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I have been home about 5 days now and am just beginning to recover and relax and put the Derby in perspective. I am so happy to have finished,  in the top ten no less, on the 8th day. It was definitely the most grueling physical thing I have ever done. I think the adrenaline and concentration or focus it took was tremendous. I keep waking up at night, thinking I am riding and looking for my GPS line to take me to the horizon. Others have shared it is the same for them. I know I have finished but my instinct is to keep moving. Very strange, makes me wonder if it is a little like post-traumatic stress disorder. You are so determined to accomplish something that everything else fades to the background- it was a survival mentality. I did not want to ride alone so was very focused on keeping up with my rider friends. The three Brits, Jamie, Chris, Rob and I shared a foxhunting background and the two Aussies, Sam and Brent, were race riders. I think the ability to gallop long distances over rough ground was a help and we rode similarly, a posting canter, that spared our ponies backs. By the last days I think we were all galloping standing up like the Mongolians. The "bolters" were a bit scary but definitely covered the miles the best. Several times we would bolt at full speed, very little control for 10 km. The ponies would stop for a minute, pee, grab a bit of grass and then bolt again, for another 10 km. We flew through several horse station distances this way. Much easier to hang onto a bolter than to push a lazy, tired pony to a jog for long miles. Anyway, I am happy to be be home in one piece, happy to have experienced Mongolia, truly the last frontier and loved the people I met. More to follow. BTW my knee was fine the whole time, I wore the brace because I had nowhere else to put it. The 5 kg weight allowance was basically the sleeping bag and was a bitch to pack every morning.