This is where we had the Gobi March opening ceremony, a region called Kezhou. The local government was very supportive of this event and in appreciation to their support, Racing the Planet has agreed to donate computers to schools close to the competition trail. In fact, every year, RTP would make donations along the trail, as well as supporting medical or other projects benefitting local communities. Esquel Group and the Esquel Foundation are proud and happy to be a partner of RTP in buying and delivering the donations to the intended beneficiaries every year.

This does not need a lot of words...suffice to say, sheer inexperience and bad craftsmanship on my part but a nice spontaneous attempt on the part of my friend wearing this. If I ever get to participate in Racing the Planet whether as a competitor or volunteer, the first thing I will do is read the regulations and sew nicely. My sincere apologies to my friend who has to bear with this for 7 days.

What is sportsmanship? Tomiyama-san can tell you all about it. At 65, he has run the Aso Cardella Ultramarathon 21 times, and also the MDS, the Great Wall Marathon, Cheju Ultramarathon and he also summitted Mount Kilimanjaro. Having such achievements in life, Tomiyama-san would not let injury, pain or fatique stop him from crossing the finishing line, all by himself. I never understood why I signed up to be sweeper on the last day of the Gobi March as I initially thought it was boring. Now that I looked back, I was there to witness the power of determination, the meaning of mind over matter, true sportsmanship and the admirable qualities of so many competitors who came up and cheered for him during the last 2 km. It was an honour to have walked with this gentleman and hero - salute!

There are some people whom you won't remember their faces after a while, but some you will remember for a long long time because of their distinct persona.

Mr. Spiderman has been in full suit during the 7 days of the competition. When the race began, I thought he was just being funny. But as the race proceeded, it seemed that he derived certain strength from living the persona of Spiderman. But he is Spiderman with a twist, occasionally taking out his bible for a boost of faith. I really had a good understanding of what this identity meant to him on the final day. I was sweeper he was in front of us. Along the competition trail, despite fatique and pain, he went through the ritual of putting on a pair of stretchy hot pants with the words "Iron Man from Ginza" written on the butt. After walking for longer, he had to put on his Spiderman boots and Spiderman cape. Most people wouldn't understand what he is doing, or what kind of faith drives him. But to have the faith to persist to the end of this race is no doubt strong faith.

Too bad I was too busy being a volunteer and no time for pictures. Pam, I hope to meet you again soon and promise you a nicer photo next time. This photo isn't doing her justice. You can't see her charisma and her courage here, which naturally overflows when you talk to her one on one.  You simply cannot be more touched when you hear her talk about her lifelong passion as a runner, her strength and courage in facing substance and alcohol abuse, her determination in running for charity and inspiring so many lives along the way. When I first saw her, I noticed her T-shirt with the words "www.runwell.com" and I thought she was running for a pharmaceutical company. In a way, she really is in the business of healing people, or helping people heal themselves, and much more. When you meet her, all you want to do is to give her a hug and a kiss and say "the world is a better place because you have helped to change so many lives!"

I truly agree with what Mary said about joining Gobi March - it's either life changing or life-enhancing.

One of the reasons has to be meeting lots of inspiring people. I was asked to contribute feature articles by doing interviews with some of the runners. Meet Stephanie Case. She is a UN Volunteer/Human Rights lawyer working in Afghanistan (and 1st runner up female in this race by the way). The competition trail was close to the Kunlun mountain range separating China and Afghanistan. She told me she felt sad because the world is so different over on the other side. Here, she has been running with absolute freedom along the competition trail. Over on the other side, she is confined to the military zone, which is a tiny section of Kabul. Most athletes can train almost anywhere they want, whereas for her, she would be running round and round the military zone for hours a day, hearing gun shots at the same time. "The mental training is quite good though, and you can train yourself on how to face fear." We talked about how we could make Afghanistan a place for running freely. "30 years", she said. I told her, "we both have plenty of time to make this happen".

What do you do after the longest day and longest night?

Stage 5 of the race was toughest since competitors had to finish 80 km under 27 hours. Certainly doesn't sound very daunting, if it is a standalone race. But in this race, competitors have already done 140 km in the few days before. After completion of this stage, there was a day's rest for competitors to recover. Me and my friends spent an afternoon doing nothing and just looking at this. Not exactly doing nothing...this environment actually inspired us to think and talk about broader issues in life. The magical thing about this breathtaking scenery is that we seemed to have lost our sense of time and found peace of mind.