Follow your heart and it will take you to where you belong.

This is Bagan, an ancient city located in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Kingdom of Pagan, the first kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern Myanmar. During the kingdom's height between the 11th and 13th centuries, over 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains alone, of which the remains of over 2200 temples and pagodas still survive to the present day.

Mary Gadams said Myanmar is the kind of place where Racing the Planet would like to have a roving race. Destiny has first brought me to this country since 2008. The experience I gained from working here and interacting with the people has to be one of the most enriching life experiences I have ever had. From building schools, disaster relief, post-disaster reconstruction, I have seen beauty, love, happiness, compassion, kindness, patience, wisdom and inner strength. This country has never ceased to amaze me. I would be so happy to help organize a race to share all these with the RTP community. It's also a coincidence that I finally have bitten the bullet to start my own micro project there, working on a holistic village model benefiting both education and livelihood in rural villages.

The feet are going to where the heart is.

I was chatting with Gavin, one of our Gobi March volunteers, who runs a travel agency business in Kathmandu, Nepal. I was telling him how I had spent the weekend, hiking in the mountains. I said I had enrolled in a 78km challenge in October and plan to do another 100km next February and see if I could handle. If yes, I might consider signing up for Gobi March next year. 2013 is the 10th anniversary for our Foundation as well as for Racing the Planet events, and it would be very meaningful if I can join and run for charity. Gavin said that since I have a plan, it will happen. I said whether that happens or not, is God's plan not mine. Gavin said if I have God in my heart and mind, that is my plan too. I said yes. You got me there, young man.

Inspiration From My Friends

From Francis:


石頭城夢
 
倦雲躺雪嶺，
廕庇石頭城，
城載千年夢，
牧民享地靈。

*************

疆地間
晨霧散，炊煙起，
牛羊趕赴青草地，
終日埋首三尺地；
雪嶺燃，朝日中，
人若雄峰天與地，
不為名利站高地。

From Johnson:

將欲取天下而為之，吾見其不得已．
天下神器，不可為．為者敗之，執者失之．

夫物或行或隨，或噓或吹，或強或贏，或接或隳．
是以聖人去甚，去奢，去泰．

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譯文

想用人為的努力去贏得天下，我看達不到目的。

天下是神的器具，不是人為努力就能得著的。
人為努力的，必然失敗；人為持守的，必然 喪失。

世間是這樣：
有佔先前行的，就有尾追不捨的；
有哈暖氣的，就有吹冷風的；
有促其強盛的，就有令其衰弱的；
有承載的，就有顛覆的。

That will be all for 2012 Gobi March. Time to pursue my dreams for 2013 Gobi March. Here is the most memorable day and moment of this event and I am going to remember this image for a long long time. For now, the journey goes on.

This photo will remind me of an unrealized dream. Anyway, this is a good fun way of wrapping up my thoughts for this event.

"Yes"- Top 10
 1. Try my best to train for next year as competitor
2. Bring a very good compact digital camera and DSLR (dc for the race and DSLR for afterwards)
3. Milo and salt tablets saved my life
4. Buy better gear
5. Pack smart
6. Bivvy blanket and gloves are so useful
7. Coco pops, gummy bears, Japanese sausages
8. Sew nicely and flags properly
9. Train with walking poles from now on
10. Alcohol gel and alchol wipes are awesome


"No" - Top 10
1. Volunteering
2. Overstock food
3. Snickers
4. Nuu electrolytes tablets - coke flavor is disgusting
5. Freeze dried Asian noodles - too spicy
6. Hydra Pak - no space in the bag
7. Running shorts - lots of thorn bushes
8. Running shoes - no grip
9. Socks liner - useless
10. Fear

Of flip flops and Crocs - "whatever works".

Day 4 was a long day. I was on duty at the final checkpoint. Given the difficulty of the terrain and the distance, many competitors only returned after 8 hours or more. But there was one I particularly remembered. This participant came back with one running shoe on one feet and a flip flop on another. Chased by a dog was already traumatic enough for him, but that was not all. He lost one of his running shoes while trying to clean it in the river. I thought he was going to withdraw, but ended up he was lucky. His tent mate withdrew earlier and game him his pair of hiking shoes. While I was telling Ralph Crowley about this,  he gave me a better one. There was a girl in an earlier race who lost her shoes in the luggages. She managed to borrow a pair of flip flops and finished day 1. For the rest of the race, she managed to find a pair of crocs, wore them all the way through, and finished top 50. Later, while I was having a chat with Mary, she told me an even better one - Crocs had once sponsored one athlete to do the entire race on Crocs ;-)

This is a story about the changing sports culture in China.

Meet this team from Shanghai. It started with one guy who loves triathlon and who has problems finding enough choices for gear. So he decided to open his own shop selling gear. The shop eventually attracted 3 loyal customers and fans, and the four of them decided to join competitions everywhere in the world. "The sports culture in China is too focussed on cash prizes and athletes are very competitive". "Here, while every competitor's goal is to race, everyone seems to be having lots of fun". "We want to be pioneers and help change the sports culture in China".

But what they didn't talk about was how heroic they were on the night of the Long March. The regulations require team members to stay within 25m from each other. Unfortunately, one of their team members was very sick that day and collapsed on the way. The 3 of them carried the sick member, running miles and miles  back to camp. A new generation of impressive ultramarathoners indeed.