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It got dark around 6pm, and most of the runners were tucked up in their beds by 7pm. I didn’t have the best of nights sleep. I’d been up several times in the night with an upset stomach, and with temperatures well below freezing, no electric lights and a squat toilet.. that’s just no fun at all.

The alarm sounded just before dawn and i really didn’t feel like leaving the snugness of my sleeping bag. If it hadn’t been for my room mate Paul, dragging me out with camera in hand, i may not have seen the sunrise at all.

We stood together shivering on top of the ridge, in the half light before dawn, waiting to catch our first sight of four of the five highest mountains in the world. By the time we’d reached Sandakphu yesterday, the afternoon mist had shrouded the peaks obscuring the view, but as the sun slowly rose, shedding its golden light onto the high peaks of himalaya our patience was rewarded, the ‘abode of snow’ suddenly coming into view. No matter how well you photograph it, or write about it, you simply can’t capture the true scale or beauty of these sleeping giants. The pristine white peaks, picking up the subtlest hints of pink, crimson and orange in the changing colours of the sunrise, contrasted by the miriade of shades of grey in layer after layer of sloping foothills between us and the heights of Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Kanchenjunga.

Slowly we made our way back to the sleeping huts, with around an hour to change into our running gear. While some grabbed breakfast, i returned to the warmth of my sleeping bag for as long as i could, before taking the short walk to the start.

At 7 the sun still sat low in the sky, meaning we’d have to at least start in warm clothes, but by lunch time the temperature would be well into the 30′s. Today’s run was a 10 mile out and back, so we’d be running 20 miles in total. The course was much gentler than monday’s hills, once again it followed the cobblestone track that marked the border, as it slowly snaked up and down.

This was much more the kind of running i was used to, although at 12,000 feet, its not just the views that take your breath away. But the 2 great things about an out and back course is that for every hill you run up there is a hill to run down and you get to see your fellow runners, going in the opposite direction at some stage. Seeing some of the top runners springing along with relative ease was a joy to watch, while giving some of the slower runners a high 5, hug or shout of encouragement was equally rewarding.

For most of the day, we were on the ridge and each time i looked up the views quite simply overcame me. Each time i saw these great mountains, it was as if seeing them for the first time, i don’t think i’d ever tire of looking at them in awe.

I finished running much earlier today and it was still warm, so cheering on the rest of the runners was a much more comfortable experience. I completed the run in 4 hours 42 minutes, allowing plenty of time for sitting around chatting, catching up with my journal and even some sketching.

Once again everyone completed today’s run safely, although some were suffering more than others and some needed intravenous fluids. Once we were all back, it was time for another briefing on tomorrow’s run. The briefing took place in the room in which I was sleeping and it felt a little bit like being back in your first week at college, with a large group of newly acquainted friends crammed into a tiny room and everybody huddled up onto a couple of beds.

Today’s soup was a delicious tomato and crouton, which went down very well, although it was all i felt up to eating. Tomorrow’s marathon was going to be all the tougher for having hardly eaten today…

It was another early morning with the race starting at 6, an hour earlier than yesterday. One advantage of not feeling up to eating was i got to stay in bed that little bit longer. I just managed a cup of tea before the start.

The start of the race followed the same route as we ran yesterday, and I started running in a jacket, gloves and several layers and didn’t warm up enough to take them off for the first hour.

To be honest, this should have been a pretty easy run for me, i wasn’t affected by the altitude, the track was good and there wasn’t too much climbing… but i felt awful. At this stage i had not eaten for a couple of days and even though i knew i had to keep on taking fluids, i was finding it hard to even take even small sips of water, and my ipod was down to the last of its power which i was saving that for the downhill. It was only the views and the encouragement from the returning runners after the turn around that kept me going.

By the time I made it to the top of the last hill, i was about a mile behind the people i’d been running with all week, and the group behind had caught me up. I knew i risked dehydration and forced my self to eat salted red potato, banana and jelly babies before starting the decent.

We’d been warned that the decent was very dangerously steep and to take it easy, but i had my xtalon fell shoes on and downhill is my thing. I turned on the ipod, and started the 5000 feet of decent. Although gradual at first, the trail soon became steep as i leant forward and started to fly. Soon i’d forgot that i hadn’t eaten for days or that i’d struggled at the top. Locked into a little world of my own, i bounded from rock to rock, picking up speed and finding new energy. I was soon drinking again and managed to eat the entire pack of jelly babies as i followed the red painted arrows ever downward. The hill seemed to have no bottom, but it didn’t matter, to me this was pure joy.

Eventually i reached the river, and the first bit of road we’d seen in days. The end should have been in sight, but the road seemed to go on and on. It should have been 8 miles from leaving the top of the hill to reaching the finish line, but it had been far, far more than that. When we finally arrived at the finish in 7 hours and 59 minutes, i learned that this was not a marathon, but my first ultra at 32 miles.

Along the last section of road, as we approached the Rimbik, we were greeted by the usual Namaste’s and smiling faces, but life here is obviously hard. We passed many women and children carrying incredibly heavy loads and a group of men that tirelessly chipped at a giant boulder with rocks and hammers, chipping it into hardcore for the new road being built through the village.

Its amazing how even small things become great pleasures when you don’t have them for a while. The little cafe at the finish in Rimbik, sold glass bottles of coke, i sat in the sun and enjoyed every last drop.

As it began to become dark, our concerns for our friends that were still out on the trail rose, knowing that they would be running far further than they expected to run today, and quite possibly finishing in the cold blackness. I was relieved to see many of my new friends coming in, in pairs or groups, helping each other make it through those final miles.

Tonight’s accommodation would be split between 2 lodges at opposite ends of town, the girls at the bottom and boys at the top. Once again i’d be sharing a room with Paul. Our Lodge was built by the father of the owner 40 years ago, who’s family came from the same village as Sherpa Tensing. The room though small, had a very homely feel, with family photos, pictures and prayers on the wall. The whole family from the grand parents to the children both lived and worked together, in the lodge and it would seem that tonight we had one of their bedrooms, while they slept together in a backroom.

I woke up feeling like i could actually face breakfast for the first time in three days, i’d slept well and was raring to go. Today was to be a relatively easy day, having come down from the higher altitude of the mountains breathing was now less laboured and the rest of the running would be on the roads, so i could swap my fellshoes for asics.

At 13 miles, today was the shortest run of the week, and what was better was that it started with a downhill. Assisted by gravity, I begin the run at a blistering pace, flying down the tight hairpin bends, slowly overtaking on the insides with my arms windmilling in the air, until at one point i could actually see the lead runners. But then as the hills started to level out, i started to slow down and enjoy the scenery, the better runners catching me up one by one, until i am in my usual position towards the middle of the group.

At the next checkpoint, lrnya – a triathlete and wild swimmer, originally from the Ukraine, now living in Northern Ireland caught me up. After refilling my water pack, we left together running at about the same pace and idly chatting as we went. I hadn’t really spoken to Irnya much up until this point, but found that she made very good company and we stayed together for the rest of the stage.

The seven miles to the finish passed easily, as we splashed across the occasional stream and gave out bags of jelly babies and wine gums to passing school children. As we ran, Iryna collected discarded crisp packets, storing them in the pockets of the jacket tied around her waist. This of course was billed as an eco run and we’d been encouraged to collect any rubbish we saw along the way right from the start, but i hadn’t seen anyone actually doing it until now.

We hadn’t put in the fastest run of the week, but i found i’d actually enjoyed today’s stage enormously, with time to take in the scenery and say the odd ‘Namaste’ to people along the road. Iryna and i agreed that we’d start off together again tomorrow, but for now it was time to relax in the sunshine as we wait for the final runners to come in, before taking the bus back to our accommodation in Rimbik.

The bus tooks over an hour to fight its way along the winding ribbons of road high above the valley below, and i looked on in amazement to think that I traversed this treacherous path just hours earlier. In preparation for the evening cultural event, our guides treated us to some traditional Indian songs and exhausted from the trip one half of team Argentina slept soundly on the back seat of the bus.