MDS Old Posts March 2008

It's getting close - parrp! 2nd March
With just 25 days until we get on the plane, we have entered squeaky bum time, hence the element of fear on my face in this photo (or is it just exhaustion!).Due to fear of injury I hit the treadmill a few times this week and tried to cram in a couple of 8 mile runs during my lunch break. I also used this as good opportunity to try and train for the heat of the desert by running in a coat and woolly hat. By the way you get some funny looks if you wear these clothes in a gym. Despite this, the treadmill certainly helped my aching hips and knees and it made the 16 and 21 milers on Friday & Saturday that much more comfortable.Any of you who are following the training schedule (and amazingly there seems to be a lot of you!) will know that the big week is coming up. The plan is to attempt to recreate the same shape of the MDS week, but cover less miles. The milage is still fairly daunting, 103 over 6 days. This will be great in principle, but it will be all for nothing if I get injured, so I will play it by ear and ease up if necessary. If we get injured now we are truly in the poop!Dont forget our leaving party which is this Thursday 6th March at Ruby Lo's just by Selfridges in London. Jimmy and I hope to see you there!

The Party - 7th March
Thank you to all those of you that turned up last night. Everyone dug really deep and we managed to raise a seriously impressive £1,935 so thank you!It was great to see the mix of family, friends, media luvvies, doctors and nurses. Discovery hosted a fantastic party for us, providing food, drink and of course the mandatory Moroccan belly dancer with fake boobs and her pet snake - great value!So many companies helped us with the raffle prizes and there were very few people who left empty handed. Prizes included CDs, Cinema tickets, ipods, Play Stations, and even Sky HD for a year!With the party done, our fundraising efforts will not stop there. We are off in just 20 days so if you have been thinking of sponsoring us and have not got around to it, there is still time! Thanks again for all your support, we both really appreciate it.

The race shoe - Profeet. 7th March
If it wasn't hitting home already that the start is rapidly approaching, then again I have had another reminder as I picked up the trainers that I will use in the event itself. I think you may have guessed by now that this is no ordinary event. It is ridiculously long, hot and uncomfortable. The feet will take a huge amount of pounding over the week, and because of this we have been advised to wear shoes at least 1 size too big to allow for swelling. It is not uncommon for this to be inadequate and past competitors have had to cut open their shoes and gaffer tape them as their feet have ballooned - fingers crossed this doesn't happen to us!Profeet have been seriously generous and agreed to provide me with a couple of pairs of shoes and insoles. Please forgive the shameless plug, but the truth is that without them I honestly believe that I would not have been able to complete all the training. When I first saw them back in August, they were able to correct my running style so that I was putting less pressure on the arch of my feet and toes. Without this I definitely would have struggled with stress fractures as soon as the miles increased. Just knowing that I have the right insole and trainer has been a massive help, and if I start feeling aches and pains I know that it is because of my running action or not stretching enough.Believe it or not but I have not been asked to post this, I wanted to because I am genuinely thankful to them and can't recommend them highly enough, so definitely consider them if you are in the market for some proper shoes!http://www.profeet.co.uk/

The 2008 Course - 10th March
Looking at the official MDS website (http://www.darbaroud.com/) the route for 2008 has been described as being 245.3 Km long, making it the longest ever in the history of the event. Well that's just great isn't it!"The race will be challenging from day one - and continue that way - offering all the variety of the Sahara." Brilliant! "The course will take runners over ergs (dune zones), seriously steep jebels (up to 25% slope factor) and rocky plateaus." Can't wait!"They’ll have to cross hard as iron salt-flats and the driest of wadis. The backdrop to all of this is the most beautiful of landscapes with vistas accessible only to those on foot. The desert has its secret gardens and competitors on MDS will be lucky enough to see them." A real bonus as I love gardening!"Around 850 competitors will be setting off to conquer the Moroccan sands on March 30th. 30% are French, the other 70% made up of more than 32 nationalities, with a strong Anglo-Saxon presence." Well at least we won't be alone out there."Sportsmanship, solidarity, conviviality and respect for the environment: these are the organisation’s key words." Not blisters, heat stroke and diarrhea then.We knew it would be tough, but it looks as though the organisers are keen to make it even tougher. GULP.

Not Injured - just! 11th March
Over the past 7 days of training, I have tried to replicate the shape of the main event, but cut the mileage by a third.The first few days went well, cramming in a 13 miler after work on Wednesday, 15 miles before work on Thursday and a further 18 miles before work on Friday. The lack of sleep was a minor factor but overall I was feeling good. My feet however were sore and I took the executive decision not to attempt the 30 on Saturday. My toes were painful after the run on Friday and I wasn't sure if I had just bruised them or done something more serious. Thankfully it was the former and they are feeling good again now.I am well aware that I'm going to suffer from various pains and aliments when I am out there, and that is when I will try and grin and bear it - risking further damage now is just not worth it. Although it was a shame to not have tried the 30, I think I had good reason not to and am therefore happy with the decision.With just 16 days until we get on that plane, all I am trying to do now is complete the remaining training runs as easily as possible so I get to the start line as fresh and fit as possible.

Stopping Traffic - 16th March
As you may well know by now departure time is rapidly approaching and we are entering the final few training runs.This weekend I took the opportunity to complete my very own MDS dress rehearsal. This involved running 17 miles in as much of my kit as possible. In two weeks I will fit in seamlessly with my fellow MDS colleagues, however on Saturday morning near Haywards Heath I looked like a complete arse!Wearing gaiters and heavy backpack I generated a lot of looks, and quite rightly so, but I really couldn't have cared less as the practice was invaluable. The body and kit seemed to hold up quite well, so now I will start the taper phase where I will rapidly reduce the number of miles in training and eat/rest as much as possible. Believe it or not but I may find this process quite difficult because the thought of flying to the desert in just 11 days makes me want to dive for the trainers to prepare some more. Time is pretty much up though, now we eat!

Departure cometh - 25th March
The training really is all over now and the bag is packed - tomorrow we leave!Running training really began in September 2007 and picked up again in January this year, but since Jan 07 I have managed to cover;Run 1537 milesCycled 3168 milesRowed 94 milesSwim 32 milesDespite all this I have no idea how I'll get on out there, I guess I'll find out pretty soon!Many thanks again for all the support. I will try and update this news section each day, but if there are technical issues then you can track our progress on the official MDS site as they will post the finish times each day. http://www.darbaroud.com/Our plan is to walk the first day and run the rest, so if our bodies hold up OK, you should see our position improve each day - well that's the theory anyway.Time to front up. Bye!!

Greetings from the desert!! 31st March
After days of travelling, queuing and waiting, we finally started today's 19 mile stage.After the 1st mile we found ourselves at the start of the biggest dune field in the Sahara! yes, it was very hard work getting through them, but at the same time they were beautiful!Hopefully the backpack will feel lighter tomorrow so we can crank up the running.At the moment though the spirits are high, the banter is flowing, and the feet are blister free - fingers crossed for tomorrow!!

Day 1 - Dunes. 31.3.08
After days of travelling, queing and waiting, we finally started todays 19 mile stage. after the 1st mile we found ourselves at the start of the biggest dune field in the sahara. yes it was very hard work getting through them, but at the same time they were beautiful! hopefully the teh backpack will feel lighter tomorrow so we can crank up the running. at the moment though the spirits are high, the banter is flowing, and the feet are blister free - fingers crossed for tomorrow.