racingtheplanet Namibia
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Eating Like No Tomorrow (Final Namibia Blog)
27-May-2009 03:48:04 AM [(GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi]
OK so it does feel mildly excessive to be camped at a Private Game Reserve in Namibia, where huge meals are served three times a day, with a continual flow of snacks and drinks in between. But after a week of running across the desert down south and losing 6kg, its proving a great to quickly rebuild mass. I just need to leave tomorow and head back to Singapore soon, otherwise I could soon resemble one of the hippos rolling around in the lagoon outside. 

This is my final blog entry on the Namibia race which came to a close last Saturday. After last blogging at the completion of Day 6, a party atmosphere continued to envelope the camp with everyone dreaming of clean clothes and food in just 24 hours time. We all awoke early on the final morning and I was unable to stomach my final breakfast of protein powder and granola. Instead I managed to snack on a few jelly babies. 

Competitors went off in three final 'waves'. The 30 bottom competitors at 8am, the 32 top competitors at 10am and the rest in the middle. I was unfortunate to just scrape into the 10am bunch, meaning it was a long wait that morning. Sam Fanshawe relented and let the last 30 leave 15 minutes early at 9.45am. It was a fast 45 minutes from camp to the finish line, along a beach, over a rocky outcrop and then along a combination of dirt and bitumen roads. I barely felt my sore feet and blisters.  

Crossing the finish line I felt a familar way of accomplishment, just like finishing the other 4 Desert races. This Namibia race had been tough and at times I had doubted my ability to finish, so to stand on the finish line felt extra special. Most competitors from the early waves and the 10am wave had finished by the time I reached the line, so it was an electric atmosphere.  But the real test of endurance was soon to come with a long five hour bus ride to the awards ceremony at Fish River Canyon and an hour wait for a cold shower at the lodge. By 8pm that evening though I was tucking into a gigantic buffet meal and my body was getting the calorie injection it needed. 

The best thing about this Namibia race was being joined by plenty of mates, a number of which did their first RTP race. Despite the higher than normal drop out rate, all my friends finished. Congratulations to Oscar Fuchs, Rachel Farley, Elaine Cheung, Sam Kok Weng and Tom Haines for making it through their first race. Also to Gordon Shaw, Mark Mosimann, Jenna Eastlake and Andy Stratchan for finishing their second one. Veterans Kah Shin and Philipp Mosimann, chalked up their fifth. 

From here, I haven't hatched any plans for my next endeavour. As in the past, I don't tend to decide on the next challenge immediately. For anyone contemplating doing a race though, I certainly advocate putting your mind to accomplishing the goal. For me, signing up and completing Namibia, was all about regaining my fitness from several years ago. I wanted to proove to myself I could still 'rough it' and push my body. In a year where I've launched a business and worked harder than ever before, I needed the discipline of having a tangible event to motivate myself to keep fit. So now I'll attempt to 'hold' my fitness and keep up a few week day runs, and perhaps the long weekend run, until I decide what next. Lets see!


 
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Stage 5
22-May-2009 07:30:35 AM [(GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi]
We are now 10km from Ludertiz in a beautiful campsite beside the ocean. Today's 21km desert stage (shortened from the original 28km route after the hellish long day) is now behind us. Thankfully the dunes weren't as torturous as I feared - I covered the course in less than three hours. The course was a mixture of soft and hard sand over some really tall dunes. My blisters gave some pain, but the painkillers made that manageable!  Camp tonight is fully of relaxed people finishing off the last crumbs of foods in their packs and dreaming of 'real' food that will come tomorrow. Am hankerng for a shower and ready to incerate the contents of my race pack, but apart from that remain in good spirits. Tomorrow morning's 10km run into Luderitz has us leaving in three groups - 8am, 9am and 10am. I have just been told I am in the final group, so no burger for me until 11am. Writing those words just makes me even hungrier!
 
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Stage 4
21-May-2009 06:55:44 AM [(GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi]
I have survived to tell the story of the 100km run, but let me say it was one of the toughest days of my life and one that I would never repeat. RTP set out to challenge competitors  with an excrutiatingly difficult course. At 2am Wed morn, the camp was woken up. At 3am we were bussed out by 6 buses to travel 4 hours towards the coast, for the race start. After 20 mins of rushed preparations, the field headed off at 8.15am. The format for the day would be ten stages of approximate equal length and 9 nine checkpoints. The course start off immediately difficult, climbing up through a complex series of sand-dunes, with sharp climbs and downhill descents. By the time stage 1 was over I had needed to empty my shoes 3 times from the deep sand and could already feel blisters. Moving on to stage 2, I began to develop an unquenchable thirst. Little did I know that I was already dehydrated from not consuming enough fluid during the bus journey, as well as during stage 1. By stage 3, I was seriously dehydrated and thought this problem was unique to me, but in actual fact almost the entire field was also dehydrated in the 40C temperatures. It all meant chaos at Checkpoint 3 and upon reaching this checkpoint I (along with most of the field) had empty water bottles for up to an hour. For me this set off a vicious circle of being behind in my optimum fluid intake and it would take until Checkpoint 6 before I caught up my fluid intake (remembering that we are limited in these races to 1.5L of water per checkpoint). Throughout Stages 4 and 5, the course passed through stunning terrain and we all got the feeling of being deep in Namibia (with desolate plains and far off mountains). At Checkpoint 4 I pulled into the medical tent for 20 mins attention to my feet, to try to stop the worsening blisters being caused by sand flicking into my shoes (inadequate Raidlight gators - not recommended). I started to feel frustrated as physically I felt great, but the blisters were artificially slowing my progress. Darkness fell during Stage 6 around 6pm, by which time I was 10 hours into the run and had 60km on the clock. The course had now turned to soft sand, with regular dune crossings and mountain climbs and would remain this way until the conclusion.  I pulled into Checkpoint 6, at 60km, for 45 minutes to have my blisters treated again, but the damage seemed to be done and the doctor could offer no miracle cure to stop them worsening.Leaving Checkpoint 6 at around 7pm, I spent the next four hours on my own following a lonely sandy track as it wound through the mountains. It was at the 70km mark that I began to doubt my ability to finish due to the blisters. At 75km, with my progress slowing to 2km/h and now feeling a jolt of pain with every step, I decided to quit the race at Checkpoint 8. Well that was my plan, but Dr Emma (manning checkpoint 8) convinced me that she could fix my feet and would give me a strong painkiller to ease the pain. For 75 minutes, she worked on my feet, and by 12.15am I was motivated and ready to kick on (Emma I owe you for this one). As I was leaving, out of the darkness came Oscar into the checkpoint with a German competitor. Oscar, having the run of his life, blazed with determination like I have never seen before. I jumped on to the back of this duo and the three of us spent the next five hours covering the final cold and windy 20km to the finish, reaching the line at 5am, after 21 hours. IMy feet were killing, so I relied on Oscar to keep the pace moving, which he did brilliantly. At the time of writing (230pm Thurs) competitors continue to arrive. Everyone is seriously exhausted and in unanimous agreement that this stage was unbelievably difficult (perhaps too difficult for what should have been). In excess of 40 competitors withdrew from the race.Gordon Shaw and Andy Stratchan made it to camp at 6am. Rachel Farley was 8am - tired and exhausted. Rachel has done so well so far. Philipp and Mark Mosimann and Jenna Eastlake followed shortly after. Philipp experienced terrible blisters and Mark's were almost as bad. Philipp's determination to finish, despite his crippled feet, was inspirational. Elaine Cheung has just reached the finish line in the last five minutes and Kok Weng remains out on the field. Tomorrow's stage is 28km of sand dunes and most of the competitors remaining in the race are fearing for the health of their feet if this stage goes ahead, on the back of the 100km run. Haven't slept for 36 hours so going to have a snooze on a sand hill above the camp (NB writing this blog in very sleep deprived state so excuse errors). With everyone sporting war wounds, many are questioning why push our bodies to such limits. However, to dwell on that as a way to sum up the Namibia experience, would be forgetting the incredible comradry amongst competitors in this race, the mind blowing scenery and the smooth organisation so far by RTP.
 
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Stage 3
19-May-2009 07:58:52 AM [(GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi]
Phew Day 3 is ticked off now and I am happy to filing this at the respectable hour of 2pm in balmy sunshine. Our campsite today is in the middle of a dusty plain beside a mostly dry river except for a few stagnant pools. Today has been a terrific day and the "old Matt" has come back with a 14th placing. Really happy with this given the quality of the field. Something snapped into place today and despite waking up to a body that felt as stiff as an ironing board, my legs loosened up quick. It was a fast stage along dusty trails, interrupted with about 6km of those hellish broken rocks. I got into a rhythm quickly today and just kept it going. After feeling hungry on the run the last two days, today was the exact opposite and I ate little. At the time of writing a few mates are into camp. Kah Shin came in 22nd and Tom Haines around 45th. Oscar Fuchs continued his incredible climb up the leader board coming in 51th. Oscar keeps on improving.  Apart from a few small blisters, he is in good shape and sporting a continual big smile. The Mosimann Brothers (Philipp and Mark) and Gordon Shaw have just arrived into camp in the mid 50's. Rachel Farley was reported to be having a good day on the field and should be in soon. I scored two new blisters today, but otherwise my feet didn't deteriorate any more. My equipment and food seem to be spot on, and I am not experiencing any problems there. My back is starting to adapt to the hard rocks that seem to find their way under the floor of the tent. I am not regretting leaving behind the sleeping pad (yet) in my quest for weight reduction. Tomorrow is an absolute killer and we're all trying not to deal with reality at the moment. We need to rise at 3am for preparations for the murderous 100km stage 4, which could take up to 4 days. I'll be loading extra calories tonight and tomorrow morning (although that said its difficult to 'find' extra calories at the moment, as I didn't bring them!). Thanks to everyone sending us messages. We are getting them in all and its fabulous to have so much support - means alot. Time to pop a few blisters and plaster up the feet in preparation for tomorrow.
 
Comments (18)
Stage 2
18-May-2009 07:37:23 AM [(GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi]
Day 2 is over. Its 7pm, been dark for over an hour and the campsite is littered with tired bodies. Despite the assurance from course organisers that today would be an easy one, most competitors found it tough. The morning started out cold with a strong wind blowing, so we were all glad to get underway. Thankfully despite a cobra being spotted in the campsite last night, it did not make an appearance in our tent (nor did any scorpions). The first 10km stage was fast and I ran at full speed all the way, feeling good although for some reason my pack felt heavier. The second 12km stage I felt the first signs of fatigue from yesterday's stage kicking in and proceeded to fast walk from the 18km mark. Soon after it turned very rocky and pretty much the whole field was reduced to walking all the way to the 36km point at which point the course flattened out. Stage 3 was tough with uneven rocks and 6km of soft sand, including a long sandy hill. It was during this stage that I had to deal with some mental demons "why I am I back doing another desert?". Entering Stage 4, with 6km, my mojo came back, my determination and motivation returned, and it was a fast run back to the finish, in 31st position. As usual the course organisers threw in a torturous rocky hill for us to scramble over 2km from home. I felt constantly hungry today on the run and ripped open my post-race rations with gusto upon reaching camp. My feet did not fare too well today and I'm sporting blisters on 3 toes and 2 other parts of my feet. The rest of my friends are all doing great. Kah Shin came in around 45th. Philipp and Mark Mosimann came in equal 51st. Tom Haines was soon after. Oscar Fuchs got much stronger today and came in smiling in 71st position. Oscar's performance so far is incredible for his first run. Jenna Eastlake and Rachel Farley were also home soon after with a position in the 90's - Rachel is feeling strong and positive in her first run. Sam Kok Weng and Elaine Cheung were home before dark. Elaine's sister, Michelle, remains on the course. As we all head to sleep tonight, we're blocking out the thought of our third marathon in a row tomorrow, and not thinking about whether more of those horrible jagged rocks will appear.
 
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MATT CHAPMAN

HOMETOWN:
Singapore (originally from Australia)
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Headhunter
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