After a poor nights sleep (tent on a slope so kept rolling off my thermarest sleeping mat) and fortified with pasta in lasagne sauce, which I could barely get down, 6.30am and not entirely anxiety free I set off with the remaining runners into the warmth, no make that heat, of the morning. 9 checkpoints to pass through today. Lots of varied terrain (well different types of sand atleast!) and different distances between CP's between 8.7km and 11.4km.
The first stage was soft sand, again, and plains before taking us into the valley of the whales. Bit of a misnomer really as we were led to believe that we might see whale bones littering the desert floor. Possibly they might be elsewhere but not in the part we went through. Just a couple of 'exhibits' of bones laid out in the semblance of whales. Managed to at least run a bit through here. Still the rock formations surrounding the plain were stunning with lots of different striations and colours in the rocks. I hope the photos I have taken show them up as the were. Fingers crossed, I have taken about 350 photos so hopefully some will be good.
The next 2 stages were flat open plains with too much soft sand for me to run.
After stage 4 we climbed a dune, traversed the top and descended into yet another valley and endless plains. Still not able to run any great distances, start off and within 10m the sand changes, becomes soft and back to walking again. CP 6 came, thankfully, at 60km so took a break for half an hour, had chicken korma and custard with apple and took my shoes off - heaven. First time in entire race that I felt hungry! Dark now so on with ad torches and flashing red light for backpack and away into the night. Spent the rest of the race on my own walking and running through the endless plains, dunes and sand. Could run much this stage as too full! Got to CP7 and felt good so ran my heart out on this stage. Covered the 8.9km in 1h 10mins and made up 6 places. It was getting colder but I was pouring with sweat by the time I reached CP 9. Felt good so had some snacks, water and set off and............nothing! Legs just dead. Running about impossible. Soft sand didn't help but the previous stage took a lot out of me. Te next CP of similar distance took over 2hrs to reach. OK, not going to break 20hrs now so grit teeth, try not to be too irritated by over zealous official at CP9. We descended off the plateau onto the sands off the shore of the lake and the path meandered into camp. The groun became just hard enough to bear my weight so I ran the last 3km into camp. Seeing it,s lights in the distance is both comforting and demoralising as you NEVER seem to get any closer! Eventually though, at about 3am, I crossed the line to finish (bar the 2km sprint tomorrow morning around the pyramids for post race beer and pizza - I hope - in 20hrs 30m. Very knackered but elated to finish what was a very hard race. By all accounts harder than the other 2 desert races that this company does (gobi and atacama) as the sand, being so much softer, is much harder to run on and the scenary and terrain is a lot less varied so it plays on the mind a lot more and you need resolve, particularly in the middle of the night when energy and will are waning, to force yourself to continue.
All in all a blinding race. Celebrations and party tomorrow in Cairo!
Thanks for all your support. Please note that its not worth responding to this final blog as we won't get your replies now.
Addios
Andy

Firstly thank you for your messages of support even from an over analytical twin wrt my timings and performance! Good on you Jeremy for getting down the gym and doing your run. Keep it up!
Today was 38km and a bit (last stage seemed longer by consent than the official distance) in 8h 6m. Made up of 4 legs the first 2 of which were in soft sand with stunning rock formations bordering the 'course'. We also crossed quite a few sand dunes which were steeper than any we have encountered so far. They were hard as the wind died and although early in the morning were rather warm as a result! The 3rd leg was flatter and faster so I got to run a little. The plains were endless. The scale of the part of the sahara is more immense
than in morocco so it seems. The 4th leg was just hard with soft sand and rising plains which made running too hard for me. I began to get a bit tired so slowed up a bit. It was quite a relief to make camp and, as always, there is a drummer on hand to drum you in and across the finish line - a nice touch. Time then to flop and drink and have your race passport checked and your times recorded.
I'm not sure where I am as I write this. I only found out yesterdays results just now. I 'think' I'm 75th as of yesterday so not sure what today will have done - hopefully picked up a place or two but not sure about that.
Will rest for a bit and eat later by torchlight. Sun down here is about 5.30pm. It's the big day tomorrow. 95km with a day and a half to finish. Start 6.30am. I hope to finish within 20hrs - 18 ould be fantastic - but depends on ho much harder surface there is, whether I get lost in the night, whether my feet continue to hold up (only a couple of minor repairs tonight) and just how knackered I am. Still its only a 5km sprint at most, around the pyramids, on the saturday morning so will give it everything I have.
Won't be able to update blog tomorrow but will send my final report on friday evening which means I won't receive any comments or messages made after thursday.
All for now.

Well after two 'relatively' easy days today was a bit of a bugger! 9hrs 40mins and I couldnt have gone faster. 42km of mostly very soft sand which is so hard to move quickly on. Terrain was more varied and we ascended slowly but steadily though most of the day. Stunning rock formations became a familiar backdrop from our toils in the sand. Lots more dunes today, bigger and steeper than previous days. An additional check point was put in because of the heat which was cooled for a lot of the day with a breeze, almost a wind, in our faces, which was welcoming but again made progress more difficult. CP's and water were such a relief but it gets a bit disheartening when they take longer to get to than your are expecting. Either the distances are wrong (which is ok as it means there is less to do to the finish) or simply that you are walking slower and it will take longer!
Finished with a couple of blisters so had fun poking them with needles to drain and then dressed with compeed and leukotape. Treated myself to a wetwipe wash which was nice :-) Couldn't yesterday as we had a sand storm blowing though the tent and a sandpaper wash may work but there's a time and place! Will change socks for tomorrow (my only spare pair to save weight) which will have to do the long day as well. Tomorrow is shorter 38km and graded as moderate unlike today and yesterday which were difficult!
 
Camp life has settled into routine now. As we set off at 6.30am activity starts about 5am with runners doing their admin, if not done night before, and trying t eat, sort their snacks, make up their electrolyte drinks and deal with feet and other area's that need taping like shoulders and backs. I'm trying t get as much sorted before bed so I can get up as late as possible so I can stay horizontal and be in denial about what is to come :-)  Downside is eating just before setting off which makes the first hour or so harder as you feel bloated trying to move quickly. Sick of dehydrated food already, in fact struggling to eat really with the heat and having to force food down.
When we land back into camp we have to rehydrate quickly, I have an electrolyte recovery sachet and try to chill for an hr or so before getting up to chat with other runners and eat what I can.
 
I'm in tent 15 sharing with 6 others. There was one no show. My fellow madmen and madwomen are Rafael from Germany (doing really well and in 3rd place), Rod from Australia who has his wife and daughter here helping out with the support crew, Lisa who is a semi pro NZ ultra runner and her mate Megan who runs and supports her in her events, Volker 68 from Germany who has done 10 sahara races before and Scott an ex pat Scot living in Indonesia who is also doing really well. He was in 9th place yesterday. No major problems so far with tent life though Scott has the occasional snoring fit that could demolish a building at 100 yds!
 
Better eat now. More tomorrow  - hopefully! Feel free to respond with either kind words or abuse as you wish!!

Today was longer with more varied scenary than yesterday. Lots of soft sand, dunes and stoney ground which while better for walking on hurts your feet more! We went right into the classical sahara which thankfully was cooled by more wind which was not in our faces today. The last 6km from checkpoint 3 into camp was hard going up and over several steep dunes. Camp is very windy and the tent is under an inch of sand already!
Time today was 7h 18m and I'm 71st out of 152 starters so really pleased with that.
Harder and longer day tomorrow, can't wait :-)

All I can say is thank god its over! Harder than I thought it would be. High temperatures and a strong breeze which, although welcoming and cooling, drys your mouth out so adds to your thirst. Soft sand for much of today which, again, makes it harder to walk on. 37km today which took 7h 13m. We went around a huge lake formed from agricultural water run off. Was very tempting when we passed close to the waters edge but had to resist! Pack too heavy at 14kg to run just yet so hopefully in a couple of days when Ive eaten my way through food..... Shame my appetite has gone!
Tomorrow will be harder as lots of dunes and will be longer on feet. Couple of hotspots to take care of but ok so far.
Start today was 7am, will be 6am tomorrow so better have early night tonight. Bed in half hr. Sweet dreams to me :-)