Namib Desert Challenge: The night before...

This morning I met up with other race participants at the Thule Hotel in Windhoek. Lots of vibe and a nice, friendly group of people. From here we caught the bus to Soussusvlei. It's a long trip of about four hours but made pretty comfortable in an air-conditioned bus and on a really good quality, hard-packed, recently graded dirt road.

We spent a bit of time at the Lodge doing kit checks before heading off to the nearby campsite. It's not the campsite I've been to before - next to the Lodge - but another a short distance away. Seems really new as the shower setup is glorious.

View from the shower. The cold water is a bit warm, but lovely. The breeze blowing through dries better than a towel.

We all been assigned our own tents and we're nicely settled in.

This evening we came over to the Lodge for a pre-race briefing and we're also here for a delicious buffet dinner.

Race briefing went smoothly - no surprises. We're being really well looked after. Super to see race director Terence Southam (Terry) again and also Nel, who is the campsite manager and also a route marker. Nel was here four years ago - so he's another familiar face.

The runners. A friendly group. We're going to have a great week.

We sitting under a Camelthorn tree playing cards while we wait for dinner. Charles (from the UK - like the Prince) brought cards with him. He's teaching us a new game. I can see some good card challenges coming up... Good thing I realyl enjoy playing cards.

We've got a good 42km stage coming up tomorrow. Looks very much similar to the first stage route in 2009. I seem to recall some really fabulous terrain and views but a very long and hot 10km from a vista to the finish. I remember slogging before. Tomorrow I'm going to wax it ;)