Born to run - live to travel: January 2014

The Jordan race

The Countdown

February 14
Woke up at 5am by the soothing sound of the mosque next door which has been our daily alarm clock as well as a daily reminder in which interesting part of the world we are.

The majority of the people who live in this part of the desert seems to struggle to survive and the majority doesn't seem to understand why a group of hundreds of runners would run 160 mile across the desert with heavy backpacks and even pay for it ...

Yesterday we went to the lost city of Petra. An amazing experience when you look at these beautiful buildings, knowing that those were build over 2000 years ago. We would love to post some photos however the speed of the internet here is not good enough to post any pics. Will do this once we come back.

Jennifer is doing her mandatory training today.

February 12, 2014

We arrived in Jordan after a 500 hour flight or at least it felt like it. Then we had a 2 hour taxi ride to Petra. The weather was not what we'd hoped oddly cold and windy. The race starts 250 km-155 miles away, so hopefully will be warmer there. Everytime we go to the desert we bring the rain and depending on what website you check there is rain in the forecast this weekend. We met the race organizers and they are all really nice...off to the Ancient city of Petra tomorrow for some culture and relaxation.

The 4 Deserts Race Series is recognized as the world's leading endurance footrace series as named by TIME magazine in 2009 and 2010, and by others as the "Ultimate test of human endurance".
These weeklong stage runs take place in the world's most forbidding landscapes and harshest climates, and see competitors race across 250 km (155 miles) of desert.

Other than a tent and water, competitors must race completely self-supported, carrying all their food, supplies and equipment for the week. Each competitor must carry a selection of mandatory items at all times to help ensure their safety out on course.
Competitors must start each stage at the appointed time and on certain stages cut-off times are set which racers must meet in order to remain active in the event.
The results of the race are based on the cumulative time taken for the competitor to complete all the stages, and a competitor must successfully pass through every checkpoint in order to collect a finisher's medal.
I will be doing the Sahara Race, starting on February 16, 2014.
This race was supposed to be held in Egypt but was recently relocated to Jordan due to all the political unrest in Egypt.
This is the website from the organization - it contains a lot of information about the race, the route, the distance, supplies, rules and what not
http://www.4deserts.com/sahararace/

When you are on this site, you will see a link called Race Coverage which is where all the results are posted on a daily basis. Under Race Coverage you also see a title Breaking News.
Here you can sign up to receive news about the race once the race has started.

12 days to go - I finished getting all the stuff that is needed for the race. Did another 1/2 marathon today which felt great. I have been wearing a 20 LBS weight vest for the last couple of days in order to get used to the weight on my back. Let me tell you that it really feels.....HEAVY.

February 7

After days of packing, unpacking, re-packing, unpacking again and.....packing again, I believe I finally finished packing. Using a small scale, I literally have to weigh each and every item. From a sock to a roll of toilet paper, from a toothbrush to the sleeping back. Every ounce is important.

Here is a photo of the items I must bring. Each of those items are mandatory which means that you won't be allowed to start running if you miss any of those items.

The day before the race there is a mandatory check, done by the race directors. You have to unpack (damn...again unpacking) your pack and literally show them every item which they will mark off their list. The items that take most of the backpack and are the heaviest are the mandatory food items.

It is mandatory to bring a minimum of 14,000 calories of food. I got a little bit over 15,000 and that is half of the backpack. The weight of my backpack is now 11KG or 24LBS.

Tomorrow I'm taking everything out again to see what I can replace with lighter stuff, as I would like to stay within 10KG or 22LBS.

The final countdown has begun.....

In order for my body to get used to the weight of the backpack, I have been wearing a 20lbs weight vest for the last few weeks. Feel like part of a SWAT team :)

The course of the Sahara Race 2014 takes competitors across 250 kilometers (approximately 155 miles) of stunning desert terrain in the country of Jordan. Over seven days, competitors will cross four distinct deserts (Wadi Rum, Kharaza, Humaima and Wadi Araba) and finish in the ancient city of Petra. The terrain will vary between sand, sand dunes, dirt / rock track and grasses and navigate canyons, river beds, valleys and local villages in areas seeped in Jordanian culture and history.
The itinerary is as follows

Stage 1	40 kilometers / 25 miles
Stage 2	35 kilometers / 22 miles
Stage 3	35 kilometers / 22 miles
Stage 4	40 kilometers / 25 miles
Stage 5	90 kilometers / 56 miles
Stage 6	5 kilometers / 3.1 miles

The race was amazing. Although it was very cold, much colder than we expected, with even a lot of rain during the first two days, the first two stages were rather uncomfortable for most of us. Because the berber tents are far from waterproof, most of us got soaking wet during our 'sleep'. Starting the first stage, we all were wet, our backpacks were wet, we were cold and miserable. We started running at 8 am for our first marathon for the day and it took till 12 noon till the sun started to warm us up a bit.

The 2nd stage was a 22-miler and what an amazing course. Just like the other days, the course is stunning....if you like the desert of course and I do...

Stage 5 was the tough one...a total of 56 miles with a rather steep and long climb over the 'old Turkish road'. This part of the course leads over some cool mountain tops and as a matter of fact, one can see Syria.

This was a great stage, long, exhausting and most participants, or at least a large chunk, used the overnight camp halfway to rest for a few hours. I didn't, as I know once I lay down, I wouldn't feel like running another 30 miles. So I kept going and although I got really tired towards mile mark 40, with still 20 miles to go I was able to come in at 7th position after a brutal 56-mile run

Here are photos from all stages