So to end the week off we had a nice 54 mile run through the desert yesterday, we finally got to the valley of the whales and finished at the final campsite. It is tough trying to prepare mentally for a run that has a cut off time of 28 hours (a few guys finished just under this time, they really are amazing being out there for so long) so I tried not to think about the distance and just spent the hour before the start taping my feet and making sure I knew where my painkillers were. I ran as fast as possible for about 40 km until the heat of the day kicked in and then plodded for 10km or so and as the temperature finally dropped and a breeze picked up I managed to run the last 36 km in to the finish. There was a strong showing from the Brits on the long stage with 6 of us coming in the top 25, I finished in 10^th in 11hrs 49 mins.

I ran pretty much the whole day on my own, there is a theme here (and hope it has nothing to do with my chat), it makes the long stage difficult as you have to keep motivating yourself and splitting the stages up so that you can get through them. There were a few dark moments in the heat of the day, but I stayed positive and just kept moving, it paid off as I was feeling strong and caught 3 other runners in the last 20 km and have just seen the results and with only a short couple of km’s at the Pyramids tomorrow I have finished 10^th overall.

Thanks for all the support, comments and donations to Olivia’s Vision. I’m looking forward to getting out of the desert, eating real food and hiding my trainers for a while. I convinced myself yesterday that I would never do anything like this again, but today…..who knows?

Cheers

David

Thanks for all the comments and support, I started today with 3 blistered toes and that’s now up to 5. At this pace I will be on zero blister free toes by the end of stage 4 which is great prep for the 54 miler on stage 5.

Today was tough, I started out ok and got set in to my own pace again, this soon changed as the sand went from hard packed to soft and well……sandy. I won’t bore you with the different types of sand but I can safely say they are all a nightmare to run on and you can easily go from running along to plodding to crawling within a few metres. I struggled between checkpoints 1 and 2 and at stages felt like I was going backwards, but pushed on. I should probably have stopped to check my feet but couldn’t face having to stuff them back in to my trainers so just kept moving. Just as my feet started playing up the temperature started to rise, seems my internal thermometer is a bit rubbish as my estimate for yesterday was well off, it got to 42 degrees apparently and as I write this it has got up to 46 today.

After the third checkpoint I got a bit carried away as saw 8 people in the distance and thought I was catching other runners, turns out they were a bunch of kids just playing in the desert. I have no idea where they came from as there doesn’t seem to be any civilization around here, we must look pretty stupid to them dressed up in terrible running gear, carrying as much water as possible and stumbling about as they were in jeans and sandals and decided it was fun to run along laughing at me, even the kid in the cowboy hat had the cheek to laugh at me.

After running on past the abusive kids I turned and ran down some massive dunes, I managed not to fall flat on my face somehow, the camera crew were perfectly placed to capture anyone that fell. I was starting to feel pretty good and managed to catch up with 6 runners before the finish and came in to the finish in 10^th place I think. I’ve just got back from having the doctor look at some of my blisters and have confidently been informed I will lose a toe nail in the next day or 2.

Despite this being called a race I thought today about who or what it is a race against, time, other runners, yourself? Today was definitely a race against the sun, I just wanted to get back to camp and out of the sun as soon as possible. I’m sure tomorrow will be the same. Anyway, I’m off for a delicious meal in a bag and to see if the Korean bloke does some gangnam dancing again tonight (he was drinking whiskey in camp 1, which I’m sure he regretted the next day).

Sick count – still 0.5

Blisters – 7

Sunburn – Still surviving.

Cheers

Dodsy

Having completed my last run in London (in the rain of course, perfect training for the desert), packed all my food and kit and collected my gaiter ready trainers I think I am about set to go.

I managed to find about 100 metres of sand in Hyde Park on my run home last night but I'm not sure that really counts as being desert ready. Anyway we start on Sunday morning so I won't have long to wait to find out if my training has been sufficient.

I'm hoping to blog at the end of each stage and I know from the Atacama race how much the comments and banter from home helps during the race so please keep it coming whilst I'm in the Sahara.

Oh and if anyone is feeling generous and hasn't sponsored me yet please have a look at www.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidODwyer

Cheers

David