Last 10 km, done. We were always going to finish the last stage if we made it past the long march. The route was mostly soft sand, and we did it in just over an hour.

Final results are in:

• We came in 25^th overall out of the 122 competitors who started
• We won the team category (!)
• Jeanne came 5^th woman overall, and won her age category (!)

We are incredibly happy with the results, and it’s always good to come away with some hardware but that was only a small part of why we did it. A few thoughts on why I think these challenges are useful (for me, at least):

I’ve always thought it’s easy to be your “best self” when you’re comfortable – it’s easy to be generous when you have plenty, it’s easy to be kind when you’re in a good mood, it’s easy to help others when everything is going well for you. But what happens when they are not? When everyone’s working so hard, each dealing with their own set of challenges, that everybody is only looking out for “number 1”?

And what kind of a person will I be when I’m really struggling - when I’m stressed, exhausted, hungry, and in pain? Will that person still be focused, calm, collaborative, and resilient? Or selfish, panicked, uncaring, and unable to help himself, let alone others? Again, it’s easy to think you’ll always be a strong person when you’re in your comfort zone and feeling confident about life in the here and now.

I’m interested in these questions because that person is my ultimate backstop - the very last man standing that’s got my back. If he’s strong, then I can be confident in tackling the more difficult things in life; in committing to being a reliable teammate, a husband, a father; in leading and helping others; in doing the hard things but the right things, the worthwhile things.

But there’s no way to know what that person is like, until you meet him where he lives – at the end of your limit.

So, I go there to check in once in a while - this time, 250km over 7 days across the Namib desert. A hard but rewarding visit.

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A quick note on my condition post-race – I noticed that I had temporarily gone salt blind! I must be in need of salt replenishment after sweating gallons in the desert over the last week. Also, in the 10 hours after we crossed the finish line, I ate like there was a bottomless pit where my stomach should be – I had a burger; a pizza; fries; a Greek salad; two large plates of rice, roast veg, curry and pasta; an ice cream; a slice of cake; a bag of crisps; a beer; a litre of guava juice; and about 5 bottles of soda - and I still went to bed hungry, dreaming about breakfast… My feet are about double their normal size and covered in heat rash after being wrapped in socks, shoes, and sand gaiters in 50 degrees heat for a week. I feel very lean and light on my feet after losing a few kg and now that I’m not carrying around my food for the week. And that first shower and clean clothes after a week of running and camping in the same clothes was soul replenishing.

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Thank you to everyone who contributed to our fundraising for The Felix Project, sent words of encouragement, and followed us along over the last week! And the biggest thanks of all to Jeanne – the ultimate teammate

We had a minor delay in getting to the starting camp due to a missed connection in Johannesburg but it turned out to be a rather pleasant layover – we managed to get our last workout in at a nice local gym, visited one of Jeanne’s favourite restaurants from when she used to work here, and managed to get through a few last minute emails and calls. Of course, we spent a decent amount of that time re-packing our bags, weighing and portioning out our freeze-dried food for each meal for the week, and pouring over our excel sheet with calorie-to-weight ratio of each item of food to minimize our pack weight while having just about enough calories to get us through.

My food for the week comes in at 3.4kg including packaging, and 16,600 kcal – which is plenty above the 14,000 kcal minimum but comes in at ~2,770 kcal per day – this will certainly put us in meaningful calorie deficit. My daily food ration roughly breaks down into 1,000 kcal in ‘run food’ i.e., bars, biltong, nuts and electrolytes, and the remaining ~1,700 kcal in meals and snacks e.g., porridge for breakfast (~500 kcal), freeze dried spag bol for dinner (~800 kcal), a recovery shake for when we get into camp each day (~170 kcal), and 2x peanut Reese’s butter cup for dessert (156 kcal), etc.

I haven't weighed in yet but I think my overall pack is coming in at ~8.5 kg without water – which is the lightest pack I’ve packed in the last 3 times I’ve done this format of racing across a desert (Sahara in 2009, Atacama in 2015, and Georgia in 2021) but it’s also the least number of calories. Let’s see how it goes – it’s always a trade off between speed / exposure  / weight / calories / comfort, taking into account temperature (potentially getting close to 40 degrees), terrain, your goals, and, most importantly – you. There’s no way to have it all; you must take a calculated risk and pick a strategy that suits you – this is why I love this format of racing. You need a strong strategy, a thorough plan, obsessive preparation, disciplined execution, and adaptability when something inevitably goes wrong – it’s a format for the strategist and the all-rounder. Talent alone is insufficient.

Also, this year, we are officially entering as a team of two, which means we must start and finish each day together – so teamwork will be an important part the strategy!

We camp in the desert tonight under the stars and line up early tomorrow morning for the start.

Here we go…