Readers Blog: Conquering the Marathon des Sables I

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Alice Morrison recently completed the Marathon Des Sables- also known as ‘the toughest footrace on earth’- and lived to tell the tale. She blogs her story here in three instalments. This is Part 1.

I still can’t fully believe it, that I made it, that I managed to run 250km-the equivalent of six marathons!-across the desert in six days, carrying my own provisions. And that I did it in good form, with maximum joy and minimum suffering- plenty of pain, but minimum suffering.

I’m not going to try and write down everything that happened but just to try and give you an idea of what it was like, although even that is a bit of a struggle. After day one, Charlie, my running partner and the person who cajoled me into this, and I looked at each other and said, ‘We can’t describe it, it’s nothing like we expected.’ We live in Marrakech and had been training in the Agafay desert, and I had gone down to the dunes of Merzouga to run just a week before, but that was a bit of a surprise.

I think it was just the sheer enormity of it. When we were standing at that start line on day one with over 1000 other competitors, looking out to our first 15km of dunes, with the sun bearing down and Patrick, the owner of Marathon des Sables (MdS) on top of his truck, playing air guitar to ‘Highway to Hell’, you could physically feel the excitement and the tension. We set off with a roar and a rush. And that was it, after nine months of training, fretting, cutting down my toothbrush to save nine grams of weight in my backpack, we were actually doing it.

Fantastic. What a feeling. And what a first day. Those first 15km of dunes were tough, especially for the majority of people who had just flown in and then were faced with running right from the start. I had done 17km the week before the race, so I knew I could do it, and I knew it would take me about 4 hours, which it did. I actually like running on the dunes because I can do little, baby steps on my toes up and then crash down the other side on my heels. There was one breathtaking moment that stands out: we came over the first big set and could see the dunes stretched out miles ahead, with MdS runners strung out like little beads ahead and behind.

The day evened out to more stony, steady inclines with some dunes at the end. It was shorter than expected – 34km rather than full marathon distance, so I felt comfortable.

Back in the tent, it felt like a rush to get things done. Shoes and socks and calf supports off, compression tights on (no blisters on day one!), then lighting up my dinky little stove and boiling just enough water for my chilli con carne-pretty tasty-and a cup of rooibos- very tasty. By the time I had done all that, the boys (Bob, the fireman who also owns a pet crematorium; Ally, the helicopter pilot; Bruce, the big, big plane pilot; Bill, ex-services and very naughty; Neil, who is both a psychologist and an entrepreneur; and Charlie) were already curled up and sleeping-Bob snoring like a trout even though he claimed throughout the week that he barely slept.

Day Two was longer and flatter and stonier and I felt like I suffered more. I made a big tactical error in that I started walking too early-once you have started walking it can be pretty difficult to get the Saharan shuffle going again. Still, I got through it and felt good at the end. The messages from home were wonderful, and the MdS organisers print them out and bring them to your tent every night for a real spirit lifter!

Alice Morrison is now holding running camps to help novices/intermediates on their running journey: www.epicrunning.co.uk

For more on her adventures: www.alicemorrison.co.uk

Click here to read our other inspirational Readers’ Blogs.

Alice Morrison, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine

Readers blog is sponsored by Moving Comfort. If you want to submit your story please email: [email protected]
All bloggers who are published receive a fab Moving Comfort sports bra.

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