From the Gobi Desert, Southern Province, Mongolia.

It was surreal, a "twilight zone" of sorts. I thought I was on hallucinogens as I ran the sunset leg today through the sands and gravel of the Gobi Desert. There was no sense of time or distance. The roads across the Gobi are wherever the vehicles have travelled, and every which way, although there is a mapped roadway that purports to follow the railroad tracks and a line of utility poles to the south. I ran the roadways as little as possible. They were sandy and washboard, a recipe for plantar fascitis. Running the desert floor was much more stable and fun as I scooted between the small lowlying desert bushes and weeds. This part of the Gobi has many faces. Some is gravelly sand, some pulverized rock, most barren but surprisingly quite green here and there at this time of year, and some just plain moonscape. While most of it is flat, there are rolls and hills, with a flat horizon as far as the eyes can see. At night it was indescribable.

As the sun set, one of our technician guys was with me on a bike as I struck out across the desert floor on the straightest line possible with the railroad at my left, heading south. Mike stayed behind and followed me. After sitting all day in the bouncing van waiting to run, I was bounding and having a blast. As we neared the time to hit the seven and a half mile mark I was searching for the lights of the pilot car. The pilot car usually stops at every 4k or two and one half miles to check in and supply you with water. There was no one in the desert but us so any vehicle or lights would be our van. Finally I spotted it far in the distance. Mike and I had gone way off the beaten path routed for the van by the GPS. I redirected in a straight line to the van. The sun was just about down. It was an amazing one of a kind run, "sand whacking" across the Gobi Desert in Mongolia at night. For the last miles, the van followed behind to keep us on track and provide some light. The moon was half full. Every once in awhile throughout my run I would stumble onto a carcass, each in varying degrees of decomposition. The stuff on the desert is remarkable - lots of bones and interesting rocks, crystallized pebbles, the remnants of military arsenals, some trash, abandoned or burned out homesteads and lots of bricks. How or why many of these people survived or even chose to live here under these conditions amazes me.

There is coal mining in the Gobi and small outposts have formed around the mines. The coal is shipped in and out on the railway. Homesteads have built up along the railway. Earlier in the day we saw no water but small bodies of water did pop up as we traveled further south, and horses, cattle and camels grazed along the roadsides. Emmanuel befriended a camel. He gave her and a male some water to drink which they accepted with several camel snorts. Then he and one of our communications people, Vicki, got near enough to stroke the female camel's head. That gave me the nerve to approach her and also stroke her head. It was like thick wool. Emmanuel was talking to them and calming them and eventually ended up sitting on the female camel's back, between her two humps. I used up my camera battery taking pictures of this event.
I learned today that camels are also a source of cashmere.

Driving though the Gobi is like off-roading. Then every once in awhile we would see swirling dust in the distance and a BPR vehicle would appear. We are at about 4,000' feet and running at altitude. During the day temperatures are in the 80's and the sun is blazing. It is extremely dry and dusty. This is not the hot time of year in the Gobi. At night it cools off significantly and in the northern desert at
this time of year can get to the freezing mark.

We all slept really well in our tents last night and woke up to a glorious sunny morning for a camp breakfast. It was a leisurely morning as my team did not have to leave until 1pm. All of the teams were in camp so we had the opportunity to say hello and socialize with everyone. After a yummy pasta lunch, we took off into the desert for the two hour ride to our first run leg. The Gobi covers more than one half of Mongolia and is a sharp contrast to the green pasturelands of the north. It is isolated and barren and starkly beautiful. The lighting cast on the sands as I ran into the night was theatrical as well as deceiving and disjointing.

Tonight we are in a town next to the desert called San Shand. It's name stands for "nice water spring." The town was a Russian army base in their conflict against China. Near to here is a large Mongolian army base, still in operation "just in case" the independence of Mongolia is again challenged. The desert is strewn with military debris. The abandoned and blown out homesteads around here are from the deserted base operations. The town is divided by a small river into North and South. We are staying on the south side. We are 250K from the China border which we will cross in two days.

We run in the desert again tomorrow and spend the night in yurts. This is clearly one of the driest and dustiest places I have ever been. It's hard to breathe and I consumed no less than three liters of water today plus gatorade, juices and coffee. Without safe drinking water, I could not be running in the Gobi. I took none of it from a tap. We are drinking bought water that our guides hauled into the desert for us. Safe drinking water is liquid gold. The town has an energy and water conservation program. The electricity and water throughout the town is shut off from 7am until 7pm every day. We've experienced this kind of conservation in other parts of Mongolia as well. It is a continuing reminder of the importance and value of water.

Water is life. Pass it on!