The Run Up To The Marathon Des Sables

So just over 5 weeks till the MDS and compared to 2 years ago when I was getting ready to do the 28th MDS I am a lot more cool calm and collected this time round. I recall a 2 year lead in to training for that race and sourcing, comparing gear, losing weight, worrying about which shoes, rucksack and sleeping bag to take and whether Ultimate Extreme Foods were better than Expedition Foods, should I take poles? Trail vs Road Shoes? How long should my back to backs be? Definitely this time I am more calmer and have just started to think about the food I will be taking and piecing together the kit.
I think the biggest reason is that I have done the race before, I now know what to expect which removes a lot of the variables and uncertainties. I learnt a lot of lessons that first MDS and I know that heading back I will be able to apply of that learning to this race.

Leading up to MdS 2 years ago I did the XNRG Pilgrims Challenge, which I completed a few weeks ago for the second time. A great ultra over 33 miles on Day 1 starting in Farnham along the North Downs and then back the following day. A great event, well organised by the XNRG crew and one I thoroughly recommend to tune up for the MDS. I had a look at my Garmin traces from the 2013 Pilgrims that I did and the main difference in me as a runner then and now was glaringly obvious: I would go out way too quick to start, blow up  half way through and suffer to the end. This worked out pretty well that weekend, my first 15 miles were done at an avg of between 7:30 and 8 min miles, and after that the pace rapidly declined.. Going back for this years edition a month or so ago I was keen to see if my more consistent approach that I have been favouring in training would result in me matching the overall time in the race I recorded 2 years ago and if indeed I came out of it more comfortably. Over the last few months a big part of my training has been Heart Rate Training, focussing on doing a large proportion of my training in the Aerobic Zone, which meant initially slow runs under the magic number of 146 bpm. Initially it was frustrating but over time my body has definitely become more efficient the result being that my pace has gone up whilst still under the threshold of 146 which has been pleasing to see.

Over the last 4 weeks or so I introduced more tempo, and hill training and have started to feel quite strong by all accounts, which has not been the case for a while. The Pilgrims was a great way to validate this method of training, the conditions were cold, muddy with a bit of snow, and day one went quite well with me finishing about 20 mins slower than last time but feeling a lot more comfortable and having run a lot more of the way rather than blast through then hang on. Day two was a struggle and I found it hard to even get out of my sleeping bag in the morning as it had been so cold overnight in the hall we slept in with all the other competitors. However get up I did and I finished the day after a considerable grind of 33 miles, but finish I did and although a bit slower than the previous time I did day 2 a couple of years ago there were positives to take away in respect of feeling stronger in the body and perhaps feeling I could have gone a little harder. And I kept reminding myself I have bigger goals this year to fulfil. I enjoyed the Pilgrims Challenge, it was great to catch up again with my fellow MDS'ers Gordon, Susie and Shaun, to meet some new friends, Mick and Jane and for my amazing other half Nicola to complete her first multi day ultra in amazing shape.

Alongside the MDS my main focus this year is going to be the Dragons Back Race, which is in late June.

I know this could well be the hardest thing I have ever attempted, 200 miles along the mountainous spine of Wales in 5 days, self navigating and taking in all of the Welsh 3000's in the first day, so I have been training with both this and MdS in mind. I know that the biggest part of these races is to be 100% committed mentally, however with the Dragons Back I am worried that not being near any major mountains here in Jersey may prove to be a major disadvantage when I hit the mountains of Wales. I have strategies in place which I hope will enable me to be as prepared as I can be to tackle the challenge, however the worry is there, lots to address, so I will be doing a mountain running course in March to address the navigational side of things, with a couple of recces of the Snowdonia Park in May to get a feel for the terrain as well as numerous hill rep sessions planned here in Jersey.

Lots to look forward to then, with my immediate focus now being the MDS. There are a few people from Jersey doing it this year as well as a few people from the 2013 edition going back for more so will be a great way to catch up with them. My plan is to go as minimalist as possible this time, with more emphasis on food and calories than equipment as this is where I felt the most feelgood factor could come from. I have started to compile the spreadsheet with weights of everything and it is looking like my WAA ultra bag (different to the Raidlight Olmo used last time - which I burnt!!) will be coming in at this stage around the 6.5KG weight when dry. This is the first pack but I do intend to be ruthless on equipment taken: No spare clothes, no camera, no slippers, no vastly inflated medical kit with the only luxury being my iPod nano and an auxiliary charger to ensure I have tunes the whole week should I need them. I intend to take more calories this time however, with either Mountain House or Expedition Foods getting my custom and I will be opting to take more in the way of desserts and more substantial breakfasts I think in place of the flapjack bars I took last time (some of which got nibbled at by night time visitors!) This last matter of food will be the thing I take most time over I think and I will ensure that there are plenty of varieties of foods and snacks to enjoy this time as I really struggled towards the end of the week with the same tastes.

My main goal for MDS is to complete it having felt like I have given it a good go and to also enjoy it; Last time I went out hard the first two days and crashed and burnt day 3 and 4 and blew my goals out of the water, in my opinion (and as demonstrated to me by numerous friends doing the MDS this way) the key to doing respectably in the MDS is in day 4 the long day, if you can get through the first 3 days well but without having given too much, if you have energy to do a good long day left then this is where positions can be made up. This is why a lot of my training has been focused on long slow distance as this was the big thing that struck me in this race is that consistency comes out top - apart form obviously the top elite runners! So thats the plan, training has gone well and I feel good about the strategy, another big goal for me for MDS is to be able to complete it and be able to recover quickly so that I can get back into training quickly for the Dragons Back which is in late June, about 2.5 months after MDS. I am currently training for both races, having started to now put in long hill sessions to get used to the climbing I will be doing in Wales with tempo, intervals and long runs as well. I have been training with a rucksack since November having been running home from work 3 or so nights a week with my WAA Rucksack loaded with all my work things, I actually weighted the bag the other night and it comes in around the 4KG mark which is a good start. I am spending atlas one day of my weekend on a long run with the WAA sack weighted up and running long as well.

In my last post I discussed the after effects of my last big challenge - 7 Ultra Marathons in 7 Days which took place in August last year here in Jersey. I thought then that I had recovered but I can say that it has probably taken me more like 5 to 6 months to recover. I took part in the Druids Challenge in November which was another XNRG organised event over 3 days along the Ridgeway in the South of England. I had an OK first day, and abysmal second day but everything seemed to fall into place for the third day and I ran really well, just like I would want to if I sat down and mapped it out in my mind before the race began. Proof that recovery from major events does indeed take a long time. I can honestly say that I didn't realise how long the effects of the 7 Ultras in 7 days would linger, tiredness and lethargy being the main symptoms, plus losing fitness and speed despite training. I discussed this back in October with a friend Graeme who had done the 145 mile Grand Union Canal Race in summer of last year and he had likened the few months after to running with an elastic band attached to him pulling him back. I can honestly empathise with that feeling!

So flicking back to something I mentioned earlier in this post: Commitment. A conversation I have had a few times and also heard is whether when you are a runner you run because you enjoy it or because you get to a point that being a runner is such a big part of who you are and your routine that you wouldn't know what to do if you didn't do it. I definitely experience both parts of the spectrum on this score, but mostly sit in the middle with the weekly routine being comforting and the goal of having something to train for a motivating factor that provides me with a great focus and meaning in my life. There are times when I hate the runs or just want to get them done, or don't want to do a particular session (like the other night where it was raining and I ran home from work dropped off my rucksack and then proceeded to do everything I could but step out the door to go do my hill session!) but I still get out there and do it 99% of the time as I know each session counts and makes up the confidence of starting a race knowing you have prepared for it to the best of your ability. Right now I have the Dragons Back as my "carrot" that I dangle and think about as I am doing my sessions, so the 15 loops I did of the tallest hill in Jersey (which is 330ft!) I was thinking about getting that magical 4,700 feet of elevation over ten miles which would equate to roughly a third of the first day of the DB. Its what I need to do to get ready so I have to bypass the actual monotony of doing that hill 15 times every 2 weeks and focus on the hopeful benefits it will give me when I am in the Welsh mountains.

Another aspect of commitment/motivation I have mulled over during my recent running years has been that of the reasons why I am doing things. I noted that a lot of people who are doing the MDS this year for the first time are nervous about it as it is the unknown and there is a significant time and financial investment which probably makes them feel as if there is a lot riding on this little trip to the desert. I remember feeling this way myself in the lead up to the 2013 edition and felt that it was the biggest thing I had ever done in my life. As I previously stated I am a lot more relaxed about this years edition as I know what to expect, how to train, what I need to take and not take so 85% of it is a known quantity this time round. Of course none of this means anything without the correct reasons to do this race. It is extreme and we run 140 - 150 miles in a week across the desert self supported in temps of up to 56 Deg C, so there needs to be a fundamental urge to want to complete this and to be willing to suffer to do so, otherwise as some people do, we would just fall at the first sign of hardship and call it a day. Looking back on all of the big challenges I have done where I have succeeded I had clear reasons why I was doing it: This meant that when the chips were down there was no room to quit as I was clear why I was there and why I was willing to suffer. I look back at the times where I didn't succeed in completing the challenges I set out to do and the opposite was true in most cases, I hadn't tapped in to the right motives for doing what I was doing so when times got hard and I was presented with an escape route I took it. Obviously other factors can and did come into play in some of those instances: GI Problems, getting lost, general wear and tear from a really hard years racing to name but a few. But I really believe that getting the head right and knowing why you are doing something and being willing to suffer for it will go a long way to ensuring you have the tools to complete any challenge you set out to do. I have good friends who have done some truly amazing challenges: UTMB, The Spine, running 100 miles on a track and the main denominator with them all is that they fundamentally enjoy it and are clear on why they are doing it. I have definitely taken leaves out of books from a lot of the people around me who run and just have a blast doing it as this has to be the main reason to want to run close to 50 miles a week and put yourself through these often  ruinous challenges.

For now the focus is on getting the last bit of training for the MDS, 5 weeks on Friday we will be setting off from Gatwick to Morrocco, plenty of time still to put the icing on the cake and get some quality in before the 30th Marathon Des Sables kicks off. Apparently there are some surprises planned, which will be interesting to see, some have speculated that Patrick Bauer would like to re position the MDS as "The toughest footrace on earth" by throwing in some real curveballs but these rumours did surface a couple of years ago also so we will see.. Until then its head down, get the money in the bank, stay injury free and get to the start in 5 weeks or so healthy!

RtRx7 The Aftermath - Or The Toll 7 Ultra Marathons Took On My Body 3 Months Later..

It’s just under 3 months after I ran 336 miles in one week, did 7 ultra marathons in 7 days and completed one of the most significant events in my life so far. Upon finishing the week my body broke down as soon as I crossed the finish line it felt, everything that had held together through the week suddenly sighed a sigh of relief and let go. I was limping on badly mangled toes and feet, with the skin of my feet after 3 days of finishing going really dry and blistering and all of my toenails bar one dropping off over the forthcoming weeks. But I did it! Rtrx7 was a success! After conceiving the idea a couple of years previously but being too scared to even utter the words out loud it was an amazing feeling to have attempted something original that no one else had done and said couldn’t be done and to have pulled it off.

 The challenge itself was to run 7 times around the island of Jersey in 7 days; 48 miles each day taking in coastal path, beach, road and cliffs which equated to about 4000ft of elevation each day. Someone I knew had already done 7 marathons in 7 days here in Jersey so this was the only way to up the ante. Little did I know what I was attempting! I knew it would be hard but I rationalised it that having done the Marathon Des Sables a year or so earlier I would have a lot of advantages compared to that; I would be able to be supported, I could fuel adequately, I could sleep in my own bed and it was going to be a lot cooler than the Sahara Desert.

So in the early part of 2014, plans came together and bit by bit the challenge became a reality, with the ultimate reality being when I lined up on the start of the 2014 Greenlight: Round The Rock ultra-marathon on Aug 2^nd. This was day one for me, and when everyone else had finished their stint, I would have to go home, recover and get up again and do it all over.

I won’t go into too much detail here about the challenge itself as I am hoping to sell the rights for the story to an award winning novelist or film maker and get Keanu Reeves to play me in the film. Suffice to say the week was hard, took me places I had never been in terms of despair and joy and is a definite cornerstone and reference point in my life.

The day after I had finished I woke up and was a little stiff and slightly hung over after a few glasses of champagne after a big do to celebrate completing it as well as the live televised lottery draw for the local charity I was raising money for – Jersey Hospice Care. It was a lovely feeling to know that I wouldn’t have to circumnavigate the island again that with the most testing thing I had to do being interviewed by a local radio station at 9am and to not say any swears inadvertently!

So what toll did the challenge take on me? My feet and toes were in a bad way, for about 3 weeks afterwards I had really bad dry skin on my feet and it was flaking off all over the show. I lost all my toenails bar one or two and had lots of callouses at various pressure points on my feet. Physically in an injury sense I was OK, going into the week I had a bit of a groin issue that I was a little worried about but this didn’t really become too much of a problem which I was thankful for. Injury was one of my biggest worries for the week as it was something that I couldn’t account for or foresee if it did occur but for 336 miles I came out of the week quite lightly.

3 months down the line I can now see that I was quite run down by the week after it was over. I took a couple of weeks off running after rtrx7 but was quite keen to get back into some form of exercise quite quickly as believe it or not I started to put weight on after the challenge quite quickly. I ran for 90 hours over the week and burnt and estimated 35,000 calories and was nowhere near replacing these but seemed to not have any adverse weight loss, which was good. During the MDS I lost a lot of weight quickly and people commented how emaciated I looked at the end of the week, so I expected something similar for RtRx7. I think my body was in shock to be honest and wasn’t sure what was going on, almost as if it went into survival mode and wanted to then hang on to any calories that I put into it. It is something that has continued over the last couple of months with my weight going up and normal training not being enough to sustain my usual running weight, which has been a little troublesome; being lighter = going faster and my initial goal after RtRx7 was to run the Jersey Marathon in early October. I started to speed train at the track and do shorter more intense runs a few weeks later, reasoning that shorter runs would be good for the body. The first track session I did was “interesting” to say the least and I struggled, on a superficial level I felt recovered I think but under the surface I was needing to rest or at least exercise at a much lower intensity.

Through September I built the training with Jersey as my goal. It was good to have a goal after the euphoria of completing RtRx7, it was a massive part of 2014 and as happens after these things there was a come down, which I expected to a degree having done things like this before. I was mostly pleased to have done it, but it was taking time to process the week. It was intense; 90 hours of running which when coupled with recovery, eating and sleeping didn’t leave much time for reflection or leisure time. For the first week or so afterwards I was dreaming I was running around the island and would wake up tired as if I had done the actual run! Processing the week was an ongoing thing and one I enjoyed, lots of photos were taken, lots of messages sent in support through the week and lots of positive take aways in general, I would say now I have processed it all and it is almost as if it never happened, just like being back in work on a Monday morning after being away in Barbados for 2 weeks previously and by lunch time it being as if you had never been away. The memories are there, but almost as if it was someone else living it.

A big issue for me over the 3 months since has been tiredness: I remember googling how to recover from something like this and there weren’t many search results that gave any meaningful advice as there are few documented precedents. There are the usual rules of one days recovery for every mile you have ran, which would have meant me not running til the following July, by which time had the weight gain continued I would have been a wallowing blob sitting there unable to see my feet and having to be lifted to the loo by a crane! I was back in work a week later and I was going to bed at 10pm most nights and getting up at 8am to try and recuperate, I became obsessed with sleep; how much I could get, how to make it up if I couldn’t get my ten hours that night and when I could snooze over the weekend. I have always like sleep to be fair but it took on an extra sense of urgency and at the time I didn’t realise how much toll the challenge had taken me, only now with the benefit of hindsight can I see it. I met a friend of mine Graeme a few weeks ago who had completed the Grand Union Canal Race back at the start of the summer, which is a 145 mile race along the Grand Union Canal. He was in a similar boat to me and said that it took him 3 months to get over it fully, likening running during that time to having an elastic band attached and someone holding on to it whilst trying to run, a feeling I completely empathised with.

I think it is natural for us runners to want to do what we do best and to be in full training and not to be tapering or recovering. I for one only paid lip service to recovery runs, recovery periods, periodization and proper tapering, taking them only when I started to feel jaded rather than being proactive. In the last couple of weeks however I have started to read a book about the 80/20 training principle which in short is a training method where 80 % of training done is performed at sub lactic thresholds and the other 20% is done above as this is the optimal ratio to get the benefits of training, the result being that when an athlete comes to do the 20% aspect they are more rested to hit it hard. The 80% enables the athlete to increase volume of training and therefore strength without stressing the body. I have enjoyed this book immensely and have adopted the principle wholeheartedly, having worked out my optimal zones and now training within them. It is early days but I feel more rested and relaxed after the sub lactic runs and have been burning off a lot of the weight from RtRx7 as a consequence of the training zones I have been working in. I think that had I been aware of this method I would have definitely adopted this post RtRx7 as it would have enabled me to train at a low intensity and maintain fitness but not push too hard in the initial stages of getting back to full training.

Next for me is the XNRG Druids Challenge this weekend; average of 29 miles per day for 3 days this will be a great test to see just how far down the recovery road I am. The goal is to get out and enjoy the weekend primarily and hopefully get a good solid performance in as well. Training in earnest will begin soon for the 2015 Marathon Des Sables in April, and I have secured a place for the race of all races The Dragons Back which takes place in June 2015. Lots to train for and lots to look forward to over the coming year!

The fundraising and challenge is completed for RtRx7 for those of you who missed it I put together a little video of the week to show what went into it, available here:

The challenge would not have happened without the support of the following companies: Marks and Spencer Jersey, Clink Hostels, BNP Paribas Jersey and Mymemory.co.uk.

The people who helped me with the organisation of both the fundraising and through the week were many: big thanks to Karl Moss, Ben Garland, David Stokes, Bruno Francisco, Rod Bryans, Euros Williams, Steve Hayes, Peter Wright, Simon Lester, Shane Hugill, Simon Mackenzie, Robbie Campbell, James Hope, Dave Double, Will Evans, Anna Goncalves, Shaun Maloret, Sam Horsfall, Neil Ginnis, Trisha and Darren from Yoga Matters, Piers De Gruchy, Bryce Alford, Cameron Purcell, Brendan Roberts, Sam Wade, Mark Nicol, Lee De St Croix, Jemma Jelley, Neil Walker, Thomas Robertson, John McGovern and the one person who held the whole operation together Nicola Gott – without her I could not have got through the week, she was there to take me to the start every morning at 6:30am and to drop me home every night, sometimes at 10:15pm, some might say she had a harder week than me and I would be inclined to agree!! I have tried to name everyone there so hopefully I have got everyone..

Finally I would like to say that I hit the target of £15,000.00 raised for Jersey Hospice Care due to the massive generosity of everyone who donated and big donations from Clink Hostels who gave £2000.00 to the cause and my place of work BNP Paribas who donated £2,200.00. I would like to thank them both as well as everyone else who donated and showed their support.

Been A While...

Its been a little while since my last post. I think like alot of people who have done the MDS this year after the excitement and the focus of that and all the preparation that went into that nothing else I have done this year seems exciting enough to write about!

That's not to say of course that nothing has been happening on the running front this year, on the contrary: I mentioned entering the Spine Race (Britains Toughest Foot Race!) in my post MDS writeup, a 270 mile race along the Pennine Way in 7 days at the start of January 2014. So this kind of set the scene for the type of running I intended to do this year.

Starting with a great run out at the South Downs a few weeks after the MDS, my friend Simon McKenzie and I went over and ran from Worthing to Eastbourne which was about 40 miles. This was my first time on the Downs and I really enjoyed it, encouraging me to enter the South Downs Way 100 miler in June of 2014! So far there are 6 of us going across from Jersey so will not only be a great race to be a part of but will also be great to share with some of my good running friends here.

In June I ran the Yorkshire 3 Peaks with fellow MDS veteran Graeme Harvey, the 3 Peaks starting in Horton in Yorkshire takes in the 3 peaks of Pen Y Ghent, Ingleborough and Whernside. We were lucky and the weather was amazing that day, a real good first experience of the Pennine Way for me.

At The Top Of Whernside

Later on in June I took part in the annual ITEX walk which is a 48 mile walk around Jersey, a friend Phil and I ran this as we both had ultra races coming  up and saw this as a great sharpener for those. We ended up being the first to cross the line which although most of the 1000 entered walked there were probably 40 or so people who chose to run. The conditions were very un June like with rain, winds and generally quite a miserable day. I felt for the walkers, some of whom spent 18 hours plus out there in that!

Phil Taylor and I (Notice How Pleased I Look To Finish!)

The main focus of my summer was the Round The Rock Ultra Marathon which is in its 3rd year here in Jersey and was my first ultra back in 2011. I love the race, I know the cliffpaths well and so this year I decided to try and make it a focus to try and further improve on last years time of 8 hours 25 for the 48 miles. I think over the last 6 months I feel I have made great leaps forward in my running both physically and mentally having looked at the lessons learnt from the MDS and trying to apply them to my training. I also have been working with local coach Bruno Francisco for nearly 3 months which has given me a real shake up in the training sessions that I am doing and providing  a point for each session.

Me During Round The Rock

I therefore was looking at Round the Rock as "The" race to try and take all I have learnt and to try and hit the next level (whatever that may be!!).. The race itself turned out to be a massive learning curve regarding mental preparation, my expectations of myself and also responding to external stimuli in races:

Mental Preparation
Having done the MDS I recognised a few key areas where I could have improved: The biggest being was "Belief," I think in my heart of hearts I didn't truly believe that I could achieve the goals I had set for myself despite having high expectations of myself. Over the last few months I have been thinking alot about this and analysing my thoughts when the going gets tough during a run to try and head off any negative self talk before it jeopardizes my state of mind completely. Previously as soon as I started to feel fatigue I would envisage in my mind the slippery slope to decline so would be in a negative state for the rest of the run, when in actuality fatigue can be helped by eating food or stretching or whatever the situation calls for at the time. I think this was quite liberating for me and it has helped to keep my performance at a sustained level for longer which I hope will equal quicker times and less physical decline over distance. I have recently been reading alot about the power of positive thought particularly a really interesting blog by ultra runner Stuart Mills, which seemed to answer alot of the question I had about the mental side of running, I think the preparation side of things is a key part but also being able to maintain a positive frame of mind whilst running by deflecting  the gremlins in my head telling me its all going wrong or whatever message of doom it might be..
Stuart has talked at length about maintaining positivity and I think the key message I got from his blog as well as other sources is that preparation, visualisation and having strategies to deal with the problems that may arise during a long distance run are key to this. I wont go on too much about these as these are things I have learnt from other people, suffice to say that they can be very powerful aids.

Expectations
I think with this being my 3rd Round The Rock I was starting to focus on trying to get a better result in both time and race position than perhaps my previous outings. I felt a definite shift in my mental attitude from "Will I finish?" to "How well will I finish?" which was nice as it meant that my confidence as a runner has developed, however I think this then led me to have slightly unrealistic expectations; I think the key lesson I learnt was to always have expectations that I can control, e.g. time based rather than external e.g. a position in race. The main thing being that you cannot control who turns up to a race, who has a good day and who ultimately places better or worse than you and focussing on this is a surefire recipe for breeding negativity as invariably races done really go to the plan you set!

Responding to External Stimuli
This feeds on from the expectations point previously; being aware of what other people and being affected by them overtaking you for example is another surefire way of breeding negativity. I recall during the race being overtaken by somebody and me then proceeding to berate myself as I wasnt dancing up the steps as quickly or as well as he was. I think this then fed into my state of mind and I think as negativity increased performance, energy, desire and general enjoyment decreased.

I therefore think that in answer to the points raised above I have been thinking about, reading about and actively trying to implement changes so that leading into my next race I hope to be a lot mentally tougher having applied the lessons I learnt from Round The Rock. I placed 10th overall in the race in a time of 8 hours which a year ago I would have taken with both hands, however I was 1/2 an hour slower than my predicted/goal time but I took so much away from the race. I think the expectation I have of myself is high, I expect myself to perform higher and to push my boundaries and I believe this is one of the big things that has got me from being a 17 stone non runner 4 1/2 years ago to the point that I am now.

This Was Me In 2009...

So next up now is the Cotswolds Way 100 Mile Race on Sep 21st. It is just over 4 weeks to go and another opportunity for me to push my boundaries. I have never run this distance before and whilst training has been going well I am unsure what to expect. Well I guess it will probably hurt, but apart from that?? So I go into this race with no expectations which is a nice way to be, I would like to complete the race within the 30 hour time limit and that is all the pressure I have. I am looking forward to this race though, I have trained well and feel strong and as ready as I can be for the distance. Running 100 miles under your own steam is an amazing thing to have done, particularly along the Cotswolds Way which is meant to be beautiful, and I think finally doing the 100 mile distance will be an interesting experience..

I was in the Peak District over the weekend just gone and was training there for 2 days with a couple of guys from the MDS, Paul Minns and Adam Prentice and over the 2 days managed 55 miles with 9000ft of elevation. The Peak District is a beautiful place and the routes on both days whilst challenging and hilly were great. I take this into the Cotswolds as well as the Round The Rock race as a great platform. During my time in The Peak District I decided to downgrade my entry into The Spine Race to "The Spine Challenger" as I feel the full race might be slightly beyond my capabilities. The mountains are unpredictable places, as I witnessed last weekend even in the middle of summer.. I think good navigational skills, awareness of the route and general mountain craft are essential to complete the Spine Race, and whilst these are all things I intend to work on and have been working on I feel that the Challenger will give me a great insight into the race.

So whats left for 2013? After the Cotswolds Way 100 I will be doing the Round Rotherham 50 race, which is a Western States Qualifier, and then in December I go back to Dorset to do the Endurancelife CTS Dorset Ultra. This will be the third year I will go back to do it and after taking a wrong turn last year and placing 11th I have some unfinished business!!

Good luck to my friends Simon McKenzie and Shane Hugill who are taking part in The Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc TDS next Thursday!!

Back In The Groove... (Kind of)

I have been back from the MDS for 8 weeks now and one thing I can truly say is that it has certainly left its mark on me! I remember the last couple of days in the desert just wanting the whole thing to be over, but as soon as the race had finished my initial thought was "I could have done better.."
I have my sights firmly set on coming back in 2015 and I hope that by having learnt so much in my first outing I can come back stronger, faster and more prepared to hopefully achieve the things I wanted to in my first attempt.

So what have I been upto in the last 8 weeks or so? Well, here in Jersey I have turned into somewhat of a local celebrity! I had a great interview with the local newspaper and also an appearance on the local news and a local kids TV show "Puffins Plaice" The local media appearances have helped to boost my fundraising attempts and I am now over the £13,000 mark raised for Jersey Hospice Care.
Initially I was very tired and lethargic after getting back from Morocco, and for about 3 weeks I could not stop eating with sugary snacks and stuff that generally wasnt very good for me being what my body craved. This seems to have calmed down now thank god, as I would have been rolling around my next race otherwise!

I think after the focus of the last years building to the MDS upon completing it I was in a bit of an in-between place for a week or so. I had set myself goals for after the MDS but nothing major so it was important for me to get a few things set up to give me that reassuring goal to be heading towards. So... I am confirmed on the Spine Race in January, entitled "Britains most brutal race" it is a 270 mile in 7 days jaunt across the Pennine Way in the middle of winter! I must admit to being very tentative about this race as I have read blogs of people who have taken part in the race, which will be in its third year this year and it seems brutal, as promised! To get me ready however I have set up training weekends over the coming year every 6 weeks to 2 months apart in various mountainous areas in the UK to try and get experience of the mountains, navigation, hill climbing and the route. I view this is essential to be in with a shot of being both safe in the mountains and to give the event my best shot. My first experience of the Pennine Way being a few weekends ago with one of my MDS buddies Graeme. We did the Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge which is a 26 mile route taking in 3 Mountains - Pen Y Ghent, Whernside & Ingleborough. I have to say it was beautiful up there, we were blessed with an amazing day, the weather was amazing and the scenery stunning. A great introduction to the Pennine Way, although I figure it might be a little colder when I am back there in January!

I have recovered well after the MDS, with a few long challenging runs having been done. I did 40 miles of the South Downs way back at the start of May which again was another part of the country I have not visited and was another great day out with one of my Jersey running buddies Simon. It felt nice to get a long run like that under the belt and it confirmed that the recovery was going well, plus I implemented alot of the lessons I learnt at the MDS about nutrition and pacing.

I now feel I have hit a new level with my running, and have been training well for my next race, Jersey's Round The Rock Ultra Marathon being held here on July 3rd. I have been working with a local endurance coach here Bruno who has been giving me great advice about periodisation and differing levels of intensity of training which I think is a big aspect of my training where I can improve. I am really looking forward to RtR this year, this being the 3rd year I have run it. I hope to break the 7hr 30 mark this year, last year I completed it in 8 hours 25 and the previous year in 9 hours 25 (my first ultra!) I see RtR as a real bench mark to see how I have prgoressed over the previous year and I count myself so lucky to have this Ultra Marathon on my front doorstep in Jersey. For those of you not from Jersey, we are lucky to have some of the most amazing coastal paths, beaches and trails that you could wish for, I highly recommend the Round The Rock Ultra, a truly friendly, small, challenging ultra!

This year will then see me take part in my first 100 miler - The Cotswolds 100 in September. I am using Round The Rock as a stepping stone in terms of training, my goal being to complete the 100 miler and nothing more! I have discovered alot about running with no expectations in the last 4 or so months and find I enjoy the race alot better if I have multiple goals within a race, the goals are achievable so that i dont start to beat myself up too much if it all goes a bit wrong on the day, and that primarily I do enjoy the day, finish the race, and then worry about the other goals!

And I think this sums up the allure of Ultra Running for me - mind over matter on the day. There are so many variables in a long race that can affect your day both negatively and positively, and lately I have started to think alot about how I react when things start to go wrong in a race and really try to be mindful of this so that I dont beat myself up too much and get too downhearted. A classic example of this for me was during the 3rd day of the MDS, when I saw alot of people going past me and the voice in my head was saying "You've Blown This!" I think having been in the top 200 the previous 2 days and having finished fairly well both I was waiting for the crash rather than having confidence to believe that I could still do well even if I did have a hiccup on day 3. I got in at the end of that stage, not even bothering to check the stage result, which as it turned wasnt as bad as I feared and then made the decision to take it really easy on the long day as I doubted in my ability to get through. If only I had gone and checked out the facts by seeing the results I could have then made a better decision based in reality rather than what I thought was going on. This then altered my race and I lost quite a bit of time on the long day. I now see this as one of the most valuable lessons I have learnt and it has meant that I am now actively trying to "big myself up" on the long runs when the familiar demons start to chatter away! It seems to be working so far and I have been finishing longer runs alot more strongly due to my revised in run nutrition plan and just nipping negative thoughts in the bud before they are able to take a hold over me.



So overall the MDS was a massive learning experience, and has been a catalyst for me to try and get the very best out of myself for the upcoming races I have planned. I am looking forward to the running trips I have planned over the coming months; Snowdon with the guys from my tent in the MDS in July, The Peak District with Paul from the MDS in August, The Snowdon Marathon in October and then who knows what in the latter part of the year. Lots to look forward to and I am sure the running in the UK will do nothing but improve my running and also increase my love of it.

Call for comments - I am really interested to know the reasons you guys run? What is the allure of running for you? Whether it be ultra, road, trail, 10k or round the block! What do you get out of running?

Marathon Des Sables Kit - What Worked and What Didn't

To get to the start line of the Marathon Des Sables took a lot of preparation. Both in terms of training and the equipment  I used for the week. In the months leading up to the race I made so many decisions about equipment, then went back on those decisions then re visited them again with limited knowledge really about some of the equipment I eventually chose to take to the desert. It was effectively a leap of faith heading out to Morocco with the equipment and having now completed the MDS I now have a much better idea of the things I would take, the training I would do and the strategy I would adopt to give a good showing if I was to do it again.

So what worked and what didn't for me? Equipment choice for the MDS and indeed any race is a deeply personal thing, what works for some may not work for others and vice versa so these opinions are based on my own personal opinions and experiences :)

Me At The Finish Line :)

Marathon Des Sables Equipment List:

Raidlight Olmo 20L + 4L Front Pack (new version) -  So the rucksack choice of many competitors, I really felt that the Olmo was the one for me before the MDS. It had elements of Salomon design in it and seemed well thought out. Alas it was not to be! The waist strap was terrible giving no hip support if you needed to take the strain off the shoulders. I found the front pack to be cumbersome, on the first day I put the bottles in the holders on the front pack which meant I had a solid weight banging into me for the duration of the first 23 miles. I had to tie a bit of elastic around me to keep the pack from banging! Day 2 I opted for the bottles in the shoulder holders which meant that I couldnt tie the chest strap as it obscured the race number! I then employed aforementioned bit of elastic as a makeshift chest strap which I had to pull over my head in a convoluted manner, which as you can imagine was great fun on the long day when I didnt know my a55 from my elbow! To add insult to injury on the long day Marco Olmo passed me and even he (the man who the pack was designed for!) wasnt wearing it, choosing to opt for the official WAA MDS pack. If I was to go back (watch this space..) I would opt for the MDS backpack in a heart beat.. 

Raidlight Combi Duvet Sleeping Bag - In our tent we were pretty down on Raidlight stuff I must admit. But the combo duvet really did come up trumps for me. Paired with the silk liner below on the cooler nights it was plenty warm enough and was great without the liner for most nights. I love the zips that allow you to place the arms outside the bag as well as the functionality of being able to convert it into a puffa jacket - Awesome bit of kit that packs down well.

Eurohike Silk Liner- Great bit of kit that weighed next to nothing yet brought the temp rating of my sleeping bag up considerably. Essential in my opinion.

Mammut Inflatable Pillow - I am used to camping and that and the thing that always ensures a good nights sleep for me is a pillow. This pillow was great. It doesnt replace a real pillow (obviously!) but it was a good second. I was filling my rucksack with my clothes and using this and it was pretty comfy. One night I thought I was being smart by taking my food out and using only clothes, had a great nights sleep until the morning when I awoke to find a desert creature of some description had been eating my food! So squashed food it was for the rest of the week..

2 x Salomon Triangular Bottles 640ml - I have used these bottles all winter in training, they are triangular in shape and this stops them rocking about in holsters. Fitted well in the Olmo holster and were perfectly reliable. Only downside was that the water would get hot quickly. If I was to go again I would look at insulating them in some way. These were the lightest set of bottle I owned compared to Camelbak Podium and Raidlight bottles.

Montane Marathon Jacket - This is a great jacket that I had owned for a while before. Super light and is windproof and waterproof to a certain degree. I didnt need to use it so often whilst I was there but good to have in the bag. Packs down to almost nothing.

Inov 8 Mistlite Trousers - I bought these as a last minute purchase. I think they are 120g and great for wearing at night. I made the mistake of wearing them in the day and it was like wearing a bin bag! But very light and again packed down small.

Petzl Tikka 2 Head Torch - Was a little unsure about choice of head torch. Had this and an LED Lenser kindly given to me by a fellow MDS er Stuart. I went with the Petzl purely because I had used it in the winter a few times and it worked well. I used it alot in the evening and on the long stage and it was perfectly adequate. It wasnt the brightest out there, I recall seeing some guy at 3am in the morning on the long stage who looked like he had a car headlight strapped to his head, but it did the business.

Sundog Goggles - I didnt use these so not sure how good they were :)

Sandisk Sansa Clip MP3 Player - This was one of my luxury items. It cost me £20 from ebay and could be expanded with a Micro SD card. Weighs 20grams and so was a no brainer. The battery lasted well, got 12 hours out of it which was awesome.

Swiss Army Knife Mini - Essential bit of kit. Got so may uses over the week; cutting tape, opening packs, cutting bottles up to cook and wash stuff in, cutting straps back, the list goes on. Really good scissors and blade, awesome!

Suunto Ambit GPS Watch - This was a great bit of kit - GPS on 1 min intervals and it lasted me the whole week. Perfect for the desert as there werent too many turns and twists which meant the one min interval worked well. I tend to rely on GPS and as pleased this lasted the distance. Its a great watch, giving lots of information apart from the usual Pace, distance etc it gives the temperature, ascent, descent and doubles as a compass.

On The Last Day.. When The Wheels Fell Off!

Kodak Playsport Video Camera - Another luxury item, but I really wanted to document my time out there in the desert. This worked so well, took amazing quality footage for the price and size and the battery lasted the whole week with sparing use. I am so glad I took this and used it to film video logs every day, banter from the tent and other bits and pieces. The results of which can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7OjoHyoTZ0

Nuun Tablets (Electrolytes) - I had to mention these.. I took a couple of these a day along with the salt tablets so kept dehydration mostly at bay. However I dont think I will ever be able to stomach these again. The mixture of one of these with lukewarm water turns my stomach even now! :)

Tyvek Suit - I think if I go out again I will just take one of these. I had one before technical checks and decided to opt for the montane jacket and inov8 pants. The tyvek suit is awesome though, keeps you warm but alos seems breathable. I was lucky enough to borrow one off one of my tent mates Guy during the rest day and wore it when it was boiling hot and it worked well. Very light weight as well.

Esbit Titanium Stove - Cooking on the stove was one of the things I hadnt practiced before I came out to the desert. These stoves were awesome to be fair. Hard to light if it was windy (but our resident fire expert Guy took care of making sure the fire was always in the right place - cheers Guy!!) but did the job and boiled the water. We all would cook up at the same time so found that in actuality we could have probably got away with one or 2 stoves between us all. We started to run low on tablets towards the end even though we had alot between us, but I think alot of people were getting rid of things like that by the end of the week to reduce weight so prob wouldnt have been too much of a problem.

Varga Titanium Mug - Bit of a bargain buy this. I got it from the US Ebay for about £15 cheaper than the UK price. No way I was going to pay £35 for a mug! It was a great bit of kit. I got the 400ml version which boiled enough water to cook a meal which was mostly all I needed it for. I put stuff in it when in the rucksack and it was so light I barely knew it was there. At some point in the week I tried to use it as a foam roller which made it warp into a slightly oval shape..

Salomon Exo Wings Twin Skin Shorts - I love Salomon stuff full stop, and these shorts were great. I wore these all week and they didnt rub, chafe or give any gip at all. I like the support that they give and I washed them when I got back and they are as good as new.. 

X-Bionic Fennec Cycle Shirt - Alot of hype surrounding these shirts and they are expensive. However the fennec was the shirt of choice for alot of UK desert runners this season.. In my opionion the shirt worked well. I didnt feel the heat really until the temp started to get a bit silly and hit 54 deg C on day 4.. Highly recommended. I got the fennec cycle shirt  as it was on offer on Start Fitness at the time for £60 which was a big saving on the rrp. The cycle shirt is essentially the same with a little zip at the front and pockets on the back.

Salomon XA+ Desert Hat - Another Salomon item that did the job well. I had used the hat a bit previously and the side curtainy bit attaches via velcro. It kept me well protected from the sun and kept the back of my neck protected. 

Balega Running Socks - These were a bit of a late addition to my kit list at the recommendation of my running guru friend Craig. I tried them a few times before and they worked well out there in the desert. I didnt get any real blisters except a few hotspots which I addressed as I went. I was really lucky with my lack of blisters as the horror pictures you see on the internet of peoples feet during the MDS do actually happen. I saw alot of people hobbling around particularly towards the end of the week and how they lined up to complete the days running I dont know! Alot of courage  and a good mix of Ibuprofen I imagine!

Hilly Mono Skin Running Socks - When I did get blisters/hotspots they occurred when I wore these socks. These worked well in training but seemed to make my feet sweat profusely out there and then rub after a while. 

Compressport Calf Guards - I wore these on every day and they worked well. I know that the jury is out on calf guards and the science but they work for me! I didnt have any calf issues at all over the whole week, in fact I was surprised to report no major niggles/strains/aches or DOMS the whole week! I came armed with Ibuprofen and Paracetamol but only had to use a dose of each the whole week. 

Raidlight (Red) Sand Gaiters - These worked well and kept sand out for the whole week. The gaiters are probably the most important bit of kit as they keep the sand out and therefore feet hopefully blister free. I did scuff them on rocks on the first day and had to gaffa tape them up but they did the business.

Raidlight Buff - Indispensable bit of kit this.. I think there are 12 different ways you can use a buff, I think I used mine as a beanie, a night cap, a sand mask, an eye mask at night a neck cooler and a snot rag! Awesome!

Tifosi Ventoux Sunglasses - bit of a gamble on these, I was advised to get reactor sunglasses as it gets windy at night and the lenses are good to protect the eyes from sand etc. These sunnies were amazing. Great in the day, perhaps not quite clear enough for night time use but they protected my eyes in the day and were virtually bomb proof! I gave them a run under the tap when I got home and a clean and they look as good as new after a week of abuse..

Saucony Mirage Trainers - Road shoes with a medial support in. Very light and a great trainer for me on the road and track previously. I sent them away to have velcro sowed on to them and they served me well. I bought them a size up but I dont feel I suffered from swollen feet excessively during the week.

Food: This was a much discussed issue on the MDS Page. We had a minimum calorific value requirement of 2000 calories per day and I spent alot of time deciding what to take. I decided to opt for the Ma Baker Flapjack Bars for breakfast which weighed in at 90g for just under 400 calories. I opted for the Expedition Foods Dehydrated meals for evening meal which tasted ok to be fair. I had a variety of flavours which all tasted like real food! I opted for Hammer Perpetuem Solids and Hammer Gels for my in race nutrition. The Solids were great for the first few days but after that I found them hard to digest and swallow as they are quite chalky. I find Perpetuem is a great source of energy normally in my day to day endurance training and racing just didnt work out so well in the desert. Hammer gels were good, these are my gel of choice usually and gave me a kick when needed. I opted for nuts and wine gums for treats and a Pepperami. These all worked well and I felt I had enough calories, well up until the night that I had the "visitor" in the tent anyway!! Luckily some of the guys in the tent were getting rid of food to cut down weight which meant I could replace the food that had been touched! Otherwise it could have been a hungry remaining Marathon Des Sables for me!

                                                                                                       

Back Home..

I am sat down writing this trying to process the most intense, insane, painful, joyful week of my life. I am unsure how to try and document what happened in the 2013 Marathon des Sables but will start by breaking it down day by day and see how it goes as this might be a useful resource for anyone wishing to give it a crack.

Gatwick - Morocco

We flew out on the Thursday and the sight of all the fellow MDS'ers at the South Terminal of Gatwick confirmed that this pipe dream that I had been obsessing about for nigh on 2 years was definitely happening! I bumped into a few people that I had met over the last few months at various races including some of my future tent mates for the week, Sally, Gordon and Tom.

The flight was pretty uneventful and we arrived in Ouzarzarte airport mid afternoon. The vibe was great, 300 UK runners all open to the event and open to each other, it reminded of my younger days when I travelled alot and everyone I met seemed so receptive and open to interaction, which was so refreshing.

The next morning we made our way to the desert, a 5.5 hour bus and 20 mins military truck journey to our campsite and home for the next 9 days or so... It was really sobering to see the campsite and I couldn't quite believe that this was happening! We settled into our tent a Berber tent with no sides.. The wind then rose up that afternoon and even a little bit of rain fell which certainly concerned me and I am sure my fellow tent mates. We sat in stunned silence contemplating the rainy windy week ahead. There was a mini sand storm and thankfully the weather then calmed down -  a great introduction to desert life, four seasons in one day almost!

Sunset On The First Night

Day 2 in the desert saw us going through the technical checks to show we had the necessary amount of calories, mandatory equipment and the like to do the race. We gave up our large suitcases full of our luxury items and suddenly my world shrank to the size of a 20L Raidlight rucksack, with one spare T shirt for the week, one spare pair of socks and plenty of dehydrated food, nuts and in retrospect not enough sweets! The evening came and we encountered our first speech given by Patrick Bauer. For this first speech he seemed quite restrained and this was another "pinch myself" moment to check that this was actually happening.

Day 1 of running saw us encountering our first 23 miles of desert terrain. Historically the 1st day was shorter and used to help the competitors acclimate to the heat and get used to desert racing. No such luck this time around and we were straight in at the sharp end! I spoke to someone on the way who had said that this was the toughest 1st day he had encountered and he had done it 3 times previously.. I attacked the first 18 miles thinking this was like 23 miles back home on my nice running routes in Jersey.. How wrong was I? I got to the final stretch; a long plain that seemed to go on and on and up and up in equal measure until we hit the top of the climb and there she was.. The finish line! Right out in the middle of a plain and a good couple of miles to get to it. Got there I did though and finished the first day pleased to get it under my belt and having not dug too deep at this point. The only real issue to come of the day was the rucksack I was using, the Raidlight Olmo 20 + 4 as reviewed in these hallowed pages previously was looking like it was not going to be up to the job - more about this later..

Day 2 of running - I awoke this morning feeling rested and recovered which was a great feeling. On todays menu of the weeks buffet of running was 18 miles up 3 Jebels (which are mountains) culminating in the Jebel Al Otfah, described to me by one of my fellow Brits as a "bit of a bugger." I set off at good pace and made good time to the first climb, got in single file with the rest of the runners and started to ascend, and ascend, and ascend.. Every corner seemed to be another climb but the summit came and soon enough we were descending on some beautiful technical rocky trail that soon took us into CP1. I loaded up on water and feeling good I headed off to the next climb a nice sandy, duney effort this time which promptly drained my legs. The views however were amazing and we were negotiating some really gnarly spines up there.. Upon ascent I hit a plain and started the run into CP2 and then the final climb of the day the mighty Jebel al Otfah, a true monster compared to the other climbs and I believe it claimed a few early DNF's from the race due to the severity.

Day 3 of running - I woke this day slightly out of sorts. A windy night had meant the tent collapsed a couple of times and I had not slept so well. Our email messages had been delivered to the tent and an admin cock up had meant that my emails were not there. I watched everyone reading their messages nearly in tears as I thought no one had emailed me! Luckily ten mins later someone from another tent came and gave me my messages they had been delivered to their tent by mistake. This set the tone for my day and although the 3rd day was primarily flat the heat was starting to rise and I was quite mindful of the 48 mile long day following this day. Flat didnt mean easy terrain however, 23 miles of salt plains and sandy sections with the odd climb, little wind and rising temperatures. I set out at a good clip to start with but upon hitting the salt lakes after CP1 I started to feel the last few days in my legs.. I soldiered on and started to engage a run/walk strategy as I didnt want to dig too deep before the 48 miler the following day. I encountered the flat plains again, the like of which seemed to become my nemesis over the week, I found the long flat distance difficult as they seemed to go on and on and distance became very distorted so what seemed like a short distance away never seemed to get closer which played havoc with my mindset particularly on this day.. I got to the finish nonetheless and set about recovering and getting my head right for the big day tomorrow.

Day 4 of running - The big one!! I made the call based on the previous days performance that to set out conservatively was going to be the right tactic for this day. I think the previous day had rattled me a bit and I was not willing to risk the chance of not completing the long day. I cant really describe the feeling of having 48 miles ahead of you having already 64 miles the 3 days previously. I really tried to focus on breaking down the distance into checkpoints and maintaining a brisk pace, which seemed to work ok. In 7 hours my tent mate Gordon and I had hit the half way mark and had endured temperatures of upto 54 degrees Celsius which didn't seem so hot at the time. Mid way through the afternoon we were lucky enough to see the top 50 come through, an awesome experience and the closest I got to Mohamed Al Hansal the eventual overall winner all week!! As the sun went down the cooler climes came and I felt inspired to run. I covered 12 miles in some manic hyperactive fit whilst grinning manically and gurning like a raver at Spike Island. I think the culmination of extreme heat, lots of salt tablets, too many sugary snacks and way too much thrash metal on my ipod took its toll, I lost the plot and remember seeing our photographer Kirsten after checkpoint 4 and proclaiming that I "felt amazing!!" I didnt feel so amazing about and hour and a half later when I needed to go to the loo and was promptly sick at the same time.. Good memories that. I made it to the next check point which was the last one and I had to sleep off the nausea. I was resigned to sleeping through the night and resuming my odyssey the following morning, however a trio of scouse lads rocked into my tent proceeded to talk very loud and awake me from my slumber. I hooked up with these guys and made the last 10km deathmarch back to the finish with them on a perpetual incline and a magic finish line that never actually seemed to get any closer.. I eventually finished this day at 3:30am a broken, shadow of the confident Paul that set out on day one..

Day 5 - Rest Day. After getting in at 3:30am from the long day I woke at 5:30am to the sun shining in my face and it already feeling quite warm. This was the rest day and we had been promised at 4:30pm we would receive a can of Coca Cola. I counted down the hours til that little beauty came and savoured every last mouthful of it.. The rest of the day we hung out ate dehdrated meals, fantasised about proper food, compared war stories about the long day and waited for some of our other tent mates to arrive back. It was a very hot day and being in the tent was quite tough as it is black and seemed to attract the heat.. (not sure why?) It did cool down by the evening though and it was time to bury the trauma of the long day and start to look ahead to the last stage - The marathon stage.

Day 6 of running - marathon day! This was the day that we had all been looking forward to the last proper stage of this years race. It was 26 miles and the heat had risen even more so. I decided to go out hard on this stage as I wanted to try and right the loss of time on the long day - basically a death or glory strategy with high risk or high reward. I am sure you can guess what happened next? I ran like a gazelle across the Sahara desert making mince meat of those dunes, skipping gaily through the best that North Africa had to throw at me...... For 6 miles I did anyway! I got to CP1 and took on water and was feeling uncharacteristically thirsty. I necked the bottle threw some more over me and nonchalantly hit the road to the second check point. It was around mid way through this section that the proverbial wheels started to fall off and I realised I was horrendously dehydrated (perhaps the fact that I hadn't wee'd for nearly 2 days wasnt enough of a giveaway? Call me crazy!!??) and I was caked in salt which is a dead give away. I started to drink the water I had to try and undo the damage caused and promptly ran out of water with about a mile and a half to CP2. This was the first time this had happened and being so thirsty was a little scary. I toughed it out though got to the CP and took all the water on offer which by this point was luke warm!! After making it through this CP we hit a dune section and I was deteriorating quicky, vision was going blurry and I just couldnt seem to find respite from the sun. I slowed to a shuffle and traipsed through the dunes a sad forlorn figure determined to make it to the end and to fight out whatever way I had to to get there. I found every hill the biggest challenge and as well as feeling dehydrated I was nauseous which meant I was running low on energy. I finally made it to the last checkpoint and took 20 minutes to get my act together. I managed to get some jelly beans off a very kind person which seemed to perk me up and fortify me for the last leg of the journey. Along the way I met a great American guy Russell who was struggling as much as me and we walked the last 10km together. We got over the finish line and I received my medal and hug from Patrick Bauer. I must say that he truly engaged me when I spoke to him, that day he gave out 1000 medals and hugs and I bet every person who crossed that line would say the same.

The main man and I!

The Medal

I must say that the race was amazing and anyone thinking of doing it should grab the opportunity with both hands, its not just about the race; the camaraderie, the opportunity to truly push ones limits, the experience of running in the Sahara and the sense of achievement after having actually gone through all the above make up the whole package.

I would dearly like to thank everyone who messaged me during the MDS. This alone was a major contributor to my completing the race. It was so tough out there both physically and mentally. I came within sight of my limits many times but I also really enjoyed it at the same time. The people I met out there will hopefully be people I will have in my life for a long long time and this was a big part of the experience for me. My tent mates were awesome and also the other guys I either knew previously or met at various stages of the race.



So what next for me? Well As soon as I crossed the line at the MDS my initial though was "I could have done better.." So I have made tentative enquiries about going back next year to Morocco. I have registered interest for 2015 as well. Prior to the finish there was no way I was going back but the race has a magical quality. I am also on the waiting list for The Spine Race which is billed as "Britains most brutal race" which takes in approx 260 miles across the Pennine Way in January. I am really conscious of getting another challenge on the cards as I want to maintain momentum and to be honest the MDS has redoubled my love for running! I will be doing Round the Rock here in Jersey on Aug 3rd and I will be doing my first 100 miler across the Cotswolds in September. So lots going on, the adventure has really only just began I feel..

My Welcome Home Committee!

On the fundraising side I have hit and exceeded the £12,000.00 mark which is amazing. The day before I went out to the desert I received a £1000 donation from Le Gallais and Luce a local solicitors firm as well as numerous very generous donations from friends and some people I have never met. If you would like to donate my just giving page is www.justgiving.com/Paulsdesertrun. I ran the MDS in aid of Jersey Hospice Care and in memory of Natalie Moss a dear friend of mine who sadly passed away about a year ago and spent the last 6 weeks of her life in Jersey Hospice. I thought about Natalie a lot whilst doing the race and toasted her with my friend Pete when I crossed the finish line. I had a really touching message from one of my friends saying that there was a beautiful young lady who was taken too soon looking down on me amazed and proud of what I was doing in her memory. I kept on turning this line over and over in my head as I went through the long stage at night, the scenery and stars being so beautiful that night that I could half believe that she was watching..

I really want to document the kit list and what worked well for me and what didn't, I will have a crack at this over this weekend. I intend to sleep and eat and sleep and eat a bit more this weekend.
I have put together a short video of my experiences in Morocco (click on movie below), I feel it gives a good taste of what we went through out there. Enjoy!