2013 miles in 2013

A week or so ago I passed a nice little landmark – 2013 miles ran in the year 2013. It was a goal I aspired to last year but didn’t make it falling short by some 400 miles in the end! It’s a pleasing landmark in a few ways really: Over the last 3 years I have been running “competitively” and I have been tracking my mileage over those years by way of a very complex spreadsheet that has grown the more I have run and got more fascinated by data. The 2013 version is a 19 sheet Excel Monster with training log, food log, lessons learnt from races log, split calculator, results graphs and any other type of running related data you care to mention. Its been great to see my weekly/monthly and yearly mileage/elevation and pace grow year on year and I think my ability and strength has grown as a side product of it. To be fit and healthy enough to have run that amount of miles is a blessing and I am grateful for this every day. 

 

I guess one of my primary motivators to run is data – I am a data geek! The thrill I get from comparing speed work-outs from this time last year to this year and seeing that I have increased ¼ minute per mile is second only to high I get from that perfect run you get now and again, when body, heart, mind and legs all work in synch, you smash the uphills, glide down the downhills and picture yourself as Killian owning the Matterhorn or some such other appropriate mountainous landmark. This doesn’t happen every run – for every one of these types of runs there are a few where I am blowing out of my ears, running style resembling a carthorse, energy deficient and trying to hang on to the pack for dear life! But back to data, another part of my data pleasure is inputting the miles into my training log and seeing the miles tot up week after week, I like nothing more than updating my weekends runs after a hard weekend of back to back runs. I have found data so useful in my journey over the last 3 years, I remember after running my first marathon – London in 2011 and having used no Garmin I had no idea how I had paced myself and so the new dawn arrived.. I bought a Garmin, got used to the paces that I ran at and generally started training to a plan based on split times, predicted paces, tempo paces, cruisey run paces etc etc – time became my friend!

I think over this last year I have gone beyond time and started to run alot more on feel.  I have however started to use Heart Rate data more and keep to an eye on pace during tempo runs, but feel that I have got to know how I feel and place more importance on running the best I can at any given moment; whether that be attacking the hill in the best way, descending well, recovering well and taking advantage off the hill and on the flat or whatever it may be as long as at the end of the session or race I can walk away knowing I gave the best for most of it I am happy. I have found running on feel liberating and its nice to not be glancing at the watch every few mins trying to stay on a pace schedule particularly during longer races, I always found pace predictions or aspirations could quite easily turn into a stick to beat yourself with if you don’t hit the splits and can be disheartening which is no good to anyone! Its good to have a plan however but its also good to be flexible should the wheels fall off.. And they will fall off sometimes! 

Another pleasant side effect of focusing on running the best I can at any given moment is that I have begun to stop focussing on others during races; positions and rivalries are all external factors that I can’t control, and I recall a few scenarios this year where I was set on placing and had a bad day, then getting overtaken by some one gliding past and my head dropping even further to make an average day a bit of a nightmare as the negativity crept in. I think now that I am a little easier on myself, if it isn’t a good day then it isn’t a good day, but the great thing with Ultras is that things can turn around in a matter of miles so to always be in the game its important to always have a positive frame of mind and high spirits. In the races I have done this year I have seen apparently “slower starters” build through races and finish strongly at the higher end of the field, I’ve seen runners go out strong and fast and finish well, and I have also unfortunately seen people go out strong and blow up in spectacular style or even have to retire, the lesson of this being that nothing is set in stone at the start; anything can happen to me and to others in an ultra so being affected by the goings on around me is a fools errand and it is better to focus on the things I can control and doing the best I can at any given time.

 

In an earlier post I posted a photo of me where there was slightly more of me about 4 or 5 years ago. I think since then I have changed beyond recognition both physically and as a person. Running is my niche, before that I felt like I was a square peg in a round hole in general in life, always something missing which I desperately tried to fill by throwing myself into activities, eating lots of food and anything else I felt would help me unveil exactly where I fitted in this life..

Another Blast From The Past! :-)

The big catalyst for my change I guess was entering the MDS, before that I had done the London marathon and I kind of liked running, I liked the health gains and I definitely liked the weight management side of it, however I hadn’t discovered the “being at one with nature” hippy type stuff yet, or even the thrill of being able run 50 miles under your own power.. But all this was to come, after entering the MDS, my first ultra marathon followed, set here in Jersey “Round The Rock” in 2011 was my baptism of fire into this murky underworld, then ultra after ultra followed and slowly my life became entangled with the biggest fixation so far of my time on this planet.

 

2013 has been a massive year for me – 6 ultras completed so far with another one to go – my first Marathon Des Sables, my first 100 miler, my first DNF (did not finish in aforementioned 100 miler!) my first (joint) win in a race (technically not a race – the ITEX 48 miler here in Jersey- but I’m having it anyway! There were about 40 or so runners taking part and lots of walkers) and a few podium places in various shorter distance races. I am lucky enough to now be coached by Bruno Francisco - a great runner himself - I have found I have developed exponentially since we started working together. Each session now has a goal and each week is specific to where I am in the race calendar – taper, recovery, race, building phase so I feel alot more reassured in my build up to a race that I have done all the right work at the right time, another vital part of the race day confidence jigsaw. Not to mention the camaraderie that has developed here in Jersey over the last year, there is a real scene here now and this is shown by the willingness of perfectly normal, sane people to show up in dodgy car parks on the north coast of Jersey at ungodly hours to run obscene cliffpaths in sometimes obscene, sometimes sublime conditions.

 

Having just taken part in (17th Nov) the Jersey half marathon the weekend just gone, it wasn't really the plan to do any road based races this year as I have been all about the ultra trail races. I was nice to have a change of tempo, to do a shorter race and the chance to measure where I am on the road against my previous time on the same course this time last year. My PB going into the race was 1:27:39 and I managed to knock a minute off that in the end. I was so pleased with this having done no road running or speed work to speak of this year. I sincerely believe the strength and miles in my legs have transpired to give me the ability to maintain higher speed over a longer distance, a real pleasing side effect for sure. 

 

Next up after that is The Endurancelife CTS Dorset Ultra on December 7th. I did the marathon version of this in 2011 and the Ultra last year so its a bit of a regular race in the diary in one way or another. Another great chance to measure where I am this year compared to last year on the brutal climbs of the Dorset coastline, a great benchmark, and also it is great to be going over with another 9 Jersey runners to take part in various distances ranging from the 10km, the half marathon and the 34 mile ultra. It promises to be a great weekend of running and the start of a great tradition of Ultra Team Jersey runners going over to compete in races in the UK.

So out of the people who read this blog I am really interested to know people's motivations for getting up and doing the training, doing races, doing ultras, are there any other "data geeks" out there? Please feel free to comment. 

More to come after the Dorset Ultra 

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!

Off To The Desert..

This afternoon I fly out from Jersey to London and will meet up with a few of the Brits taking part in the MDS. Tomorrow morning we all check in for our flight to Morocco, so all the scenes I have been anticipating and playing in my head will start to happen.. Picture 300 runners all checking in at Gatwick race backpacks giving them away as to their destination.. A lot of us have been in touch either through the Facebook MDS group or having actually met at the various ultra races we have been doing to get ready for the challenge we shall be starting on Sunday, so I am very excited about meeting people I have been chatting to as well as making new acquaintances..

The training is done, the packing is 99% done and all thats left is to get there and give this thing my best shot. I have one agenda and that is to walk away from the race knowing I have given my absolute best, I hope that my best is enough for me to complete the race. 

Someone kindly posted this picture yesterday, which is the town near to which the first day starts (Merzouga). Not sure if this is the scale of the dunes we will be encountering we will see, but it seems quite high!!

The weather forecast at the race start appears to be a little on the low side.. I dont really believe in forecasts myself so will wait to see what the temp and conditions are when we get there:

I have the details of how you can contact me in the desert should you wish. My race number is 624 and all messages must state my full name Paul Burrows and race number or they won't get through to me. You can send me messages from 06 to 12 April 2013
Go to the website and follow the instructions: .http://www.marathondessables.com/
Find the section "write to competitors" (which will probably not be live until the weekend)Only messages with surname, first name and race ID number will be transferred.After 12 april, this email service will no longer be operational.Please don't send attachments (e.g. photos). This will cancel the message. Messages will be given to competitors in the bivouac every day. 

Please feel free to message me, this will be a massive boost to receive these, and will be greatly appreciated :)


So this is probably my last blog post before I head off.. Thanks for the support from everyone; The people who helped me with the fundraising (Karl Moss, Ben Garland, Nicola Gott, Bryce Alford, Jo Alford, Pete Wright, David Stokes, John Parker @ Mymemory.co.uk) The local businesses that have supported me (Sportsbug Jersey, Mymemory.co.uk, BNP Paribas Jersey, Bean Around The World, Cafe Jacs, Tonic Skin and Beauty, Craig Meredith at Fit2Function Jersey & Leanne Rive Personal Training) And the people who I have run with over this crazily long and cold winter (Peter Wright, Phil Taylor, Lee De St Croix, Simon McKenzie, Leanne Rive, Bryce Alford and Jodi Fowler particularly, but also all the guys at Jersey Spartans with who I ran circles around a track very fast 2 night a week in the dead of winter!! :) It's starting to sound like an Oscar speech but I  believe it is important to acknowledge the fact that all aspects of this challenge, the training, fundraising and general day to day have been made a lot easier by the support of my friends and the understanding of my non running friends (thanks guys!) when I haven't been able to come out for a night on the town because I was running the next day or just not been able to see much of them.

I am running the Marathon Des Sables in memory of Natalie Moss, a very dear friend and wife of my close friend Karl who sadly passed away just over a year ago. She was taken from us way too soon and all of us who knew her think of her every day. Natalie knew I was doing this race and she had seen a couple of the documentaries on the MDS, so she knew what I was in for! I often think of her courage and grace when she was going through her illness, she has inspired so many of us and really brought the friends she left behind close together. 

Our Friend Natalie - Sadly Missed xxx

The fundraising has been going really well for Jersey Hospice Care which is where Natalie spent her last 6 weeks. If you havent yet donated please visit http://www.justgiving.com/Paulsdesertrun and donate, no matter what the amount. We have just hit £9,450 and would be awesome to hit £10,000 this week with the ultimate target being £12000.

A Date With Destiny..

The preparation and the anticipation is about to come to fruition.. This is the last 9 days or so before I finally step on to the start line for the Marathon des Sable – the focus of my life it seems for the last 2 years and the end result to which I have been training for, talking about, and obsessing about!

I cant actually believe that in just over a week I will be lining up on the start line in the Moroccan Sahara contemplating the 150 miles ahead of me, AC/DC‘s “Highway to Hell” blaring out over loudspeakers, helicopters circling above and the sand underfoot. I feel prepared mainly; I know I have trained well for this, perhaps more than for any other race or indeed anything I have ever done! Over the last few weeks a lot more people locally are aware that I am doing the race, I have been in local magazines and on local radio which has had a positive knock on to the fundraising I have been doing for Jersey Hospice Care. I guess I am concerned now about things that I have no direct control over: What if the heat is too much? What if I get injured? What if I am not tough enough to get through the inevitable hard times? What if I can’t manage to carry my pack on the long day? What if I get too many blisters and have to quit? I think these are quite a lot of my main concerns as I don’t want to go out there and not succeed. I hope the training and racing I have done over the last 2 years has given me the strength and reserves of courage to carry me through when it gets hard going. I know for sure that a lot of my fellow MDS competitors will have very similar thoughts as we have all invested alot of time, energy and money at great personal expense; deferring nights out, time with friends, time with family and using up valuable holiday through the year to do crazy races just to get used to the type of hardship we will encounter in the desert. I have faced a number of challenges over the last couple of years particularly and have always been nervous about whether I will pass the test, and each time I have come through; my first marathon, my first ultra marathon, my first multi day ultra marathon and a lot more challenges on the way, so I would hope that by now I could draw that confidence and be assured of success.. But the doubt is still there J 

I am sure though that once on the start line and in the groove the game of ticking off the miles and bargaining with ones psyche will start and all will fall into place mile by mile..

The Achilles heel that I possess (as some of my fellow running friends will attest to) is that I often in races go out far too fast and peak far too soon and go down in a blaze of glory, whilst the people I passed at the beginning tread my limp body into the trail and use me as a point of reference for the “slow and steady wins the day” saying.. I also tend to set time or position goals in races and these often become a stick to beat myself with, as I heard it so eloquently described in an article the other day. My big challenge in the MDS is to ensure that I go out consistently and try to maintain a good average pace without redlining it, particularly in the first few days. I hope this is something that I can achieve as I believe this is the key to a good performance over a multi day race.

In the last week or so I have been taking it a little easier, favouring the longer taper for this race, which should see me get to Morocco rested, injury and niggle free, and more importantly psychologically rested to give the race my best. I think that the training over the last few months has been necessary and had definitely made me feel well prepared for the MDS, but as alluded to in my previous post I have found going out in the cold and wind progressively harder both mentally and physically the closer I have got to the race. I accept this as a natural side effect of training to high levels to achieve the goals I set myself and also trust in the fact that “rest is best” and within the next 9 days my body should spring back to life!

After the fundraiser on Saturday where Nicola Gott and I ran 21 miles on a treadmill each and raised £1,248 between us for Jersey Hospice I haven’t actually run due to other things getting in the way.. My body is in shock a little I think at the moment and doesn’t quite know what to do with this sudden period of inactivity. I am eating a similar amount to when I was in peak training and feeling sluggish and a little like a fish out of water currently.. I plan to do a few runs over the weekend as well as 4 or 5 days of intensive Bikram Yoga to try and get all the heat acclimatisation I can in before the off on Weds..

One of the things now I am most concerned about is the bugs that seem to be flying around everyone I know.. As anyone who has ever done an endurance event of any length will attest, as soon as you start to taper after all the training you do inevitably some kind of bug strikes, be it a cold, cough or flu.. I have been stocking up on veggies, fruit, and vitamins and being mindful of people with colds and bugs around me, which so far has been doing the trick.

I sat down last night and started to pack the things into my rucksack that I will be taking with me. I have been compiling a spreadsheet of all the items I intend to take with weights so that I have a rough estimate of how heavy the pack will be that I will run with. Bearing in mind that I have to carry my food and anything else I need for the week, I have had to be quite ruthless. I am trying to strike the balance between comfort and lightweight which has meant that the a few decisions have to be made and I think as is natural for us humans we tend to err on the side of caution, particularly as far as how much food to take to a situation we have no real reference points to and situations like that.. I am planning to take flapjack bars for breakfast and the dehydrated astronaut foods for dinner, with various in race nutrition planned also. This works out at around the 2,300 calorie per day mark which is possibly a little on the low side, but I have been reliably informed that you don’t get hungry in the desert and so i am going to trust in this advice and try and travel as light as possible to promote a quicker running pace. I spent a couple of hours the other night unpacking the meals out of their foil bagging and decanting them into freezer bags, thereby saving a whopping 70grams of weight once I was done! It has really got down to the point where 20 grams here and there makes a collective difference and can mean the difference between me galloping through the desert like a Gazelle or lurching through the desert like a drunken fool..

My BBC Radio Jersey Interview

This long weekend will see me finishing up packing the rucksack, minimising the weight in any conceivable way that I can. Rock n roll eh? Easter break with a pair of weighing scales and dehydrated foods!!

Fundraising has gone through the roof with the new total equalling £9364 so I have reset my target to £12,000.00 for Jersey Hospice Care. To donate please visit here.

Happy Easter All!

Getting The Hay In The Barn...

The last month has been a case of getting the miles done. 

I think so far this year I have run 580 miles which is well beyond my corresponding mileage of this time last year. It has been tough, both mentally dealing with the cold and the routine of training in some capacity every day of the week and also physically. The demands that such a regime places on the body and mind are not really something that is immediately obvious (at least in my case) however I have found that over the last 2 months I have had little time for little else than anything MDS related. The effects of these demands definitely came to a head for me the last weekend, I did my 2 back to back long days of 20 miles and 14 miles and by the end had had enough of running full stop! I think mentally I was tired of running in the cold and into headwinds, physically the niggles I had in my body seemed numerous and I was generally quite fed up. I also think that the lifestyle changes that I have made gradually over the last 6 months or so to the point that I no longer go out on a Sat night, am mindful of the next training session, no longer see much of my very understanding and awesome friends and the general tiredness of hard training weeks have meant that I just wanted time out from it all. Luckily it snowed here in Jersey on Monday just gone which mean that running was not really on the agenda, which further meant that I had 3 guilt free days without running. I attended a Bikram Yoga class towards the middle of the week and then decided to run again on the Thursday with full pack weight and for the first time in a few weeks felt really up for the run having taken time out.. Which kind of proves the whole “rest is best” theory and has given me a new lease of life mentally leading into the last big mileage weekend of my MDS regime. I now feel back on track after a little hiccup and ready for the next week or so of tough training before the taper..

I went to visit my GP for the obligatory ECG which we need to present upon the start of the race, along with a signed medical form to say you are fit to race. I had a ver low resting heart rate, perfect blood pressure, but the ECG did throw up some irregularities which meant I have been referred to a Cardiologist this coming week for a cursory check of my readings. I have read a little about this and it seems alot of the UK competitors are getting the same irregularities as it is a by product of endurance sports such as ultra running, so I hope to get the all clear in the next few days!! 

So this weekend see a few of us running 27 miles on Saturday and then I will be doing another long one with a pack on Sunday.. After this I will then be switching my focus to more frequent runs with weight as well as interspersing these session with lots of Bikram yoga to hopefully acclimate to the heat.

With just under 3 weeks to go the massive list of equipment I have had to gather for this race has all but come together. I took the snow nights as an opportunity to sit down and weigh the stuff I will be taking and to put a handle on what is essential and what is a luxury to take with me. This was pretty eye opening and led to a few tough decisions, so it looks like a lot of compromises on photographic/video equipment, MP3 players, spare T shirts, sleeping pads and other items I had initially factored into taking.. The jury is still out on these choices, but I am currently erring on the ruthless side with minimalism winning the day. I imagine when faced with the reality of lasting in the desert for a week with only one t-shirt, one spare pair of pants and other delightful dilemmas some of these decisions might be revisited!

I was lucky enough to be featured in this months Gallery Magazine which is a local lifestyle magazine here in Jersey. I had a photography shoot with local photographer Danny Evans and I was really pleased with the results. It was slightly surreal and lots of attempts were taken to get the pic of me running towards the camera but Danny was great, really made me feel at ease in such an alien environment for me, and the article has really raised the profile of the fundraising I am doing for local charity Jersey Hospice Care.

I had set the initial target of £5000 for Hospice which I hit back in December. I then re-evaluated this and re set the target to £8000. I am currently on just over £7000 with a couple of event to go before I head off. Next week end should you be venturing past Marks and Spencers in St Helier you will encounter me running on a treadmill with my colleague Nicola Gott who is doing the London Marathon and also raising money for Jersey Hospice Care. We plan to run for 8 hours between us whilst also trying to collect funds in buckets, so please be sure to pop by and say hi!

As mentioned I am raising funds for Jersey Hospice Care and am running the Marathon des Sables in memory of Natalie Moss a friend of mine who sadly passed away just over a year ago and was in the care of Jersey Hospice during the last 6 weeks of her illness. They are amazing its as simple as that. If you can see your way to donating please hop over to www.justgiving.com/Paulsdesertrun

Many thanks – More to follow soon!