Done…and it took 20 years of wildland firefighting experience to finish today. Stage 5 started promptly at 0800 and we were going to cover 53.6 miles, longer than anything we had already completed. This was going to be a test. And it was, 23 hours to complete the stage, my longest stop was at checkpoint 6, the overnight checkpoint to have dinner, and it took 20 minutes. This stage had it all, steep climbs out of canyons where the temps were scorching, smooth 2 track trails and rock scattered fields. I passed checkpoint 4 about 6 pm as the sun was setting and the city lights of Israel lit the skyline in the west. It was passed checkpoint 6 that I was on a ridge and the winds were howling and it turned cold. The hardest part were the last three checkpoints, because it meant there was 18 miles still to go. I made it into checkpoint 8, the last one at 0430 am watered up tried to get some calories and pressed on knowing I had 3 more hours to go to finish the last 6 miles. Into town the course went and soon a climb up to the entrance to Petra itself. This is where it almost came crashing down. I could see camp, 1000 feet down a steep hill ad 1.2 miles away, my knees cried a little. An hour later I was down the hill and rotting to the finish line. I had been awake for 26 hours and walk/trotting for 23 hours.

Besides finishing the race I have meet a lot of really nice people from all over the world, mad new friends, and discovered how hard I can push myself.

Today was the day I almost had to quit. Between my left ankle swollen to the size of a baseball and my left knee not wanting to bend al I thought I was finished at checkpoint 3. I had 6 miles to go to finish the day at camp 5, however I was down to 1 ½ miles hour…not the best speed. I made it in to checkpoint 3 at 5 hours and was able to rest, take some Tylenol and try to stretch out my ankle.  While I was doing this the cow passed me. The cow is the one to beat. After about 20 minutes resting I was getting nowhere fast, so with all that I could muster I laced up my shoe shouldered my pack and made it through the tunnel. The tunnel was labeled “Highway to Hell” which inspired mu to find some AC/DC on the ipod. This helped a lot to get me to the halfway point. I made it into camp after 8 hours day is done.

I want to say thanks to everyone who has been emailing and commenting on the blog, it means a lot to read those at night and makes me grin a bear it, to the bitter end. Tomorrow is the Long March, stage 5 and the longest one of the race, almost 50 miles. There is an overnight check point that I plan to stop and stay at, and finish on Friday. Once stage 5 is done the race is done, stage 6 is 3.4 miles, a fun run, and if I have to crawl across the line I will. Actually I can’t wait so I can watch the videos I have been shooting!

Day 3 done, and thank goodness. Today was better than yesterday but a much slower day. Time on my watch was 7 hours 3 minutes and 22.6 miles. The sun was out in full force today which means I have a great sunburn along with a swollen ankle. Today was great none the less. The stage started with a bottleneck scramble in a very narrow canyon, it took 10 minutes before I made it through the line. After that, sand and lots of sand, and more sand. The first two sections were rated as very difficult than difficult which they were but they weren’t. I made it through the first 2 checkpoints in about 4 hours. After exiting checkpoint 2 we left the Wadi Rum desert and entered another one which I have forgotten the name. the big change was the color of sand from a deep red to pale color and big open valleys. We crossed a dry salt flat, which is the perfect place for Andrew Emde to land our Cessna 175 and pick up my ass, and this is also where I was passed by a camel. Getting into check point 3 was tough and after that there was 6 + miles to go to camp 4. One thing that helped me get close to the end were the 4 Brazilians I tagged along with one of them is blind which inspired me to keep going. The final 2 miles I made in a full run and it felt good even though I had a swollen ankle and sore knees.

Tomorrow is stage 4 24.9 miles and should be relatively easy, my guess for time will be right around 8 hours, that’s the goal anyways. By the way I have been taking lots of photos and shooting short videos, so in a few weeks be looking for youtube clips of me deliriously talking and singing to myself as I film. Time for dinner and bed…at 4:20.

I was cold wet and tired and the race hadn’t started yet. On Saturday we had the in briefing and gear check. This went very quickly, and during the in briefing the weather forecast called for moderate rain on Sunday. Well it hit Saturday night. After a 2 hour bus ride out to Wadi Rum we were trucked out to camp 1 by 4X4 jeeps. There was collection of tents and sun slowly set. We ate, and quickly ran to our tent because of the rain. Well once in the tent it rained harder inside than outside. The Bedouin tent we were in didn’t hold out the rain all that well. Oh well we suffered through the night, I think I had 4 to t hours sleep.

Stage 1 took off like a shotgun blast 190 + people running out the gate. I felt good and had s nice pace for the first 10 miles, and that’s when I hit the walk wall. After the second check point at mile 12 there was a long climb up hill that went for 1 mile. this is where I knew that I would do a lot of walking on this race rather than run.

After 6 hours I finally saw the finish line and that’s when the rain started to fall heavy. As I crossed the line, our tent wasn’t set up yet. So I hsd to stand in the hot water tent for an hour, freezing waiting for the tent to be erected. So needless to say I didn’t get to stretch out and most of the night was trying to get warm and dry. I think this night I had about 5-6 hours of sleep.

Today was stage 2 and the sun was out and I felt good, for the first 8 miles, that’s when the blood blister really started to hurt. Luckily today was only 22.4 miles, and the sun was shining. About half way through stage 2 I hit another wall. I stopped momentarily to stretch and this helped, however I discovered  new goal rather than the ones I started with. My goals when I started was to complete each stage within a certain timeframe. I changed that, the goal now is to just finish the race, no matter the time.

Remember, send words of dis-encouragement and mocking.

Over the years I have heard many one liner motivational sayings, some work in some situations, some work in others. Here are some of the more memoriable: Best place to carry food and water is in your stomach, If you are not comfortable then you might as well be dead, Pain is weakness leaving the body, Sweat is fat crying, If you

Here is the list of music that I have basting into my ears while running. It is a mix of types of music...

Mr. Saxobeat (Extended Mix)                                                             Alexandra Stan         
Wild Out (feat. Waka Flocka Flame & Paige)                                        Borgore         
I Need Your Love (feat. Ellie Goulding)                                               Calvin Harris
Sweet Nothing (feat. Florence Welch                                                  CalvinHarris
Truly Madly Deeply (Frisco Remix)                                                     Cascada         
Want U Back                                                                                      Cher Lloyd    
Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing                                                                  Chris Isaak    
When Love Takes Over (feat. Kelly Rowland)                                     David Guetta    
Titanium (feat. Sia)                                                                            David Guetta   
Anything Could Happen                                                                    Ellie Goulding           
Lights (Bassnectar Remix)                                                                  Ellie Goulding
Burn                                                                                                   Ellie Goulding
My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark                                         Fall Out Boy  
Dog Days Are Over                                                              Florence +The Machine      
Remember the Name                                                                         Fort Minor     
Somebody That I Used to Know (Tiësto Remix)                                 Gotye
I Love It (feat. Charli XCX)                                                                 Icona Pop      
Just Like Honey                                                                  The Jesus and Mary Chain  
Brokenhearted                                                                                  Karmin          
Blah Blah Blah (feat. 3OH!3)                                                             Ke$ha
C'Mon                                                                                             Ke$ha            
Gold Trans Am                                                                                Ke$ha
Scheiße                                                                                           LadyGaGa     
Yoü and I                                                                                        LadyGaGa     
Blue Jeans                                                                                       LanaDel Rey
Summertime Sadness  [Cedric Gervais Remix]                             Lana Del Rey       
Zi Zi's Journey                                                                                Lindsey Stirling                    
Elements (Orchestral Version)                                                         Lindsey Stirling        
Tainted Love                                                                                 Marilyn Manson       
Blow Me (One Last Kiss)                                                                 P!nk   
Misery Business                                                                           Paramore      
We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris)                                                Rihanna         
Bom Bom (Wookie Remix)                                                            Sam and the Womp
Riverside                                                                                      Sidney Samson         
I Knew You Were Trouble                                                             Taylor Swift  
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together                                     Taylor Swift  
Scream & Shout (feat. Britney Spears)                                          will.i.am         
Clarity (feat. Foxes)                                                                     Zedd
Im Not Your Boyfriend Baby                                                        3OH!3
Starstrukk (feat. Katy Perry)                                                         3OH!3
Ultimate F*@k Song                                                                    Lords ofAcid
Rough Sex                                                                                Lords of Acid
I Sit on Acid                                                                              Lords of Acid
The Beautiful People                                                                Marilyn Manson       
S&M                                                                                           Rihanna         
Hold Me Up                                                                              Live                                        
Mr. Brightside                                                                          The Killers    
Midnight In Her Eyes                                                           The Black Keys         
Girl Is On My Mind                                                                The BlackKeys         
Hold Me In Your Arms                                                            The BlackKeys         
Kill Me                                                                                    The Pretty Reckless
Hit Me Like a Man                                                                 The Pretty Reckless  
Eat Sleep Rave Repeat                                                            Fat Boy Slim & Riva Starr
Earthquake                                                                           DJ Fresh & Diplo
Bittersweet Symphony (Remix)                                              Moby
Go                                                                                          Moby
Star Wars (Trance Remix)                                                      Moby
Bass!!                                                                                    Tiësto
Royal                                                                                       Lorde
Team                                                                                     Lorde
Everybody Talks                                                                      Neon Trees
Animal                                                                                   Neon Trees
Animals                                                                                   Martin Garrix

Almost a month to go and I have finally collected the last of all the gear that I will need for the race. What has surprised me the most is how much volume that food is taking up in my pack. I had everything packed and did the weigh in and came out right at 20 pounds dry, but had a hard time closing the pack and it bulged a lot. I have upgraded from 25L pack to a 32L pack and it has helped a lot. So with the gear collected and packed I jokingly say that I should start training for the race...ah who am I kidding I still have a week ten days tops before I should switch to light beer, stop eating pizza, cut back to half a pack of cigarettes a day, and go outside into the sun. In all reality I am looking forward to the race and meeting new people and getting to see another country in a very unique way. A friend asked me today why I wanted to do this, I replied "To see if I can do it." We'll see in 43 days.

This is my first blog ever and the first race of any kind I have ever run. The final selling point is that the race is self-supported. This is very appealing to me. I hope to document as much about my training and the race that I possibly can.