Hi all, after a very long and difficult "long day", I spent most of the rest day eating and sleeping. This was mostly due to the fact that my feet had completely fallen apart in the last 15K of the 92.5K stage, and I had carried on through to the finish despite the very bad shape I was in. The real benefit to finishing the stage as well as I did was that I was in 7th place and had a 40 minute lead on the guy behind me. The downside was that I was barely able to stand, let alone walk and we still had 10K to go. With all that said I stayed in the tent with my tentmates so we could all suffer together... misery breeds company.

After a painfull day or so of rest, we were up at 1AM and on the buses for a 6 hour ride back to Cairo so we could finish at the Pyramids. The entire time all I could think of was my inability to tie my shoes on my feet let alone run or even walk. After driving through some of Cairo's finest back alleys and street we stopped next to a disgusting, garbage filled canal with a liquid in it that resembled water. The 20 fastest runners (including me) were to start at 11:30 while the rest of the pack would go at 10:00. As the early starters piled off the bus, lined up at the starting line and got underway, I sat on the bus and pondered how to get my shoes on my feet. Then in a moment of MacGyver like brilliance I pulled out my knife and cut the side out of my shoes to make room for my swollen toes, I also ripped out the insoles. This made just enough room to fit my feet into my shoes but in no way did it decrease the pain factor, it was the best of a bad situation. I tied the butchered shoes and slowly shuffled of the bus, still not sure how I would get to the finish line. I watched as other competitors stretched and ran little warm ups, but the best I could muster was a fake smile and some light stretches. At 11:30 we were off.

After 240 kilometers I had no intentions of walking the last 10K and in all honesty walking hurt as bad as running so as the final go was yelled, I decided that I would run no matter how bad the pain. Right from the start I dropped near the back of the pack, but before long I realized that I was running and actually making good time. I can't really explain how I was able to run because my feet were so swollen I couldn't bend my feet at the ankle, and I'm sure I looked hilarious. I was cruising along and as my feet started going numb I knew the end was near... then the stomach troubles hit. I had ran about 247K with no tummy problems and now it was coming whether I liked it or not. Without getting into great detail I found a spot and took care of business, now only 3K to go. I made my way through the final dunes and was only about 500M from the finish when I came upon fellow Canadian Blaine Davis, who was in a bad way. As bad as my feet had been the past couple of days, Blaine's had been that bad since day 3 and he was down to a shuffle. So what could I do? I pulled up beside him, made sure he had some water and told him it was time to get this done. Blaine and I had travelled to Cairo, roomed and shared a tent together so it was fitting that we were able to cross the finish together. He has been through alot, both at home and here in the race, and I have all the respect and admiration in the world for him, I also know that he wasn't having fun anymore by this point and showed some real guts and determination to get across the finish line (that or he was delerious, thought he was on the moon, and the finish line was the mother ship to take him home to planet Zuton... he was pretty out of it).

After the race we bussed back to the hotel, cleaned up, and enjoyed a very nice dinner and awards presentation. Although there was alot of talk of a big party, most people were in bed early, 7 days in the desert will do that to you.

That's pretty much it for the race, 7 days, 150 miles finished. I left for home early Monday and arrived in the early evening at Vancouver International Airport to about a dozen family members. One more nice surprise on the list of nice surprises. It's great to be home but I won't lie, I'm sad the whole thing is over.

After day one I was in 12th place and in all honesty with the level of competition I was at that time content to stay in the top 15 (which would have been amazing). The fact that I was able to climb to, and finish the race in 7th place overall is still difficult to comprehend. The 6 runners ahead of me are some seriously good athletes and it's very hard to explain how I feel when I look at the standings. I am not the fastest runner around, that's for sure, and although my body held up quite well, my feet were falling apart fast (luckily towards the end at least), but I still managed to find a way... I will ponder the question of how did I manage to do this for some time.

I have to say one of the highlights of this whole event was our tent, "Team Silverbill". This experience would not have been the same without these amazing tentmates, and thank you in no particular order to Blaine "Pain" Davis, Kah Shin "the glide" Leow, Stuart "the yellow jersey" Crispin, Giles "the fly swatter" Crosthwaite, Victor "the wake up call" Sun, Adam "mashed" Shepherd, and Paul "the wise" Low. I have made some great new friends and I am forever greatful to you guys fo all your support and encouragement along the way.

Before I started this race people told me that it would "change my life". I though about that alot before I left and could never really see how it would. Now that it's over and I've had a little time to work through all of it, here what I've figured out. An event like this will mean something different to every person out there running it. Some run to win, some simply walk to finish. I wanted to go to the desert and come back with no regrets about how the race went down, regardless of where I placed. Having said that, there are so many factors that will affect a person in a multi-stage race all you can do is prepare, be smart and have a little bit of luck on your side (injuries, blisters...). I have learned that as a person I am capable of more than I ever thought, this race breaks you down physically and mentally, more and more each day and I was able to work through it and finish strong. Physically, I realized that I am stronger than I thought, and that nothing like this will come easy, it will take hard work and sacrifice but like everything in life you get out of it what you put into it. Mentally, I found out how strong I really was. I always thought I had a strong mental disposition and now I know (especially the last 20K of the race whenI was unable to walk, but found a way to run... it still doesn't make sense to me) . I thnk all people are capable of so much more in their lives and they need to break out of the "comfort zone" and push themselves a little, that's what I have done and I am a better person and runner for the whole experience. If me doing this inspires one person to do something they would have never dreamed of doing than it really is all worth it.

So here are the final numbers:

7 Days, 150miles

7th place overall

38hours, 46 minutes and 19 seconds

$12,000 for The Multiple Sclerosis Society

I have to thank my wife Michell for all her support and encouragement the past year. You have been my inspiration and what always helped me go on when times were toughest. I love you all so much. To my boys Taylor and Tye, I love you and it means so much to me that we have been able share this experience together and yes I am taking some time off to be at home. Also a huge thank you to everyone else, your encouragement and support helped me through a very tough race and will never be forgotten.

And that's it. Dream big, play hard, and don't be afraid to challenge yourself, what's the worst thing that will happen?People will call you crazy? Trust me you get used to it.

Scotty

Yesterday was the "long day", 92.5K (about 58 miles). A long enough run at the best of times but a really long run after running 90 miles over the 4 previous days. The start was staggered, with the top 20 starting at 9AM and everyone else starting early at 6AM. It was hot and extreamly windy (60-70K/H) and

Day 4 was another 37K, more sand and some pretty good ground to run. I ran the first 15 miles pretty hard and then the ground got pretty soft so I ran what I could, walked what I had to. I finished the stage in 8th place, my best so far. I think I'm 8th overall but I'm not sure. My feet are getting sore and I have a few more blisters but everyone here is in the same boat. Not too much else to say, still loving all the e-mails and support, thanks to everyone. There's a pretty long line for the computer so I'll say good-bye. Take care all and happy Halloween.

Today went much better than yesterday. The stage was about 24 miles, the same as yesterday, but the first 12 miles was very runnable so I found a good pace and tired to make some good mileage before it got too hot. At about the 17 mile mark we hit the dunes, beautiful to look at but not so nice to run. It's hard to descibe how difficult running the dunes is. There is no footing at all and they just seem to carry on up and up. It was incredibly difficult, but just an amazing experience. I finished today's stage in 11 place, but I'm still not sure where I am overall. I am hoping to have a very strong run on the 50 mile day and hopefully pick up a few spots, but there are some very strong runners here. I finished today's stage in just over 5 hours, which was an hour faster than yesterday over the same distance... crazy.
My feet are holding up ok, a few blisters and I would be lying if I said they didn't hurt, but I pretty much just block it out and go. Not much else to tell for now, I'll update again tomorrow after the stage. It looks like more dunes for stage 4 , but

Day 2 of the Sahara race is all done (for me anyhow, still some people on the course). Day one good, I finished 12th and came across the line today in 14th. I'm not sure where that leaves me overall, as it is total accumulate time. Both stages have been very tough. It has been over 40 degrees C and the sand is unreal. Honestly I feel pretty good, but this race is tougher than I had even expected and I knew it would be tough.

Our tent is great, we are by far the loudest and most jovial tent in the camp. I am shacked up with Blain from Edmonton, Giles, Adam and Stuart fro England and 3 guys from Singapore. Stuart and Adam are firefighters from London and we have nothing but laughs when we're in camp.

Thanks to everyone for all the e-mails, it was a very nice surprise to get so many, please keep them coming.

This has been the most incredible adventure so far, despite the fact that it is far and away the toughest thing I have ever done. Only 4 more stages to go. I will try to update this everyday. Thanks to

So we're down to one day before the race. Gear and medical checks tomorrow and then a long bus ride out to the desert. From my vast experience on road trips at least I know that the ride out of Cairo will be much better than the ride home in 7 days. Coming back always sucks.

I feel as ready as I can I suppose. Everyone here looks like they know what they are doing, if they don't they have me fooled which is no big accomplishment either. I've decided against red-bull and power bars for my nutrition and instead have gone with a pack full of Carbo-Pro (thank you so much for all your help Ferg). It's funny going into the desert without a ton of food and a whole mass of powdered nutrition. I'll let everyone know in a week how my planned worked out.

Like I said before Cairo is an amazing and yet totally crazy city. I will have some great stories when I get home. It's hard to explain the environment here and since I really have limited travel experience I don't know what to compare it too.

I spoke to my wife tonight and she told me that Aaron from "Billy Talent" ( the drummer from a very cool band) had put a post about me on their myspace site... very cool. Unfortunately Aaron has MS but he can still kick major

Hi from Cairo. After about 28 hours of travel, 4 airports, 4 airplane meals and a couple of movies, Blaine Davis and I arrived it Cairo. The flights were good and Blaine was easy to find in Minneapolis with his Raidlight pack (not a popular travellers bag). Cairo is incredible and crazy. After clearing customs we went outside where we were overwhelmed by the number of new

9 days to go, well actually I leave in only 3, so it's time for some decisions. I've got all my gear but I'm continually packing, unloading, repacking, dump a few things, add a few things, scratch my head, swear, unpack, re-pack, swear again, explain to my 3 year old why daddy shouldn't have said that bad word, repack again... you get my drift. I'm sure that come travel day I'll have things pretty much figured out and then I can really fine tune things in Cairo if need be. I am meeting Blain Davis in Minneapolis and we're traveling the rest of the way together. I'm looking forward to meeting him, we've spoke a couple of times and e-mailed a bunch, it will be nice to have some Canuck company for the journey, eh. We did a fundraiser for Multiple Sclerosis last week (by fundraiser I mean pub night...yahoo) and managed to raise over $6000 in one night for the MS Society. When I started all this last year I had hoped to raise at least $5000 for MS, to date we are around $11,000 and climbing. All I can say is that the generousity of people never ceases to amaze me. There are so many causes and the fact that people are willing to donate to my cause because of this race is beyond words. I can't thank everyone enough. This is going to be a wild couple of weeks and I can't wait to get started.

Hello all, my name is Scott Corsie, I am a 38 year old firefighter in Burnaby, BC Canada and I will be running the Sahara race with all of you in less than 2 weeks. Last November I watched a brief news story about Jeff Chand, who was just finishing the 2006 Sahara Race and that was it, I was instantly hooked. After a few discussions with my very supportive wife I filled out my application, sent it off and was entered into the race. I made this potentially life changing decision without even thinking about the fact that the last race I ran was a 10K in about 1987. Now as a fireman I have always stayed in pretty good shape. A couple of miles on the treadmill here and there, a few beer league hockey games each year, and even the occasional workout, but I had never even thought of something like this. I had been threatening to run a marathon for quite some time, but even this had become nothing more than an idle threat, that is until I found the Sahara race. So as January rolled around, I ramped up my training and started what would be a short and steep climb from 0 to 150 miles in just 10 months. As soon as I entered the race I knew that I would use this as an opportunity to raise money and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis. My Mother-in-Law Shauneen had progressive MS and in the 10 years that I had know her I had never seen her take a step, her MS was just that bad. On January 14, 2007, right after I had started seriously training for the Sahara, Shauneen suddenly and sadly passed away, she was only 58. Obviously this was devastating for all of us, but I was also very upset because she was so excited about this race and know she wouldn't get the opportunity to see me compete. As you can Imagine this was a pretty big training setback, but over the next couple of weeks things got back to some sort of normal and I resumed training. I was entered in the Vancouver Marathon on May 6, 2007 and my first month of serious training had been pretty much a bust. I put my brain in neutral, my body in overdrive and when May rolled around I managed a 4:20 marathon. Not exactly a home run, but not bad for only 3 months of solid training. Next up only 4 weeks later was the 50K scorched Sole trail run in beautiful and very hot Kelowna BC. Now running the marathon was pretty much what I expected, I made alot of small mistakes, learned alot, suffered a bit and knew I was better for it all. The Scorched Sole was a different story. 50K, 6000 feet of elevation, 36 degrees C, and once again not the best training plan. To make a long story short after a great first half of the race I developed what can only be described as the most painful blisters you can imagine. Luckily I am as stuborn as a mule and despite having to walk a great deal of the second half I finished the race in a very slow and agonizing 7:20. The best part is I was able to take a few days off work as I was barely able to walk let alone fight fires, and my wife was very sympathetic to my self inflicted agony. If all this wasn't enough to smarten me up, I had entered a 50 mile rece in August and since my first couple of efforts hadn't exactly gone according to plan I really figured I was in over my head. After my feet and my pride healed up (seems the two go hand in hand) I once again dug deep and trained my rear off in preparation for the Squamish Stormy 50 mile trail race. I sought the advice of experts, planned and trained for the worst and hoped for the best. When race day rolled around I was a nervous mess, but after 10 hours and 8 minutes I had ran my first 50 mile race in the Squamish mountains no less, I would be lying if I didn't say I was prettty pleased with that result. So that brings me to now, 12 days before the Sahara Race, and here are my stats. 10 months of running, 1 marathon, 1-50 K, 1-50 miler, 5 months from my first marathon to the Sahara. All that equals one great adventure. I have no idea what to expect when I get there, but I plan to have fun, meet a pile of great people and run hard. See you all in the desert.