Sorry for the late post here is Derek's Day 1 report. I didn't get it before I flew to Vegas. Fiona
Before we get into the race, we were at camp on the north rim of the Canyon. We had a spectacular meal laid on for us before we went to bed at 8am. It was cold to star and went to minus during the night – it was freezing but my cosy sleeping bag worked.Up at 6am for the race and my first cold breakfast – it was ok. Today was 31 miles and it was a tough day. The heat built up as the day went on and with an 8am... start I tried to get in as many miles as possible before then heat took its toll. The altitude is a definite a factor as is the hard packed tracks, stones, and fine sand – it gets everywhere. Then there are the cactus which lurk in the ground. One of them snagged me and I had a few needles to pull out. My pack weighs 25 lb before you add 1.5 L of water. Too heavy but it makes sure I won’t be freezing or starving at night. The camp was 5 miles from the last check point but they kept taking you towards it then away from it – not nice. I finished in 8 hours and 20 mins (unofficial). Tomorrow is 27.5 miles and that leads up to the 53 mile long day so I’m sticking to my strategy of getting acclimatized and breaking myself in slowly. Only on heat spot which I treated so so far no blisters.Now for recovery. Salt drink taken, protein drink next. Feet up and rest before my first freeze dried food – can’t say I’m looking forward to that. This is an amazing race with stunning scenery but I’m told it only gets better from here.This probably won’t be posted till Tuesday as there is no signal at the camp and they have to save the emails then take them into town. It will be posted to Mrs Stewart who will then put it in the blog – assuming she isn’t at 35,000 feet!
