Last year when I was a volunteer at the Gobi, I saw how the competitors went through the race. I will be following their footsteps in 10 days' time, but I am still not quite feeling it yet. I have tried the individual components that make up the race, like doing ultras and a staged race; eating the freeze dried meals, gels, bars, electrolytes; using the gear, not showering for a week etc...I have tried them all but to experience all of them together into one is still beyond my imagination.
All these certainly sounds very tough, but I am not thinking too much. Last week when I was having a chat with my brother, I was telling him how I have surprised myself that after one year's training, I still am not competitive about races at all. To me, the training and the experience of running all the races are just spiritual. Every time I go into a race, I am looking for the spiritual experience for the next few or sometimes 24 hours. It is almost like finding a conversation between myself and the divine existence.
For these reasons, I am thinking more about the enjoyment of this race to make this spiritual experience more memorable. As a result, I am actually spending more time on things like compiling music, practicing with my camera etc.. Every thing else seems secondary.
