Ok, all of you, each and every one of you are so freakin awesome and motivating!

I got in last night 12:30am. We started at 8. I don’t know what the hell happened on the first section but I went nuts going down the hill. It was totally technical and I was feeling really good. All the sudden I pass the women’s leader and get to Check point one. “What place am I in?” “15^th” “What the…..!!!! could you repeat that please??” “15^th”. Now I’m like OMG it’s on and I still feel good. Check point 2, 19^th place, lost 4 spots but still not bad. It was between 2 and 3 that my body said, “yeah, you had your fun, we’re gonna shut it down” awe damn. So the same pain in my leg I had in the Atacama started up, I took some Tylenol, slowed down and pressed on. Still had a pretty good day though. Even all of the 4 deserts club veterans said this was the most difficult long march they had ever done. Except for some very brief and sharp moments, the whole thing was uphill. This place is far from soft sand, try hard sharp rocks and scree. There was a seven mile switch back that was straight up, but the view at the top was no less than spectacular. It was so high we could see past the mountains and into Egypt. Just as I got around a corner, water running low, I see a 4deserts jeep. Assuming this is the check point, I quickly finished my water so I can get refilled. I had been trying to conserve it in hopes I would not run out. The Jeep turns out to be the photographer. Freaked me out a little bit and ended up being 2km away from the checkpoint. So it wasn’t so bad.

Luckily last night at the last check point, One of the  other competitors, Simon got there just after me and we decided to go the next 10.5 together. It was cold, late, dark, difficult to see the markers and we figure better to go together. I think we both moved faster because of it. Simon is a police officer in Hong Kong who has already done all the 4deserts and a few of the roving races. Going with someone else in those circumstances was definitely a positive.

It’s now 1:30pm and I believe there are still some competitors coming in. A couple of people had to drop out, but in all, the DNF percent is one of the lowest anyone has seen.

Tomorrow is the finish at the treasury in Petra 6km way. Here at camp the conversations mostly revolve or lead to talking about food. I’m really glad to have had the opportunity to do these races and I feel really blessed to have been supported by so many awesome people.

As for the race here in Jordan, I am so overwhelmingly happy to have done it and I would be totally ok with not doing it again-LOL!

So today was probably my best day so far. I came in 41^st in the field which was a little surprising. I got to check point 2 and checked the standings which I normally don’t do and holy cow 43. So
I was able to overtake 2 more people before the finish. Tomorrow is the long march, 86km I believe. The first check point is so remote that they could not get vehicles in and we are being told to prepare enough water to get to check point 2. Could be a rumour though, those tend to get around camp easily. Won’t know for certain until tomorrow morning course briefing.

Thanks for all the encouragement!

Kristen, you totally need to do one of these, you will be a serious contender for the women’s.

Geoff, totally surprised to get a comment from you. Really cool and I greatly appreciate you checking in.

FC Cali- Thanks for keeping up! I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to call colleagues

Lee, the thought of a cold beer right now sounds so freakin awesome I can almost taste it!

Hey Dad, I call it “Magic Man, now you see me, now you don’t”-----hahaha that’s from Talladega Nights, Cal Naughtin. For some reason I feel like I am getting stronger.
Hope I don’t eat my words tomorrow.

Sara, you’re awesome and I can’t wait to get home and see you.

If I’m not too messed up tomorrow night after the long march I’ll try to write more on the blog.

Thanks for all the comments! It was totally motivating today. I think I had a pretty good finish today. The terrain was more technical and I always do better in more technical terrain. Guess living in North Georgia trying to keep up with Dad when he throws the kayak over his shoulder and heads up a mountain to get around the damn actually paid off. Others seem to take serious caution. We had to scramble through some tough terrain and I hustled to get up in the pack because there was a bottle neck and I did not want to get stuck behind someone timid. Other than that the course was seriously sandy, but oddly I really enjoyed it much better than I thought I would. I need to give a shout out to Weanie as I employed a strategy she told me about long ago and has now began to spread throughout the camp, fill up a bottle with hot water and throw it in the sleeping bag, thanks Weanie!

Lot of camels today and I got to see a new born camel take its first steps. Really amazing. The guys in front of me saw it give birth. That was really incredible. We also passed a camel racing track where some of them were practicing, those things can really move fast.

Yes my love, I am not starving. It’s my third race and I think I finally figured out the eating thing. Actually today I made a slight change, instead of drinking my meal powder before the race, I drank it at check point 1. It made all the difference in the world in how I felt getting to check point 2 where I could eat a Cliff bar.

FC Cali- Dora and Maria, you guys rock! Thanks for the comments! I was thinking of putting an FC Cali team for next year if they’ll sponsor us-JK

Tanya, thanks for the comment. You guys are going to do awesome in Madagascar. I will certainly be the one drinking a beer and writing back on you and Lee’s blog. Lol!

Chris I could totally use some more laughs.

Sara, I love you so much, you are such a wonderful and beautiful person and I am so lucky you are mine!

Did Gaboo finally get in ok? Gaboo, thanks for coming and staying with Sara while I’m out here.

Kiss the youngins for me. I hope one day I can do one of these and be eating William’s and/or Isabella’s dust!

I love all of you and keep the comments coming! I’m heading off to eat another amazingly delicious freeze dried meal, lol!

I cannot wait to get home for some of Sara’s famous home made greek turkey burgers! Although I am not starving, I have been totally craving those like you can’t believe.

Thanks for all the support on the blog. I was soooo looking forward to it today. Yesterday was miserable.
the weather for the day was something like this: Cold and rain, dry and humid, get to check point, they tell you the rain has finished, leave the checkpoint and get caught in a rain storm with wind so strong the rain is blowing sides, repeat. Imagine that, supposed to be one of the hottest regions in the world and I am wet and freezing. Anyway, as Sara can attest, I can sleep through anything and that is such a gift here as Bedouin tents do not keep any rain out. Luckily, this morning we woke up to cold, really  cold, but clear skies. Everyone else had not slept well, but I was feeling pretty well. The rain was so bad there was no cyber tent and that’s why I could not update the blog.

I think out of all the deserts I’ve been to, this one is definitely the most beautiful.

Special hello to my wife Sara, I miss you so much!

Please kiss the kids for me.

Lee, at one point I could actually taste a really cold beer. Definitely having one after the race.

Made it to camp today after quite a long bus ride from Petra. I think we are near the seven pillars of wisdom named by T.E. Lawrence of Lawrence of Arabia. I had already mapped this out as I had suspected this would be the starting point as its 250km from the treasury at Petra.

My pack weight today was 8.75kgs and everything went smooth with the inspection. Seems to be more first timers here than the last 2 races so there are some interesting pack setups. All kinds of new ideas which after having done two of these I can say, “yeah, that aint gonna work like you think it is”. I was sitting at the fire just before writing this and heard someone say they were disappointed at how board they were going to be each day they reached camp. I ask her if she thought after running 40km she might not be too concerned with being entertained. I don’t think she liked my comment, but oh well, maybe I’ll be corrected.

Anyway I pressed the spot device although I’m not sure it’s posting to facebook, but some of you should get emails. There was a limited amount of people I could send it to.

Heading to the tent for some sleep.

Glad to receive the email from Alina today. Always puts me back on the webpage looking at the photos and thinking about how awesome its gonna be. Funny how pictures can make you forget being hungry, tired, sore, hot, dehydrated, uncomfortable, sleep deprived, in pain, and missing your family.

Checking flights! Anyone know if the hotel provides transport?