PTRD - Taken to the Limit

The effects of the desert - Photo Ian Corless

I’m sure it’s a medical condition. Oh PTRD – it’s one of my creations? It’s Post Traumatic RACE Disorder, in simple terms it’s PTSD about an Ultra-Marathon. And I’m not belittling PTSD. I haven’t experienced open warfare or a live battlefield, but I have had a life-threatening illness that had to be mastered mentally, exorcised, accepted and beaten – so I do have some experience.

 

A week on from the 37th Marathon des Sables and for most the blisters and physical scars will now be healing. But the flashbacks, tiredness, even anger especially if you were a DNF will rage on - for some time to come. It’s weird as no matter how hard it was, how hard you were smashed up, many after a week back at home or back at work, will wish they were back in the desert.

 

It’s totally normal to miss the desert, your tent-mates and the tears of success or failure. The thing that’s been driving your world, your mind, your every waking thought for months has gone – in one short week. 

 

Normality will slowly start to creep back in if you’re not careful – the promises you made in the darkest of moments, will lose their importance. Trying to maintain any focus, on anything will be hard.

 

My advice is that if the desert beat you, dust yourself off. Learn from the experience and sign up again and make sure this time you win. And if you did well, do better or try another event that has different properties. There’s plenty to choose from - hot, cold, high, low – Go and test just how far you can go, how deep you can dig and find out what it’s like to be in the darkest black hole possible and survive.

 

And between now and then, get leaner, get fitter and fight back at the Kryptonite of PTRD – it’s not forever and it will pass as the positive memories will shine through.

1,156 Marathons - 271 Ultras - 9 Guinness World Records - 16 Marathon des Sables