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View Full Version : Camp Fuji Marine makes 250-km trek through China’s Gobi Desert



thedrifter
07-06-07, 03:33 PM
The challenge of becoming a Marine led Cpl. Paul Johnston to transform his body, improve his physical fitness and compete in a grueling 250-kilometer march across the Gobi Desert in Northwestern China in June 2007.

His 6-foot-6-inch frame might not seem ideal for an ultra-distance endurance race, and he admits three years ago in Boone, N.C., he was as far from a Marine and ultra-distance runner as anyone could be.

“I liked to sit on my butt, eat and play video games,” said Johnston, a military policeman at Combined Arms Training Center Camp Fuji. “I couldn’t finish a single lap around a track. When I first walked into the Marine recruiter’s office, I weighed 350 pounds. They said to come back when I lost some weight.”Johnston did just that. He lost about 55 pounds to be able to enlist in the Marine Corps in September 2004, and he quickly fell in love with running.

Johnston got down to 245 pounds just before the Gobi March June 17-23.

Race rules required participants to carry their food, clothing and whatever else they might need with them. Checkpoints spaced about 10 km. apart and camp sites at the end of each of the six stages gave them their only extra supplies: a 1.5 liter bottle of water per station and three per camp site.

He soon learned each stage had its own unique obstacles, and he was immersed in a culture rarely seen by Westerners.

June 17
Tijikistan, China

The first day of the race began in Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous Region. The racers began their journey through river valleys and small villages with relatively cool weather.

“I could not believe how desolate that place was and that people still lived there,” he said, recalling the natives coming out of mud huts to watch the strangers run by. “They got by on nothing at all and had no knowledge of the outside world. In most places, we were their first contact with the outside world. It gave me a special feeling to see the bright looks on their faces.”

When he reached the first site, Camp Yarkand River, he already felt soreness in his muscles from hiking on the loose rocks throughout the first stage.

“Everybody was soaking their feet in a cold river near the camp,” he said with a grin. “I jumped in. It felt so good.”

June 19
Stairway to Heaven

Johnston stepped off into yet another riverbed. Jumping from rock to rock, he made his way to a steep incline. For 9 km., he fought his way up to a 13,000- foot altitude, where he had to fight freezing temperatures, snow and high winds.

“I have climbed a lot of mountains, but this was one of the hardest,” Johnston said. “It just kept going forever. Each time I came to a turn, I knew it would be the top. Once I got around the corner, I could see runners ahead of me that looked like ants they were so far away.”

At the top he noticed his feet had begun to blister. Later, knee deep river crossings shot pains up his legs as the water filled his blisters and he neared Camp Gobi Oasis.

“I was so happy to see the camp,” he said. “I just wanted to take care of my feet. It was the toughest day so far.”

June 21
The Long March

The temperature reached the 90s before 10 a.m. as Johnston tackled the longest and most grueling phase. The terrain became sandier and drier on the 80-km. trek, and Johnston’s body was showing signs of failure.

“My right ankle was swollen to the size of my calf,” he said. “The bottles of water didn’t seem to last as long as before.”

Soon after the sun set, the race officials placed chemical lights every hundred meters to guide the participants. Trekkers lit the path with headlamps as they trudged through the night, and Johnston began to feel the full effect of his injuries.

“My ankle was killing me. The blisters felt like I was walking on broken glass.”

The last 30 kilometers of the stage featured rolling sand dunes.

“The sunrise was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. It was so pure. It was a scene untouched by man.”

The temperature was 115 degrees by the time he reached Camp Vista Qi Pan more than 27 hours after he began the stage, which was more than double the length of the average phase. It was the first camp he stopped at during daylight.

“There was no relief from the heat. A doctor told me I had an inflamed tendon. Then, she used a hypodermic needle to bore a hole in my toe nails to relieve the pressure from blood blisters under them. I was in so much pain; I had to use trekking poles just to move around camp. So I lay in a puddle of my own sweat and tried to relax.”

June 23
In the Shadow of Chairman Mao

After a five-hour bus ride to Kashgar, Johnston prepared for the shortest portion of the race, a 10 km run through the center town.. of town.

My feet were so swollen I had cut my shoes with a knife to make them fit. The blisters hurt bad the whole town could me cursing as I pulled my shoes on.”

As he fought through the pain, ran past thousands of Kashgar citizens lining the streets.

“Police were blocking miles traffic just for us,” he said. Everybody was rooting for us, we passed through a 400-year-old part of town. When I crossed the finish line, I was so motivated I dropped down and started knocking out Marine Corps pushups.”

Afterthought

Johnston had traveled through freezing winds at the top of mountains, through muddy rivers and across 115 degree deserts lost 20 pounds in six days.

“During my first shower, the water at the bottom of the shower looked like the muddy river water we ran through. It all clicked in the shower. I knew why I did it. It felt like I had actually done something worthwhile. I mentally went back to each checkpoint remembering the pain and the good.”

There were many times during the race when Johnston had to fight his desire to give up: when his blisters felt like broken glass digging into his flesh; when his ankle was as big as his calf; when he couldn’t move without the aid of walking sticks.

“He shocked the hell out of me,” his friend Looney said. “I figured he would last a few days and quit. I think he surprised everybody when he finished hurt.”

Johnston said a Vince Lombardi quote kept him motivated during the race: “Quitters never win, and winners never quit.”

Johnston didn’t finish in first place, but he says he won.

“I was competing against my own will, and I conquered it.”