So I finally got the jumping beans sensation.  I guess it wafts over me when I least expect it.  Like first thing in the morning when there is total clarity.  I can forsee the start, finish, end and all the rest squeezed in the middle like a time capsule about to be taken.  The funny thing about time is the more dynamic your life is, the longer life will seem.  In this case, I still want a week to feel like a week, but afterwards it can feel like a month of memories.  

I am sure that you feel the most healthiest you have ever felt.  It is an inherently amazing feeling to have strong mind and body.  It is not the standard state of being, but rather the ideal image we have in our thoughts of who we would like to become, but in our case it has been achieved!
Or at least we believe that our optimum performance is what we will demonstrate.  Perhaps we will put ourselves to similar tests time and time again, or perhaps once, it doesn't really matter since our goals are so diverging.  The commonality is what awaits us in a few blinks of the eye deep in a sandy sanctuary.

I have just two more thoughts, so please bare with me as I convince myself of a few more things! Firstly, I may be wrong but for me the desert is where civilizations emerged, and coming to Africa has even more of a profound sensation since (if you believe in carbon dating) the birthplace of us querky humans transpired.  And we get to do the most fundemental skill we have been doing for millenias, moving forward; walking, hiking, running and shuffling! EPIC 

Secondly, the desert has never never been a waste land.  It is on a scale that we will attempt to fathom, and hopefully we will feel as small as a grain of sand and blow along the course with ease, (in spirt!).   The Sahara Desert will earn our respect and it will give us what ever we were seeking. 

See you all there,
Andre :)

 

I see that as the days come closer we are all getting a little jumpy, or at least those of us that haven't done many, much, any or none of these types of "super intense enduro-events". 

I am staying focussed.  Although the equipment list is like a collection of thoughts in my head that keep circling.  The backpack is our new brain, and there is always something to remember, to alter. I changed my backpack, its bigger now.  I have powdered electrolytes not tablets, and I have a water bladder and one bottle.  The recommendation is to only have bottles and tablets!  I haven't got a rechargable ipod thingy, or solar charger thingy and I don't know what glue to use on my gators to stick them to my hikers, cause I don't want the sand to say hello to my toes and saw them up like sandpaper! Like blister-sister no thank you.  And my gators are black and my backpack is kinda dark, and I was thinking that they might melt on me [insert exhale here].

For some reason I have decided to stuff my face with everything lately.  Protein shakes, carbs, chips, chocolate, anything moving across the counter.  I don't want to fade away in the desert and blend right in with the whale bones.  I am strength training, but I can't help but go for long runs too, which can be mildly counter productive to the growth strategy.

Finally getting my first massage tomorrow.  I don't like laying down for an hour, but the hamstrings are crying "please."

Any advice is appreciated, and all support is taken.  And if anyone has any good jokes, can you bring them all to the sand box.  Here is one:

A man is lost in the Sahara desert. He used up the last of his water three days ago and he's lying, gasping, on the sand, when in the distance he suddenly hears a voice calling, "Mush! Mush!"

Not trusting his ears he turns his head and there it is again, closer this time -- "Mush! Mush!" Propping himself up on one elbow he squints against the sun and sees, of all things, an Eskimo bundled up in furs driving a sled with a team of huskies across the dunes.

Thinking that it's a hallucination, he blinks and shakes his head, but it's for real! He painfully lifts one arm and in a cracked voice calls, "He-elp!"

The Eskimo pulls the sled up by him, the huskies panting in the heat, and he says to the Eskimo, "I don't know what you're doing here, or why, but thank God you are! I've been wandering around this desert for days, my water's all gone and I'm completely lost!"

The perspiring Eskimo looks down at him and says, "YOU'RE lost?!"

Take care,
Andre

Hello fellow team mates,

 I hope you are all as excited as I am!  I can’t wait for the opportunity to be free and run wild across the desert.    Not sure how long the running part will last and perhaps there might be more walking or mild galloping with a backpack, like a bipedal camel creature.  Either way, I decided on bringing my friend’s hiking poles, so I guess I will be speed walking?  Let’s just say “hoofing it” or “hiking it”. 

 I think I have most of the gear.  I have a 20L backpack and there better be enough room for extra snacks, I will be really annoyed if I only have room for one beef jerky and a pair of socks.  As you can tell I haven’t rammed everything in yet.  That’s just my style.   I am not about the gadgets or the super organization.  Although an ipod is a must, but it will set the scene and motivate along the way, just as each others words will thwart us forward. Right?!!

 I believe this will be the greatest thing I have ever done, and perhaps for most of us.  The thrill and exhilaration of an ultimate challenge that includes “motoring it” through the giant sandbox known as da- big- monster- of- a- desert- Sahara    like we are human dune buggies spinning up dust devils    as we skim the surface of the earth and dig deep within ourselves at the same time.

 Hope you are all prepared, I am almost there.  I am more in shape than ever before, and the focus is there (visioning exercising….taste the finish line in your mind!!).  Thank goodness Toronto has had a long hot summer, it has been a blessing to train at home in these conditions.

 My last words for this first blog will be something more profound, since that is EXACTLY what this will be.  I know the feeling I have about what we are about to do, and I hope that you also realise that for whatever reason you are doing this, that it is one of the most courageous, brave and good things that we are so fortunate and honoured to share with each other.  I will be proud to have all of you in my company and may our journey be what we want and more. 

Cheers,
Andre!!