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EVENT NAME LOCATION DATE Gobi March China 1 Jun 2014 RacingThePlanet: Madagascar Madagascar 31 Aug 2014 Atacama Crossing Chile 5 Oct 2014 The Last Desert Antarctica 1 Nov 2014 Sahara Race Jordan 8 Mar 2015 Gobi March China 31 May 2015 Atacama Crossing Chile 4 Oct 2015
RacingThePlanet: Madagascar 2014 Blogs
29ish miles in 8:30. Rumour has it we were about 60th place (hmmm…not the goal, too close to the front but ok). -start of day was along the beach and then over volcanic rock, slip there and that’s the ball game. -we left the beach very sick of sand. -things opened up and we (today was an amazing group day with Steve, two south Africans we have a brewing bromance with, and a very nice woman named kara who is a beast on the course) decided to start a steady clip of 2 mins on and 3 mins off, we were way off time but walking was only option early. -running and walking became the steady hum of the day. -and we cruised, cruised, and cruised. -1.5 litters of electrolytes, 18 ozs of perpetuium, and a salt pill every hour, per pit stop. Super hot day but it worked. Peed twice on course, apparently a big deal. -rice paddies, river crossings, villages, smiling little ones (again), sand but not as bad as yesterday, wet feet not so fun, hot spots turning into blisters (not complaining, seen way worse), lower back feels like it may have cracked from pack, quick tape job from med tent, pack higher on shoulders (god bless crossfit and the less bit of upper body strengthen), shoulders go, tape there, find the right placement for pack, keep cruising. -we keep to the rep scheme (2 by 3)…and we remember to look up, and we take some pics. -arrive not having bottomed out -arrive feeling very cautiously hopeful about the stages to come.
Thorn: this back thing, feet, having a long day like this before the long day.
Rose: the blessing of being here, awesome five person team, Steve and the military precision of our race plan.
Final thought: race has not even started yet (stage five is the whole deal, next two days are just prep for that). I am healthy. I am happy. All is good here. It seems the blog comments are on a day lag (I read tonight what people responded from my blog before the race began. Regardless, please keep them coming- very heartening to read. My love to everyone oh so far away.
Mike Lewhouse
Posted: 03-Sep-2014 02:19:24 AM
Matt - great work dude. The blog posts give me such happiness. Not because you are finally embracing the blog as a legit medium and tool (had to get a dig in :) but because your words are bringing me there with you. We are reading your posts aloud every day. There is a time and a place for everything and you and Madagascar and this race have met each other right now. And it's happening. I'm happy for you. As painful as it is, it strangely sounds like fun. Keep running. Keep writing. We love you. Good luck!
Joe Lewis
Posted: 02-Sep-2014 11:08:33 PM
"If running is not to be simply the repetition of the normal, if it is not simply narcissistic and self-indulgent, it must work patiently, yes, and madly, yes, towards the obliteration of the incessant vision of the progressive and heroic self that plagues our lives. It is only in such obliteration that experience shows itself: in those moments when the world shifts and whirls and our own selves become not heroic but absolutely alien, trotting aimlessly down the empty pavement. Or when the effort is impossible and yet still gives despite our intents to stop, there at the maximum horrifying intensity. Only there is the experience: there alone is the possibility of renewal. Everything else is tired and brutal mimicry." Jeffery S Edmonds http://www.logicoflongdistance.com/2010/01/experience-and-running.html
Leah Fineberg
Posted: 02-Sep-2014 10:53:49 PM
I'm following your blog and am absolutely amazed and enthralled. Don and I are thinking of you.
damien passalacqua
Posted: 02-Sep-2014 06:44:19 PM
sounds awesome, keep it up.
Austin Cohen
Posted: 02-Sep-2014 04:33:34 PM
Keep it up bro!! We are reading your blog everyday and rooting you on. We are all saying "I wish we could fly there real quick and adjust him at the end of each day". You're a machine and keep fighting. I remember at a marathon I was at seeing a sign that said "Pain is temporary but pride lasts forever".
S Pesco
Posted: 02-Sep-2014 04:25:29 PM
Amazing, awesome, and what resolve-- how many miles of experiences you have had already! I wish I could offer better words of advice or help for the challenges ahead, but perhaps this will help it helps me---when the breakdown of miles gets too much just think I can go another 500 feet, another 250, it adds up and repeat this Williams Carols Williams, it helps I have no idea why--maybe the sound of the consonants in my head is calming: This is just to say I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold
Malin Lager
Posted: 02-Sep-2014 03:22:43 PM
Peed twice - that's impressive for you! Glad you and Steve found a good crew to run with. Keep cruising!
joseph lewis
Posted: 02-Sep-2014 03:10:19 PM
Killing it. Love the honesty. I feel it. Im there with you in your words. Remember as bad as the heat and sand get it could be worse. It could be sugarloaf pass at 3am after hopes pass twice and 85 miles in 20 hours. We are with you now. Warrior poets. Focus on your breath. Sing camp songs. Have fun. You\'re gonna make it and if you don\'t...well worse things havehappened. Regardless we love you and are proud of you.
Natalie Schneider
Posted: 02-Sep-2014 02:33:39 PM
Way to go! You guys are doing amazing! We are so very proud of you! Stay safe and healthy!
Natalie Schneider
Posted: 02-Sep-2014 02:33:34 PM
Way to go! You guys are doing amazing! We are so very proud of you! Stay safe and healthy!
MATT LEWIS
RacingThePlanet: Madagascar 2014 competitor
Bio
Academia by way of nonprofit work by way of selling scripts and books in the entertainment industry.
Hometown
Santa Fe, NM
Profession
Obscure humanities PhD candidate
Why are you competing?
reminder that joy and fun are not always the same
thing. The former often requires everything you
have - pain, sweat, training, effort upon effort -
while the latter a tv-couch-evening-after-work.
Both have there place and time. Good to know
difference.
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