After a good performance in Stage 1 yesterday, I was excited to maintain my second position. With this in mind, I did a big mistake by running faster than my usual pace. By Km 20, I have practically run out of energy. My high spirits at the beginning of the race began to take a deep plunge.
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| Me leading the pack at one point in time |
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| Me, David and Vicente doing it together |
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| Me, David and Vicente
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The terrain was also getting very technical by this stage. We were running through crusty dry plateau and every time I put my foot down, they sunk about 10cm. I was not able to run properly and this made me feel really desperate. To aggravate the situation, I felt a very nasty pain on my skin over the lumber spine due to the friction caused by my heavy rucksack against my back.
We also had to cross some river canyons several times. The water was cold, about 15 Celcius in the morning and I was not enjoying that! Here's a link to a video taken while I crossed one of them :
Video: Crossing a river canyon at Stage 2
By this time, the Spanish leading duo were already far ahead of me. It felt like ages for me to complete the last 4 km. I was aware that I was pushing my body very hard to reach the finish line and I was feeling rather disappointed with myself for not being able to keep the second position at the end of it.
Overall, I did not enjoy Stage 2 at all. I was pushing myself too hard too early in the race. I will have to re-strategise myself mentally and physically before the start of Stage 3 and do something about that nasty pain on my skin!!
**All the amazing photos featured here were taken by the official photographer, Scott Manthey**
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Our Base Camp at the end of Stage 2. The sight of these in the horizon made all of us run a
little faster :-))!! |
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| Clouds with silver lining in the amazing Atacama |
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| The Camp which all of us longed for during those very torturous days!! |
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| Me doing my social round...how can my tent-mate say I am the quiet one??? |
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| Me and Chris Ballou, my tent-mate, outside our tent, which was covered in plastic, due to the impending rain. |
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