Gobi Desert: Exceptional Ramblings

While out in the Gobi I thought quite a bit about exceptionalities in life. These thoughts were brewed by the brilliance in geography of the area, its aesthetic juxtapositions and history, the condition of the world as China sits in it, the competitors and the natives. The people were exceptional. I will remember a lot of laughter and stories, bullshit slinging and kindness—the kind that fills us as a coping mechanism under physical duress. The kind that keeps it all real. The kind that keeps us ultimately free from inauthentic views of self. When you keep it real in the dirt there isn’t anywhere to hide and there is huge freedom in that reality. The people who live in the Gobi keep it real daily. We gave it a good shot for a week.


Mountain Yurt and more Gobi Desert photos...



I’ve always felt that a human being who chooses to have varied and many extraordinary experiences and who is open to allowing those experiences to reflect on their life views is an exceptional human being. If that is true then everyone I met at the Gobi March event defined exceptional. That thought made me feel warm and hopeful inside. Kinda' like home base.

Yet we were competing in a race—definitive to be resolved at an ending place—a finish line. The meaning of the outcome of an event, the tangible result, the part that the world in due course rests their eyes, is open for interpretation by each individual. In a society defined by competition and results, the outcome is the ultimate and can start to take on a life of its own via media, judgment and gossip. Mature athletes know this. Mature athletes can separate from the result and broaden and blur their view to take in and assess the nuances of the journey. The exceptionalism of an event is the process. The people, the culture, the mutual understanding, the struggle and what it gives back.

Exceptional for me in an experience involves engaging in the unknown of the journey. Pieces of a journey such as in the Gobi, house the intimate and intense aspects of life—the crux. The journey and the choices we make in that journey are the portion that defines us as exceptional. The soul of an expedition isn’t about the summit or the finish line, it’s about the stuff that happens and the people that are engaged with prior to that socially interpreted definitive moment. When we come home to comfortable life stuff, we don’t necessarily remember the shit that went down or the ending place. We remember how we reacted to the shit that went down and we peruse our feelings around those reactions.


Terri in yurt camp 4...



I think people that choose to live in the crux are asking more from life than they even know exists, because the crux puts us in a tenuous and mysterious place—a place of learning—a place that isn’t yet defined. Some folks feel frightened in the unknown. For me and for many I met on my journey in China, the unknown meant freedom, possibility.

My strong female competitors were tough as nails, unforgiving in their pace and efforts and persistence. And yet at the end of each day, we smiled and hugged and shared warmth. Respect. Understanding. Support. Embrace of the unknown. We cared for each other. We were exceptional together because we could empathize with each other's struggles and support our vague dreams. Exceptional humanness at its best.

I am often asked why I do the things I do. The truth is I feel more at home sleeping in the dirt with others of like mind than I do in a man-made constructed world. The dirt makes more sense to me and I can relate to it more than politics, suicide bombings, counterfeit humans and socially constructed views of the female body, yada, yada, yada. And my compatriots in the Gobi found it just as absurdly freeing as I did. Dirt. Home base.

In the dirt we can create our own sense of self. Nature is indifferent to who we are. That freedom feeds exceptionalism. Exceptional people choose to run through the Gobi Desert and embrace the earth and despite my never having met most of those dirt lovers we will have a bond that is withstanding.

I want to thank my compatriots in the Gobi for sharing that paradigm of life with me, for nurturing it. People that I may never see again mirrored for me the value of my life choices, the value in pushing past limits, of not only moving forward when you are beaten down, but moving forward with distinction.

I want to thank those in the race that supported me after I was sick. Who believed, either through medical reality or pipe dreams, that I could come back and race to the finish. Either way they gave me hope and hope fueled my experience. I want to thank my compatriots for their irreverent humor, intelligence, neuroticisms, humanness. To be authentically human is an art. Endurance athletes seem to either get this and master it, or fall victim to its challenges—especially when they are several days sleep deprived and dirty. Thanks for getting down and dirty with me. I am the better for having met you all.

xoxo
Terri

Gobi Desert: Retribution

A "payback" of sorts is often viewed as tangibly getting what you are working toward. In this race and in sport in general, my view of a payback is usually to cross the finish line, or push a training session knowing I gave it my best shot. Absolute best. Nothing less.

In reality, in any kind of performance, that is ultimately our only option – give it our best shot. Throw it all down. If we’re honest about what that looks like, to ourselves, we can sleep well at night. How other people view our efforts isn’t about us. That’s their shit. Lay it all down for yourself and you will be a satisfied human and live confidently in your skin.



The light at the end of the tunnel...
Photo Courtesy of Racing the Planet



Going into our final day of 14K of racing I was down from first place by about 13 minutes. Despite encouragement from racers/friends that I could still take the win; I knew that there was no way I could make up that full time is such a short distance. I also knew I had pushed very hard the day prior to make up just a few minutes. My legs were shot and my competitor wasn’t about to back down. So in evaluating desires of retribution for the time deficit from my "sick day" I realized my only option was to push myself as far as I could on our last day and see what I came up with. Let go of the outcome and just hang it all out.

The thought of hanging it all out after five days of brutal racing through one of the harshest environments on the planet took on a dichotomous personality. Part of me wanted to crawl into a hole and sleep for a week and the other side was fighting mad at my dilemma and was itching for this last futile battle. The latter personality won. "She may take the win but I’m going to kick her ass on this last leg and enjoy ringing myself out doing it," was my battle cry.



Crossing the finish line...
Photo Courtesy of Racing the Planet



Oddly enough, the pointless furor deemed important enough for me to take out our 14K at the front of the pack. I felt light and fast at the start and like a freight train the stream of top runners flew down this narrow rocky canyon single track. For miles we glided over rock and stream, me intent on taking as much time out of my competitor as possible.

After several miles of downhill we hit a short up and flat section. Once we lost our downhill gravity advantage, I felt like I got hit by a truck and slowed to a crawl. I laughed out loud at the veritable death of my quads, but continued to push hard toward the finish in a remote and stunning village built into the surrounding craggy peaks.

My seemingly important grandiose effort won me several more minutes of time. After six days and 155 miles of some of the toughest terrain and conditions I've ever run, I was second place woman by a mere few minutes. Retribution feels sweet because I know my legs are so very, very done. Throw it all down and there is nothing more to give you satisfaction. Leave it all on the race course and there is nothing more to take except an empty backpack, some primally smelly clothes and a view of the world through a slightly more positive lens color. Ahh….

Back at you at home with closing thoughts.

Terri

Gobi Desert: Canyons and a Partial Comeback

Today's 50K course brought us up and over the Tian Shan range we’ve been staring at for days. It was beautiful and difficult and once again we were up at just below 10,000 feet at our high point. After a long decent we rolled for a while through farmlands and villages before hitting a couple of creek crossings. Our next task was 12K of canyoneering – hiking, scrambling and crawling through a deep rocky canyon. It was picturesque and challenging. To hit the finish we had one more hour-plus long climb ahead to bring us up to our camp at about 8,000 feet. This is the first evening we don’t have wind screaming through our campsite.



Slogging through creeks...
Photo Courtesy of Racing the Planet


With some Cipro my intestines eased up on me and I was able to run today pretty solidly. After a slow start, I was steady and tried to push hard as I could to make up for time I lost on my sick day. I made some up, but I don’t think enough for first place. I’m bummed, but realize there isn’t a whole lot I can do at this point – it's been a great adventure – cool place, cool people, cool event. One more short day and we are done! I’m ready for a shower and some good food. I feel very hungry after shitting my brains out for a day. I haven’t gotten all my energy back and had to pop off another tough 50k today. It is always amazing that we can do this – that humans can push themselves this hard. I feel fortunate to have tapped into that again.



Crossing the Tian Shan range...
Photo Courtesy of Racing the Planet


A bunch of us already have plans for a couple of good dinners and some sight seeing before the long flight back. I’m ready for this race to be over and get some solid R&R.



Obtacles of the animal-kind...
Photo Courtesy of Racing the Planet

Huge appreciation for the emails sent – its more wonderful getting them out here – especially when I wasn’t feeling well. You all rock!

I’ll let you know how things play out tomorrow…

Terri

Gobi Desert: Wind, Beauty and Disappointment

Day 4: Our long day (sort of) started with a wave start. The last 75 percent of the field went off at 8:30 and the top 25 at 10:30. Our 57Ks brought us through rolling green hills, riverbeds, cropland, dusty roads and many villages before heading toward the sand dunes and mountains. The wind and dust was unprecedented and many were close to getting blown over, but the scenery on our journey made up for the cold and discomfort. As we approached the mountains we could see enormous sand dunes in the distance - up to 200 feet high in places. The backdrop was the snowcapped peaks of the Tian Shan mountain range. It was a spectacular and odd juxtaposition. In the midst of the sand dunes we came across small oasis areas with green grass and trees. Among one of these we witnessed a calf being born. Ah. It was a difficult, windswept, magical journey shortened from its original 73K due to windy conditions.



The windswept desert...
Photo Courtesy of Racing the Planet


The location for our original camp was howling and they couldn't put up the tents so they had to go with a different plan and we are staying today (our rest day) in a yurt encampment. The inside of the yurts look like the inside of the I Dream Of Jeannie bottle and include blankets and a wood stove. We are in Gobi nirvana here. Its very cold, so though a walk to check out the area further is on our minds the cold wind keeps us inside.



Trekking through sand dunes..
Photo Courtesy of Racing the Planet


I started Day 4 feeling quite good. Despite our still being at 7,000 feet to start; my legs were solid with no structural issues. I settled into a nice pace and was cruising along well when at about 15K my intestines decided to interrupt my otherwise pleasant experience. It started with basic nausea, cramping and diarrhea and continued until I was peeing and shitting blood and then until I was just dry heaving from all orifices and completely empty. Once my intestines were cleaned out I was running on empty and had to pretty much death march to the end - tried to do some jogging in between walking breaks just to stroke my ego a bit.



The snowcapped peaks of the Tian Shan...
Photo Courtesy of Racing the Planet


I am hugely disappointed and am still unsure as to why this happened but and trying to get it sorted with the docs here before another 50K day tomorrow.

Thanks for all your well wishes! It was been an incredible journey in a remote and unique location on the earth. I am pleased to having experienced it and there's more to come.

Back at you,

Terri