Daniel_Brockhurst | Stage 5 Day 6 by Daniel Brockhurst
Well here I am for the last time, no email tomorrow. The rest day yesterday was shocking. Most of it spent hiding in my sleeping bag to avoid the sandstorm that lasted all day. I woke this morning facing the marathon stage. Everything was covered in sand and I was freezing. The fire was ready in minutes though. Feet were still taped up, painfull but ok. I really felt up for it today. Lots of emails in yesterday, thx all, your support is really helping.
Steve - I made the kasbar in daylight but I hear those who went through in the dark got a little lost. The kids had taken down the lights that directed people. Finally this morning I managed to get everything into my backpack. Having nothing on the outside of it really felt good.
At the start Vic & I talked through our plan. We didn't stick to it. All we wanted to do was get to the end. Most of the stage was done 10 mins running 5 mins Walking. The last 6km, we just ran.
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Travers_Bell | Stage 5 - Day 6 Marathon Day by Travers Bell
Firstly I would very much like to thank Christian and his colleagues at Buncup for setting the Raceblog site up and administering without expectation of thanks. I would especially like to thank Christian for taking my families emails and forwarding them to me. It was a real pleasure to receive them on the day after the long day and kept me going today. Thank you very much.
Today was very hot and only the real runners probably did well. We made good progress for 3.5 hrs and then Chris, bless him, kept me going for the next 3 hrs. I think i may not have drank enough water yesterday and suffered abit as a result.
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Simon_Puttock | Stage 6 by Simon Puttock
NEARLY THERE NOW !
Today was a great day. The marathon stage which took us through some beautiful scenery and into a sandy plain between two mountain ridges, which i am now looking on from the e-mail tent in the desert.
The 42k stage today started as usual at 9am (30 deg) and took us through 3 checkpoints at 11, 23, 36 and then to the finish. Big news today was NO DUNES to speak off, apart from a few 30 footers, it was sandy tracks and lots of rocky paths. I felt for the people with really bad blisters as the sharp stones press right through.
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Daniel_Brockhurst | Day 5 by Daniel Brockhurst
I woke a little nervous yesterday. More dunes to start with, then stones, then the village, then the hard slog through the dunes in the dark. Vic & I both felt good. Legs holding up well. Feet blister free. Yesterdays cloud cover had gone so the sun was out in force. 31 degrees by the time we had got to CP1. It got hotter from there on.
We moved well over the first 20km, keeping up our usual pace. Full of energy. Funny how quickly things can change. I looked at my watch at 2:09. I'm at a low point and was struggling to find energy. Dehydration set in & I tried to rectify it as quickly as possible with diorylite, salt tablets & all the water I had. I've already had my first Peronin and was ready for the 2nd. Great stuff by the way. Really does boost you when you need it. Vic was just ahead of me for most of the stage. I was struggling to match her pace. She was feeling it too. "I just feel a little detatched from myself" she tells me as we journey to CP3.
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Simon_Puttock | Day 5 by Simon Puttock
Well here we are again, it's the rest day after a very tough 76km leg yesterday. Starting at 9am it was already very hot (30 deg) and the organisers through in the additional challenge of 20-25k in the dunes again which sapped a lot of energy. Overall we had 6 checkpoints roughly at 10k intervals and as normal getting 1.5 litres of water at each.
For the first time on the run we went through a village between cp3-4 which was great, all the local kids in the tiny dark streets as we ran through hanging onto our belongings for dear life as a few people had gels, flares taken as they ran through.
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Jo_Wiser | Day 5 by Jo Wiser
dear everyone,
miss you all like crazy and am getting so much joy out of every email I recieve, I think the worst is over now ad I just have to plod on to the finish. Managed to get through the dune day, boy was that tough and just got in a couple of hours ago from the 76km stage. Had to go through the night which was fun for the first hour but then got a real strain on the eyes and general concentration.
Peering into the darkness looking for glow sticks hidden by dunes and bushes praying your stumbling in the right direction. Torn between looking down to avoid the rocks and looking up to find the next glow stick.
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Travers_Bell | Stage 2 by Travers Bell
Thanks Tony for the email you sent, it was a big surprise but very nice one. Please could you call Debbie and the children to tell them how to send as it is a big boost for me.
Today was hot but Chris and I kept the pace to about the the same as yesterday. Tomorrow we have the dunes to look forward to. It is amazing how slow we are travelling, the heat saps your energy and we are very aware we have 2 gruelling days ahead and are trying to conserve some energy.
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Daniel_Brockhurst | Day 2 by Daniel Brockhurst
More sun, more sand and much more running.
The sun began to set last night around 7pm and most of the tent laughed at my fire building skills (i was bored) but a swift bribe to a local and we had a roring fire complete with cooking stand for the kettle.
I'm finding it hard getting used to the early nights. Bedtime seems to be 8pm for the runners. The locals chose this time to spark up the singing. Tonight I'm off to experience this at the camp fire.
Today's stage has gone well. We started around 9 and it seemed hotter then than any point over the last few days. Running today proved tough. The heat was just incredible. All went well for the 1st 20km. Victoria & I stuck to our system of run 10 mins Walk 10 mins. Energy levels sarted to drop after this and I found running just too tough so opted to walk the last 8km. Victoria, having found a second wind made it home in just under 5 hrs, I came in around 5hr 07mins.
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Simon_Puttock | Day 2 by Simon Puttock
Yipeee... end of day 2 and I'm back in the camp
The past day has been great, very hard and eventful.
Last night was wonderful with a huge fire built in the middle of the camp and the locals singing and dancing round the fire until the small hours or at least until 8pm went most people went off to bed.
The night was as before, down to freezing and a gale blowing sand everywhere. The bivouc tents have open sides with no protection.
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Jo_Wiser | Day 2 by Joanna Wiser
Dear all,
have just finished day 2 and its a bit tougher than I anticipated!
The desert is not as pretty as I had hoped, but this is a good thing, the pretty- bits are the dunes which are awful to run on. So far has been mainly rocky or dry cracked ground.
Tomorrow is 38 km, 20 of which are across the dunes, I don't anticipate being in before sundown.
On the bright side I have a wonderful tent! Sharing with 6 guys (one of which is Mark Vivian's cousin, I guess I'll know hin, better than you do by the end Mark) also a girl called Emily who is helping to keep my spirits high, we are going to try and stick together tomorow for moral support.
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