Before I waffle on about the amazing experience I had last week I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to email me throughout the Sahara event, your support and encouragement was a great motivation. I would also like to thank everyone who has generously sponsored me. As I write this the amount of money raised for Cystic Fibrosis Trust is

josh - thank you for letting me use you rocket toy (i have been told it is called a nerf ball). I will return it to you when i come to see you on sunday and you will then be the owner of a toy that has travelled 150miles across the sahara desert!

i have used it twice so far in the desert after running which helped to keep my legs moving and stop the stiffening up too much.

hope to see you and all the family on sunday for pizza and ice cream. missed you lots and am looking forward to seeing you all again very soon

off for a freeze dried porridge now...mmmm yummmy

x

day 5 - long stage 93 km (56 or something miles)
temp - hot, windy, sunny - then cold and dark!

wow....i have finally reached the finished line after a long hard slog through 93km across the sahara desert. My body is holding together but i think once we cross the final stage finish line tomorrow it will shut down. right now i feel the most tired i have ever felt but sleeping is not something i am doing too well here.
the long stage was tough but mentally i was prepared for it thanks to doing the trailwalker earlier this year (100km) so i knew what to expect. I started the day running with the leaders but after an hour or so decided to slow up and pace myself for the long day ahead. I settled into a speed walk/jog with the overall 3rd place competitor Alain from the lebanon. it was really good to have someone to run with, especially during the low moments and towards the end of the stage when running in the dark when tired. I felt strong most of the race despite the aching muscles and sore feet, mostly because i felt strong mentally.
the blisters on my feet started to get sore but i just shut them out of my mind and got on with it. For the first half of the day we were running in joint 4th behind the 2 leaders and a korean guy. For the whole week the korean strategy seems to be go off really hard and fast and then blow up at the end so we were confident we would catch him. I was more concerned about the guy in 4th overall who was only 3 min ahead of me and the other strong korean who was just 3 minutes behind me overall. We caught up with the korean at the halfway stage and then put in 2 fast 2km runs over the next stage which put enough distance between me and the others to secure 4th place overall. from here on in i hoped that i could just keep on speed marching to the finish and be absolutely overwhelmed and happy to be 4th before the last 'short' stage

day 4

distance 37km

I felt good this morning at the start so decided to try running with the big boys to see how fast they are. I have been lucky with my feet so far, especially compared to some other guys here. I have 4 small blisters on my toes and 2 larger ones on the balls of my feet by my big toe but they are not too painful when i run. I taped them up in the morning and it did the job throughout the day.

it was nice to run with other people for a change as i have ran mostly alonr so far. Th lead runners were taking it easy today so i was able to keep up with them. A guy from korea took an early lead and was almost out of sight at checkpoint 2. I was running well right up to the last checkpoint where there waas an oasis. After a much needed wash which totally refreshed me i left the checkpoint with 11.5 km to go. the start of the last stage started frim underfoot so i decided to try and push on before i really got tired. i managed to pull ahead of the other runners and started to catch the leader from korea. I had no intention of catching him and was just happy to be in the top 5. as the stage went on i realised i was catching him and so dug deep as i though i might actually have a chance of actually catching him and winning the stage. the last 5 miles were hard going, especially as the ground softened up but i just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I sqid to myself keep going this ones for you mark and cracked on ntil finally crossing the finish line just a few minutes ahead.

My body is very tired and feet are sore but not as bad as i expected at this stage of the event. Tomorrow is 93km so i am preparing for pain and suffering but am confident i will finsh. I am now in 4th place just 13 minutes behind 3rd place and 27 mintes in front of the giuy in 5th, but in all honesty my aim now is to finish top 10 which i will be seriously happy with!

day 3

distance - 39.5km - 24 ish miles

temperature - 38 - 41 C

After being sick yesterday i woke up feeling much better after finally getting some sleep. My tent mate Scott kindly gave me a sleeping pill which definately helped. I was still worried about about feeling sick again and so didnt eat any breakfast, just dranks lots of fluid instead.

The ground was reasonably firm most of the way through checkpoints 1 and 2 so while feeling good i set off at a pretty good but steady pace. The temp felt hot but i think i am already getting used to the heat and am drinking plenty of fluid so it isnt affecting me too much. The 3rd stage was the hardest today with some brutal sand dunes at the end. Some of the dunes were over 100ft high and the sand was really soft so i walked up and along the top of them as running was either impossible or a waste of energy.

I was feeling ok leaving the last checkpoint towards the finish line and almost caught up with the guy in front of me but once i caught him he managed to pull away from me again. If it was the last day i think i could have taken him but with 3 days left it wasnt worth the effort.

I managed to finish in under 4 and a half hours in 6th position. I dont know where that puts me overall but I am very pleased as it is way higher than i expected to be.

the guys in my tent did really well too. scott finished 11th and Giles, Adam and Blain all finished together about an hour or so after me.

My feet felt good today despite a couple of blisters and are not too bad but i have had them patched up by the foot dr just in case they get worse.

the rest of my body is holding up pretty well considering i have run 70 miles in 3 days - it looks more ridiculous typing that than saying it! Were half way through now and without sounding cocky i am confident me and my tent mates will finish this thing.

taking 2 kg of food out of my bag def helped and my back feels better for it too. the heat seems to have taken away my appetite so i am not missing the food

day 2

distance 40km - 24 miles ish

temperature 106 F

The day did not get off to a good start as i felt sick about 45 minutes before the start time of 7am. I think the nausea may have been due to eating too much food and liquid both the night before and in the morning, and also possibly due to not having had hardly any sleep

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