating and drinking with out it coming straight back out, that's a bonus.
Remember not a holiday camp!!!!