Hi there,

I realise like no other (because I'm French) that food is crucial to completing such challenge.

But why food is so important:

- Food is our fuel and without fuel the machine will stop 
- Food is also responsible for almost 50% of the total weight of our backpack (650gr per day!! / Ok I eat a lot)
- Food is also important for morale

So better spend some time to think about it  and ask ourselves the right questions:
 
- How much room is in our pack?
- How much weight can we carry?
- How much fuel will we need per day (2200kcal is a minimum)
- Will we have access to warm water during the day to "cook"? (the answer is no / only at the campsite)


My food has been chosen carefully and let me share with you my menu for the coming race. (I'm not an expert neither a "Chef" , so if you have any suggestions please feel free to add your comments or to send me your advices) 

Drink: Green Tea + energy drink lemon from AdventureFood 1liter/ 65gr/ 241kcal / per day in the morning + a lot of water during the day (better to drink every 15 minutes during the day)

Breakfast: Expedition Breakfast from AdventureFood. 693 kcal for 150Gr :  Nourishing warm breakfast based on cereals, milk, raisins, apple and roasted hazelnuts.

Energy Bar and Gel: 2 gels per day + 1 Bar (162Kcal/40gr)

Snack / Lunch:  I will use a variety of dried fruit (3Kcal/gr), nuts (6Kcal/gr), grains and smoked meat (1kcal/gr). It must be easy to eat with high Kcal. I plan a minimum of 450 Kcal

Diner: Soup from cup of Soup 80kcal for 65gr or Noodle  / Freeze dried meal from Adventure Food average 600kcal for 150gr / desert from AdventureFood like chocolate mousse 350 kcal for 85gr

Nutrition supplement: I'm not an expert in it and I have difficulty to swallow pills so I will only go for the Salt pill to avoid deshydratation.


I would advice everybody to try once the food that you are planning to bring with you to test the flavor and to see if your stomach can handle such food....

The good news is that we still have some weeks before the race to have nice diner at home :-)

Bon Appetit

Philippe

Everybody has a reason to run...isn't it?

Some of my friends call me Forrest Gump; Honestly I don't know if I should take it as a compliment or not but in the movie Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) said:

"That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I'd just run across the great state of Alabama. And that's what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going."

Maybe Forrest Gump didn't know why he was running, but I do know.

I'm coming from a background of martial arts during school days, and subsequently as a mountain climber. I have discovered running as a way of keeping fit and staying healthy. Since then, I have been actively involved myself in many running races across Europe. I had completed few Ultra Trail Marathons.

While I have been a life-long "sportsman", I never expected the sport to take on such a personal meaning as it does since my son Joaquin was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy when he was only 3 years old. Since then, watching a typical child ride a bike or run across a soccer field is something that I have learned not to take for granted. Since this day, every time I go out for my run I realized how lucky I'm... just to be able to RUN.

So 2010, I will participate to my first Racing the planet race: Gobi March.

Those races are not only a physical challenge for me. I want to make this event a fundraising event for the stiching Prinses Beatrix Fonds and next to it I will be very proud if I can raise overall awareness of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy in the public consciousness, and that increased awareness helps to spur education and research, which may lead to advances in treatment and care for Duchenne patients.

Let’s give all our boys a chance to live their lives to the fullest.

www.run4duchenne.com