Rob Mackay :: Notes from the edge

Hi Phyllis. I understand you spoke with my Mom-in-law. Not that you don’t have enough advice from everyone on the Gobi March…Anyway, here are my 5 tips for the race (or any multistage races like this) Good luck, it is a crazy race and remember, whatever you do…keep moving forward.

1.) Feet tape - The best tape I have found for fixing your feet - on the run - is Leukotape. This is an expensive medical tape, but well worth the investment. Forget ductape, it won’t last in the heat. *You don’t need to take it off every night during the race. If you take it off and retape you will have tender feet as it actually pulls a layer of skin off. I found out the hard way and was left with sore, red feet.

2.) Test pack BEFORE you leave - No one does this enough but sit in your living room with all of your gear and pack it all in, then repack it and do it again. You should know where everything fits and how it sits on your back. As well, remember to put the heavy things at the top (eg. food), light things at the bottom (eg. sleeping bag). This will keep the weight off your hips - key to not getting an ITB injury….

3.) Gaiters - These are key. If you buy them from Racing the Planet, don’t use the glue provided to attach the velcro to your shoes. Take your shoes and the velcro to a shoe repair store and have them sew the velcro around the base.

4.) Feet #2 - During the race, take care of hotspots or blisters right away. Don’t wait - you will pay for it later if you don’t deal with it immediately. (I remember on the long stage at Gobi getting a toe blister at 50km and telling myself that I could keep going only to stop and say, “but you know better…” I sat down with racers passing me and took care of it)

5.) Relax - These races are very hard and you will face multiple obstacles along the way. You need to know that the pain is only temporary, you are only there for 7 days AND cold beer is waiting at the finish line for you. Don’t quit and hang in there when it sucks. You will come out of the crappy parts and your energy will return and you will be very stoked when you cross the finish.

 Good luck! Rob

The 2008 Gobi March is just around the corner - I’ve been monitoring blogs from some of the participants for this year’s race. It’s hard to believe that a full year has gone by since we were out on the edge of the Taklamakan. Still now people ask if I will ever do a race like this in the future. Of course. There are about 50 races like this in the world at the moment. I have my sights set on the Coastal Challenge, Tour de Mont Blanc, TransRockies, etc. but I need some time in between the races for my family.

Running ephiphany: Out running the other day I had a moment where the “Why do I run?” question was answered. I am a social introvert. In other words, I enjoy being with people but gain strength and recovery from the stress of every day life by being alone. Running is dedicated ‘alone time’ and because ultra training forces you to go long, rarely do people want to join you.

Yesterday afternoon  I had the privilege of presenting on ‘Turning your passion into a cause’ for the annual Student Leadership Conference at UVic. I promised to post 2 things and here they are;

1. projectplan.xls - this is a base version of the excel document you can use to help you plan out a project. I’ve included some ’starters’ for you so that you can see what it should look like. The key to this is assigning everyone a responsibility so that you are not overwhelmed!

2. Team Gobi sponsorship package - here is the link to the page where we have a ‘download the sponsorship package…’ link.

If you have any questions, be sure to email me at robertbmackay@hotmail.com

Thanks again everyone!  Rob

Team CGM is off today to do a presentation at a local school on the trek. I am looking forward to it - lately it’s been work, train, sleep, repeat.

We had the first post Gobi March presentation last night with many more people than we expected - thanks for coming out!
Man, I love doing presentations (I used to HATE doing them). Sometimes the hardest part is articulating the experience in a way that people can relate. How do you answer, “So, how was it?”

We had a great/interactive audience last night and the three of us were ‘on’ so it was so much fun. I had a little bit of post-presentation let down once the adrenaline subsided.

Best question of the night: “How would you describe the experience in one word?” This one caught me off guard and I came up with the lame ‘life-changing’ - how could it not be? After the presentation M grabbed me and said that she thought I would say ‘complicated’. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it at the time because ‘complicated’ is how I’ve described the experience since landing in Thailand.

Here are some Gobi March shots that won’t make the slide show (August 15th at 7:30pm at Frontrunners Westshore!)

 Tajik Villagers bringing hot water

    Jarhead delivering a set of keys…long story…

Damn. More reflection on the Gobi race this weekend. Like mirror reflection. Some thoughts…

1) Extreme races, actually any race over a marathon, strip you down to the core. You start off as a clean cut, confident and strong competitor. Late in the race you are in survival mode. In survival mode, all of your least favourable traits rise to the top and become amplified.  You struggle to keep it together and hold on to the way ‘it should be’. I held on at MDS. At the Gobi race, I could have been stronger. In the end, I didn’t meet my expectations as a leader.

2) I remember coming back to the hotel after crossing the finish line. DP and I walked into the posh Kashgar foreigner hotel. As we were late, many of the competitors had already scrubbed, shaved and were sitting in the couches drinking beer, but to me at least they looked uncomfortable, almost embarrased. We still had the 7 day beard, stank like hell, and were covered in dirt.

It struck me that they had passed back into the ‘real world’, one filled with responsibility, expectations and ‘proper’ ways of behaving and as we made our way up to our room, I became quiet. I really didn’t want to go back. The ‘world of external expectations’ seems Walmart fake to me. Fake smiles, fake value, fake ‘love’. Somehow for 7 days we got a chance to be ourselves without the baggage (responsibility?) of everyday life. I think it’s partly why we go back for more.

3) In the end, it’s really a solo race. Even though you come in as a team, you need to be able to push away the pain, the dirt and massive scope of the distance - on your own. 

If I answer with a lukewarm, “It was good…” to the question, “How was the Gobi race…?” don’t read too hard into it. The experience was amazing.

Any hesitation comes from a post I wrote on the 4 Deserts site about the lack of race organization (their lack of organization/coordination) and how it lead to situations that were unnecessarily unsafe. During the race I spoke to volunteers and also a media person who were part of the ‘behind the scenes’ action and they concurred. If I had posted, ‘Racing the Planet did and amazing job!’ I’d be lying. In the end, it made me reconsider extreme races and vow to do a better job researching the experience of the race organizers before entering. (I only have MDS to compare it to and MDS is increadibly well managed)

A number of other blogging competitors disagreed. Fair enough.  I can’t believe that competitors would enter a race like this without considering safety important. We’re human and it would play on anyone’s mind. The reality (admittedly according to me) is that they created a course that they couldn’t manage and then spun it as ‘logistically challenging, etc’.

I believe it’s a 50/50 split of responsibility between competitors and race management. Competitors have the responsibility of being trained (mentally/physically), having the correct gear and knowing how to use it, and knowing when they are competing beyong their abilities. The race organizers have the responsibility of ensuring the course is properly managed, ensuring contingency plans are in place when the race is ‘logistically challenging’ and that they follow through on promises made.

I don’t believe they held up their side of the deal.

From this I have learned the following;

1) We all have post race amnesia.

2) Cliche but it’s a case of ‘Buyers beware’ - apparently the race organizers have had a mutiny at one of the earlier Gobi races and had I done a better job at researching it things might have been different.

and 3) Even if I wanted to go back into a 4 Deserts race, I doubt they’d have me back!

I’ve had some time to look back on the race, what it means and lessons learned from the Gobi March. It’s complicated.

I mentioned earlier that I am typically an ‘outcome’ hunter. Unfortunately it rarely leads to a feeling of peace. Instead I am always on to the next thing…not satisfied with the results and driven to find something else to focus on. The ‘next thing’ is coming in a later post.

During the GM, my self-talk was centered around competing not finishing. In fact, as the race came closer I decided (in my head) that I’d rather blow apart going fast, than finish going slow. I’ve did MDS going slow and finished and I have mixed feelings about that race. (As an aside, I can never believe someone who tells me, “I just want to finish…” This is a race. Take a trek if you want to experience the scenery. We enter races to compete - otherwise why go through the pain?) More than anything I was constantly evaluating our efforts, the efforts of other teams and my health - and trying to stay positive.

These races throw many variables at competitors. All at once. It seems that the best racers are able to manage their food, health and recovery well. (In addition, adapt to the weather, terrain, lack of sleep and injuries/illness) Having done 2 now, I am convinced that it is unlike any other type of running race. I could list the multiple ways it is different - maybe in another post but take speed for instance, even the fasties were barely managing 6min/km. Keep in mind that you are running with a 20lbs pack.

Sounds like I’m justifying our slowness…maybe. I do, however, think the answer to “How was the race?” requires context.

At times the race was miserable;

• Fighting altitude, freezing rain and hail, windchill on day 3 was a real test as a team. We didn’t blow apart.
• Me, crawling into a checkpoint, vomiting (and everything else). Continuing on in brutal heat. Finishing the stage - thanks to my team mates. Collapsing veins - because of dehydration. 3 IV’s in a dirty field medical tent.
• Donald experiencing the same fate…the next day.

At times the race was amazing;

• Watching our tent mate Tim (the walking dead), come across the finish line in Kashgar. Worst feet I have seen yet and he was hollow the day before.
• Running across the finish line with the Canadian flag - that was very cool.
• Watching our placing the first 3 days and believing that we had a chance to compete.

On Donna - This was a huge event for her going from training to a race of this scope and I tend to forget that she just began serious running last year. As my wife said yesterday, “It’s amazing that she got that far…” It is truly amazing that she got as far as she did. Donna is young and has tons of potential. I think that she may say that she’s not going to attempt one of these events again, but don’t believe her. She will at some point in her life. I hope to be there as well.

On Donald - DP was born ready not only to be an ultra racer but really to be a leader. If we had blown apart earlier I am convinced that he would have broken the top 20. He was trained and if you’ve ever run with him before you know he is strong. (You can’t be a skinny pencil and run these races well - I just barely meet the ‘above’ skinny pencil cut-off, though some would disagree). I mentioned earlier that I owe him for carrying my backpack for 10km - and many other things. I will one day repay him.

In the end I learned that relationships trump racing, anyday of the week.

I will take a break from multi-staged racing and in the short-term focus on local races. Western States is one that is calling. Also, I want to focus on running solo, for now. Team racing is demanding and I was so focused pre-race on ‘not being a burden if I get sick/injured’ that I couldn’t relax. Not sure how you manage that but I need some time to think and come back to team racing after a few years.

Gratitude is required here. Thanks Team Gobi.

3:00 am is a hell of a time to wake up.              

I’m fighting 3 days of travel, the subsequent jet lag and trying to reintegrate myself back into ‘real life’. Last night I suddenly awoke and went downstairs for a bowl of cereal. 

Actually, 2 bowls.  Then back to bed for another whole 2 hours. It’s all a bit surreal right now.

The questions keep coming, ”How’d it go?”, ”How are your team mates?” and  “Congratulations on finishing…” I remember having a tough time articulating this  after MDS and it isn’t any easier. Bittersweet - because I know I can finish these races and I would have been happier if my team mates were both official ‘finishers’.

We didn’t finish as a team. The frustrating part was watching other teams pass us and knowing that we were in good shape - good enough to have done well. I keep ruminating about the race and yet it’s like thinking about the expansiveness of the Universe…if I think too much, I’ll go sideways.

So, I have to leave it. For now anyway.