We had a staggered start today for the long stage of 76km, so the faster guys started at 10:30am just as it was getting really hot. The wait to start took forever and I had a few butterflies in my stomach….every long stage does that to me as it can be really brutal if you are having a bad day.
We started on some more salt flats and I took a hard fall early on leaving me cursing myself not to be so clumsy. This was followed by a combination of more sand dunes, salty coral formations, rock, canyons and some extreme heat…. But I was having a good time passing the slower competitors…some company was good. At the half way point I got a stupid idea that sub 7 hours was doable…I think the previous record was about 8 hours something. So I put my ears down and went for it…there were times I really regretted my decision but another voice in my head said don’t be a wuss and just run.
After a bit of suffering I crossed the finish line in 6 hours 57min and I think I may be able to sneak under 24 hours for my total race time depending on how long tomorrow is…I heard it is 10kms.
But more importantly the pizza at the finish is going to be good. Freeze dried meals, smash, stock cubes, Perpetuem, gels, ProNutro, Recoverite have done the job this week but I need some real food now!!
Chat tomorrow
Ryan
